Jon’s Story

Site created on May 9, 2020

Jon was admitted to the hospital on April 20th. Part of his small intestine was pinched. The tissue died and a large section of his intestine had to be removed. He had 3 surgeries to remove and repair the small intestine. He was recovering and improving until April 29th when part of the splice opened. Intestinal fluids drained into his abdominal cavity and the infection returned. It appeared he would not recover so the hospital allowed family to stay with him for three days. On May 1st he started talking and wanted a sandwich and pizza. The next morning he wanted coffee and an omelette. He expressed a strong will to continue fighting so on May 2nd we changed his care plan from comfort to treatment. 

His body is not yet strong enough for another surgery. He continues to receive antibiotics and IV nutrition as he fights the infection and tries to regain strength. The hospital will not allow visitors for treatment patients due to COVID restrictions. We are calling him daily so he knows we love him and continue to support him even though we can't be there with him in person. 

We will provide regular updates on this site to keep family and friends in the loop on his progress.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Julie Van Dyke

A lot has happened since the last update. Jon was moved to a skilled nursing facility last week. They are focusing heavily on rehab at the new place. He has three hours of therapy each day. They do an hour each of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Yesterday they had him walk up and down a set of stairs three times. He was tired afterwards but was happy he made it! He even sent us picture of the staircase. 

The surgeons have formally signed him off as healed from the surgery. They confirmed the fistula has healed itself and he does not need follow up surgery. They also gave the okay to start transitioning him to solid foods. He has been on a liquid diet for the past couple of weeks and still has supplemental IV nutrition. They will wean him off the IV nutrition as they increase his solid food intake. 
 
He is getting close to being able to come home!!!


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