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Paul’s Story

Site created on September 17, 2019

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
Paul is a 57-year-old author and teacher, who has been spending time in China for the last several years, teaching American culture and English language to Chinese high school students who plan to come to the United States for work or education.
On September 14, 2019, Paul experienced the onset of abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. After being evaluated at one or two emergency rooms in the Beijing area, receiving "negative" basic workups and being sent home, he was referred by his work colleagues to The China Japan Friendship Hospital (an excellent facility, where most foreigners seek care when in Beijing), where he was found to be in septic shock, with liver and kidney failure. He subsequently experienced a cardiac arrest, from which he was quickly and successfully resuscitated. He was put on mechanical ventilation, antibiotics, intravenous medications to support his blood pressure ("pressors"), and started on dialysis. He has been kept medically sedated since that time, for his comfort.
Despite the grave prognosis of the situation, there have been signs of improvement. As of last night, the pressors had been weaned almost completely off, and his clotting factors (often an indication of severity of illness) have improved. When his sedation medications have been temporarily decreased, he seems to respond to his name being called, although a full neurological assessment has not yet been done. It is too early to determine any improvement in liver or kidney function. Blood cultures have revealed a strain of bacteria that is resistant to many different antibiotics, although his antibiotics have been adjusted based on this information.
At this point, it appears that he consumed a food item that was contaminated with toxic bacteria, resulting in systemic sepsis. He is receiving the best possible care at this time, but the prognosis is still guarded. He does not have medical insurance to cover catastrophic events in China, so the cost of his medical care will be quite large.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Paul, and please consider a donation to the linked GOFUNDME account to help defray his costs (click on "Ways to Help" icon, not the Caring Bridge donation). (A CaringBridge donation is a wonderful thing to do, too, and supports a wonderful cause that allows us to communicate like this, but does not go directly to Paul.)
Hans and Betsy (Paul's siblings)

Newest Update

Journal entry by PAUL BAUER — Aug 16, 2022

Hi all. I'm pretty tired, but good tired: I've been working hard to make my dream/mission of returning to international teaching come true.

You-all were there for me and with me when I became ill in China and returned to the USA to recuperate. I am now 100% healthy!

Now I have the opportunity to complete the circle. I have an exciting opportunity to teach at a progressive high school in Taiwan. You can learn more here: https://www.gofundme.com/teacher-paul-to-taiwan.

I feel like I want to say something profound to all of you, something poetic, maybe, or biblical, or ... no, I won't quote Bob Dylan. You'll have to settle for, simply, I love you guys and you are all freaking amazing.

It has been a wonderful then horrifying now getting-wonderful-again ride since I began my international teaching career in 2015 in China. I can't wait to get back where I belong: in my classroom!

Thank you Thank you Thank you for everything.

~Paul

Read More of the journal titled "August 16, 2022"

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