Here's a late update for Tuesday. While Mom, Amy, Mike and I were at Dads bedside, he showed some early signs of coming out of this "coma." Dr. Kim said if there is no stimulus response then that is a comatose state, so I feel like that is where Dad has been for at least 24 hrs. Tonight around
I know these are very small, subtle things but we felt very encouraged by them. So grateful for all the fasting and prayers for Dad and Mom. Mike and Amy said Kaitlyn fasted a full 24 hrs. and Braxton 'til
Thankful for all your prayers & concern.
Steve
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
6/30/09 - 10:00 p.m. - Update from Steve
6/30/09 – 10:30 a.m. – Update from Julie
Things are pretty much the same. They gave dad a bath this morning. His heart rate has been fluctuating a little bit and so they continue to do blood work. Last night his blood pressure had stabilized some, but this morning it was erratic again, so they’ve got him back on the blood pressure meds. His blood sugar and electrolytes have been up as well, so they are monitoring that closely, too.
They inserted the feeding tube this morning and after they X-Ray him to make sure it is in the right place, they are going to slowly start feeding him. They will monitor that closely to make sure he handles it OK.
He is still sedated, but they will probably start reducing that from time to time to see if he responds. Dr. Baughman told us yesterday he was in a “comatose state”, but we’re not sure exactly what that means. Since he’s also sedated, I’m not sure what the difference is. Since they are hoping for some response from him as they experiment with reducing the sedation meds, I guess that means he’s not in a coma per se. We’ll try to learn more about this.
Some good news is that the Dr. said he is doing some breathing on his own. He’s still on the ventilator, but they can tell if some of the breathing is coming from him and it is. We’ll take every little bit of good news that we can get!
Hang in there, Dad!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Background on what happened
Late Saturday night, Dad was diagnosed with an illness called Viral Encephalitis, which is extremely rare, occurring in only about 2 in a million people. The herpes simplex virus, which is the name of the virus dad has, is a very common virus. It’s the same virus that causes cold sores. Many people have this type of virus in their bodies, but it usually doesn’t cause anything worse than the occasional cold sore. In Dad’s case, however, this relatively harmless virus went into his brain and caused it to swell up. That swelling is what is so dangerous and has caused the problems Dad is experiencing now. When the virus gets into the brain like that, they call it Viral or Herpes Encephalitis.
Everyone always wants to know how this all happened so fast, so I’ll give everyone a quick background:
Dad played golf, which, of course, he loves to do, just this past Thursday (June 25th), but mentioned to his golf buddies that he felt really tired. On Friday he slept almost the whole day, which is really unusual for him; he’s just not like that, even when he’s sick. As the day went on he just didn’t feel any better; he had a fever and felt nauseous, so Mom took him to the doctor. The doctor thought he probably had a virus of some kind, prescribed antibiotics and sent him home to rest.
On Saturday things did not improve; he was still really tired and still feeling really sick, like he had a bad case of the flu or something. He again slept most of the day. By Saturday night, however, things had become even worse; he had become delirious and was not thinking or acting normal. Then it progressed to the point where he couldn’t talk normal, was slurring his words and was confused about who people were or what they were saying to him. It was obvious something was really wrong, so Mom and Julie took him to the hospital. Things only got worse from there. By Sunday afternoon Dad could hardly talk and really just barely recognized anyone. The doctors did several different tests trying to figure out what it was. By Sunday night he had lapsed into a comatose state and has not woke up since then. Very late Sunday night the test results came back and they said he had Herpes Encephalitis and began treating him. (The treatment just stops the virus from making things worse—there is no cure or way to get rid of it—Dad’s body now just has to fight it off just like when you have a bad cold; you just have to wait it out.)
But it’s not like a cold; Herpes Encephalitis is so serious that many do not survive it and those who do often experience moderate to severe disabilities. (This illness has a mortality rate of around 30% and another 40% or so come out of it with various degrees of incapacitation. A smaller percentage of patients end up with little or no disabilities at all.) Right now Dad is fighting for his life. He is in intensive care and they are watching him 24/7. Now it’s just a matter of waiting. The next 5-7 days will be crucial as we see if he wakes up or how he responds when he does. It’s very, very scary for us as a family, as you can imagine.
As a family we appreciate all the support and concern we have received already. We have an amazing support system all around us and know that faith and prayer DO make a difference. Our whole family met last night at Dad and Mom’s house for a family prayer. There have been lots of tears shed and lots of sad moments as we consider the consequences of this bizarre turn of events. But our faith is strong and so are we. We are so, so grateful right now for the plan of salvation, because we know that in the long run, we are an eternal family and everything will be alright. Thanks to Dad and Mom, we have an amazing family for which we are very grateful.
We will post regular updates on how Dad is doing to this blog. You are also welcome to post messages here if you wish. Thank you to everyone for your outpouring of care and concern. As a family, we really do appreciate it.