Mike's "temporary" new room

Well, the drama continues unfortunately. Mike has pneumonia and a blood clot in his lung. He has been admitted to Shady Grove Hospital and should be there for about 2-3 days. He is stable and the issue from Friday with his prostate seems to have healed. He is comfortable and taking Lovenox shots for the clot (what Erin took for her blood clot) and antibiotics for the pneumonia. We're not sure (and neither are the doctors-surprise, surprise) how he got pneumonia since that very same hospital vaccinated him for it in February of this year! It's supposed to last 5 years, but only lasted 8 months. They are looking into why...

He is waiting on his special sand mattress and for today at least, has a really nice nurse! If you would like to/have time to go by and visit, you're welcome to, just know that they are not letting any children in the hospital who aren't patients, even to visit (even his nieces!) if they are under 12 years old because of the H1N1 and seasonal flu viruses. Your kids would probably be scared anyway if they went to visit because every other person is walking around with a doctor's mask in that place!!!

He is in room 4A13.

-Kim

Emergency

Mike had to be taken to the hospital Friday night in an ambulance. He was going into Autonomic Dysreflexia. This happens to Quads if there is something wrong with their bodies that they cannot feel, and the brain tries to react but goes haywire and blood pressure is lost and the heart races out of control. He went into shock in the emergency room and had to be rushed into another section where they cut off all his clothes and admistered oxygen and whatever else was necessary and bring him back, but the Dr told Kim and I that it was still a very "touch and go", or "Dicey" situaltion. It ended up that the cause was his bladder was filled with 3 times the amount it should hold, and it was all blood. He was bleeding internally but no one knew why or from where. He was rushed into emergency surgery and it was discovered that when his nurse changed his superpubic catheter earlier Friday, she inserted it too far. It whet though his bladder and up into his urethra near the prostate, and she inflated it there, which tore all of the tissues in that erea, causing this life threatening situation. The surgeon told Mike's mom Jean, Kim and myself that he would be fine once healed and was very lucky considering everyting he faced that evening.

Mike came home yesterday and is recovering. He is pretty sore and isn't happy with the second catheter he has in until tomorrow. He is getting better slowly, but has been through a lot.

I know people around here think Shady Grove Adventist Hospital is a lousey hospital, me being one of them, but everybody involved in Mike's care Friday in the emergency room and operation room did their job perfectly, which saved Mike's life that night. The care he got in his room was excellent too. We are all grateful to them.

Red

Halloween Spooktacular!

Thanks so much to everyone who attended the Gotz Strength Spooktacular last Friday! We had a great turn out and the foundation along with the National SCI Foundation made over $1700!

We had a great DJ there to entertain along with "Otis the Cop" who won the costume contest, keg beer, and some great snacks donated by many of our guests! Thank you to Kristine, Kathy (Kristine's mom), Crystal, Zack, Rob, and Amanda who helped set up/donate decorations, and clean up. A real special thank you to Amanda who coordinated the event and Evite lists, and to Crystal's parents (AKA Jesus and the nun) for manning the door!

I have a photo of Mike's costume to the right and anyone who got great shots of the guests (I've seen some on Facebook!) and would like to add them to the slideshow.com link to this blog, please do!

-Kim