Symptoms

Uncle Bob, I apologize for not talking about the symptoms yet...this is what happened in a nutshell.

The last time I saw Jack well was Easter. They came over for lunch. On Tuesday he began to feel ill. Weak and sweats mostly. Everyone thought he had the flu. By Friday, it was obviously something else. Mom and Jack went to the ER where he went downhill very quickly. They worked hard to keep him alive as his BP was falling and his organs were starting to fail. The hospital Chaplin called me and Melissa and we all rushed in.

They had no idea what was wrong with him but suspected sepsis pretty quickly. After about 100 tests they said that he had inflammation around his organs - but mostly his pancreas signaling pancreatitis. He also had some pneumonia. Which came first - the puncreatitis or the pneumonia? We don't know. He had no pain that we know of, anywhere. Other than the flu symptoms, there was no sign. One illness can lead to another...or it can be the other way around. He was taken to ICU quickly after he was stabilized.

Our good luck in all of this has been Dr. Patel. He was the ICU doc this day and also happens to be a tremendous pulmonary doctor. He is soft-spoken but incredibly kind. He has taken Jack's case and has been there to the fullest. He told us, as nicely as possibly, that Jack was VERY sick and that he was in the best place for treatment. I have never had to have a doctor tell me bad news like this and always wondered how they did it. I now know and am glad it was Dr. Patel who did it.

They treated him with the strongest antibiotics as possible, immediately. He was awake but slightly confused at this point. They were giving him oxygen and watching him like a hawk. He was improving a bit after the second day. The antibiotics were killing the infection ravaging his body and it was hopeful.

Day three all hell broke loose. Suddenly he was panting like a dog. The strongest oxygen feed wasn't helping. He was going down hill. You guessed it...ARDS. Dr. Patel came in after they vented Jack and told us the devastating news. Though he didn't go into much ARDS specific information, he did tell us that Jack was on the HIGHEST setting on the vent. That his lungs basically had holes in them and that the vent would either help Jack heal OR his organs would start to fail from lack of oxygen and we would have to make a decision. There was NOTHING else they could do. I will never, ever forget mom's face...ever...

They put him to sleep soon after and the blog takes over from there. I wish there was something that really clued us in - but it just snuck up on us.

I watched Jack today for mom as she had appointments and actual life to attend to this AM. I went in at 8am and fed him breakfast, and then lunch. He did well eating but is SO confused today. It's extremely concerning and so stressful to constantly keep him in bed and TRY to keep him relaxed...but he also can be so funny. I asked him this AM who I was and he said Coretta Scott King. Wha? Gotta get your laughs where you can. : ) He was on a southern kick today, for some reason. He really wanted to talk about the South...I asked him question after question about his trips to NOLA and his love of Biloxi. It did seem to help keep him calmer. But, it's enough to rip your heart out too.

I'll update if anything changes tonight.