John's medical fund
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On the morning of Tuesday February 3rd. about 8:30 AM. John felt like he needed to let his ears pop, then he felt a bit dizzy so he laid down on the floor. When he sat up Cheryl said he was white as a sheet, and then he said he feels like he needed to throw-up. With mom's help, John could not stand up or walk on his own very well, he made it to the bathroom and proceeded to throw-up. After which he then collapsed onto the bathroom floor unconscious, and then started to have a seizure. Cheryl wanted Christopher to call Dad, but he insisted that she call 911 instead. She did so and was told to do CPR on John since he was not breathing and his lips were turning blue. After the longest minutes in her life, the paramedics showed up and proceded to help him. Our neighbor came over to see what was the matter, and insisted on Christopher and Andrea to come over to her house in order to lesson the trauma of seeing their brother being worked on.
After stablizing him and discussing which hospital to transport him to, it was decided that the best place was Seattle Children's Hospital. Since Stewart was working up in Seattle that morning he was able to get to the hospital before John. John arrived at the Hospital about 10:10 AM, and Stewart was with him by 10:15. The team of Doctors and Nurses around him was amazing to me, and seeing my son just lying there motionless was indiscribeable. After the battery of tests that needed to be run on him he was then taken up to get his first series of CAT scans which showed that he had a hemorage and blood clot at his Cerebellum. This pressure is what was causing him to not be able to breath on his own. I was able to be with John the entire time during his scans and watching him just lying there with someone breathing for him was heart wrenching not knowing what the outcome would be. When I was told of the findings and that he was going to need Brain surgery I was, at the time, just numb all over. He was then transported to a waiting room while the Operating room was being prepaired for his surgery. Cheryl and Anne, Cheryl's sister who drove the two of them up, met up with us in that room. Soon after it was time to go into surgery, I was stoped at the red line in the hallway as they rolled John away to the OR, it was now 11:30 AM.
After many phone calls to family and friends we had many visitors with us and many prayers. After abuot 3 hours we had not heared anything yet and since I was told the surgery would be about 2 hours I wanted answers. I got them finaly, and was informed that they were done operating and starting to close which would take about another hour. Then he would need to get another CAT scan done and also be in recovery for a bit before we would be able to see him again in the ICU. It was about 4:30 when the Surgeon came and talked to Cheryl and myself about the operation and then at about 5:30 PM we were able to go see John again. The longest 6 hours of our lives were spent in that waiting area, little did we know that those were just the beginning hours of waiting.
It was the most unnerving and yet releiving feeling to see John lying in that ICU bed hooked up to all those machines. When we heard that he was breathing on his own again and the ventilator was only there to make sure that he didn't fall below a certain rate it was that bit of good news that was needed. Also hearing that the surgery went well and all of the blod clot was removed along with the forign tissue that was the culprit of the bleed was also reassuring. Many prayers later, and the beginning of John's many many visitors the day was coming to an end. John almost died in the morning and by the evening he was already on the road to his speedy recovery.
After stablizing him and discussing which hospital to transport him to, it was decided that the best place was Seattle Children's Hospital. Since Stewart was working up in Seattle that morning he was able to get to the hospital before John. John arrived at the Hospital about 10:10 AM, and Stewart was with him by 10:15. The team of Doctors and Nurses around him was amazing to me, and seeing my son just lying there motionless was indiscribeable. After the battery of tests that needed to be run on him he was then taken up to get his first series of CAT scans which showed that he had a hemorage and blood clot at his Cerebellum. This pressure is what was causing him to not be able to breath on his own. I was able to be with John the entire time during his scans and watching him just lying there with someone breathing for him was heart wrenching not knowing what the outcome would be. When I was told of the findings and that he was going to need Brain surgery I was, at the time, just numb all over. He was then transported to a waiting room while the Operating room was being prepaired for his surgery. Cheryl and Anne, Cheryl's sister who drove the two of them up, met up with us in that room. Soon after it was time to go into surgery, I was stoped at the red line in the hallway as they rolled John away to the OR, it was now 11:30 AM.
After many phone calls to family and friends we had many visitors with us and many prayers. After abuot 3 hours we had not heared anything yet and since I was told the surgery would be about 2 hours I wanted answers. I got them finaly, and was informed that they were done operating and starting to close which would take about another hour. Then he would need to get another CAT scan done and also be in recovery for a bit before we would be able to see him again in the ICU. It was about 4:30 when the Surgeon came and talked to Cheryl and myself about the operation and then at about 5:30 PM we were able to go see John again. The longest 6 hours of our lives were spent in that waiting area, little did we know that those were just the beginning hours of waiting.
It was the most unnerving and yet releiving feeling to see John lying in that ICU bed hooked up to all those machines. When we heard that he was breathing on his own again and the ventilator was only there to make sure that he didn't fall below a certain rate it was that bit of good news that was needed. Also hearing that the surgery went well and all of the blod clot was removed along with the forign tissue that was the culprit of the bleed was also reassuring. Many prayers later, and the beginning of John's many many visitors the day was coming to an end. John almost died in the morning and by the evening he was already on the road to his speedy recovery.
Organizer
SC Balke
Organizer
Maple Valley, WA
