Wow. What a whirlwind this last week has been. So many people have reached out to us, Malmo’s. We are so, so grateful for such an outpouring of love and support.

Mike graduated out of the Intensive Care Unit on Saturday, so we finally feel like we can provide a more formal update to family and friends.

Last Monday Mike started to feel unwell, complaining of right hip pain, a fever, and vomiting. After a terrible night of trying to sleep it off, Tuesday morning Mike and Lisa decided to go to the Chelan Hospital. It was there that they found Mike to be septic. The prevailing theory is that he had a toe blister that got infected, and the infection spread rapidly to his bloodstream (sepsis), and then subsequently infected his right artificial hip. Chelan Hospital knew he needed an orthopedic surgeon to care for his hip, and searched for the best place for Mike. He spent Tuesday night in the ED in Chelan, getting IV antibiotics, waiting for an accepting hospital. On Wednesday, Chelan Hospital found an orthopedic surgeon at a hospital that had space. Mike was life flighted from Chelan to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. Wednesday night was the toughest night. Mike’s fever spiked, his hip pain was significant. He was really sick. The orthopedic surgeon decided he needed emergency surgery that night to remove his infected toe and R artificial hip.The surgery went well. Mike’s condition was serious and he spent the next 4 days in the ICU. But the turnaround since then has been amazing. He’s gone from being so sick he needed a ventilator in the ICU, to now being able to get up into a chair next to the bed.

We are so thankful for the progress he is making, for the love from family and friends, and for the hospitals’ excellent care. In true Malmo fashion, our hospital stay has not lacked enthusiasm and cheer. We have celebrated all of the successes of this last week. Mike has not had a fever in >72 hours, and has been out of bed a few times now. His appetite is slowly returning, and so is his infectious jolly spirit.

Go Mikey!

But…Mike’s road to 100% recovery has only just begun.

Because the infection got in his bloodstream, this hip surgery is two phase (at least). With this first surgery, the orthopedic doctor installed a temporary antibiotic “spacer” in that R hip space. Mike is going to need to stay in an inpatient rehabilitation facility for the next 6-8 weeks where he will be able to receive daily IV antibiotics and physical therapy. He has some significant mobility challenges ahead of him since he can only put 25% of his weight on his R side with this antibiotic spacer. Once he is completely infection free, he will then have another surgery on his R hip to take the spacer out and replace it with a new prosthetic hip. The estimated date for that second surgery is May at the earliest.

There are many unknowns and complexities to the situation. “When it rains, it pours” comes to mind. Up until 1.5 weeks ago, Lisa has been working for the Pateros School District. Unfortunately, the school district had to lay off a handful of employees, and Lisa was one of them. Talk about unfortunate timing. (Insert the expletive of choice here. !#$*)

She will not be able to take a job or receive unemployment benefits until Mike has recovered.

It has become apparent that Mike’s Road to Recovery will span the first half of this year at a minimum. We’re working with a team of nurses and social workers to identify all the financial resources the state has to offer. Also, Kristin, with her nursing background and her resourceful colleagues has been a blessing in the navigating process.

Offers for help with anything and everything have repeatedly come up in this last week, and we thank each one of you for that. We had no idea what help we might need, because we were in the middle of the whirlwind, and everything was still unfolding.

After much discussion, we have decided to create a GoFundMe page. If people feel so inclined, just donating a few dollars will help offset many of the costs that are already cropping up. This GoFundMe will help pay for all of the related, but-not-covered, costs ahead of us. Things like: fuel expenses to hospital stays and appointments, temporary housing costs for Lisa to be near Mike in his rehab, and the cost of making their Pateros property more accessible for Mike when he does return home.

The decision to make a GoFundMe was not easy. Mike and Lisa are more comfortable helping others than asking for help.

Hopefully in short time, we’ll all be listening to Mikey sing again. Something to the tune of "With A Little Help From My Friends." <3