Loren Widrick Medical Challenges

On Dec. 16, 2015 Loren went in for a back fusion surgery that should have had him out of the hospital in 3-5 days. Unfortunately, he had the complications of a leak in the spinal sac, a brain hemorrhage, and extremely elevated and fluctuating blood pressure. This resulted in an extended stay in the ICU with nearly daily CT scans and multiple surgeries and MRIs. During Loren's  23 day span in the ICU we felt like we were on an emiotional roller coaster as there were good reports, bad reports, guarded reports sometimes all in one day. Working with 3 sets of doctors: the Ortho team, Neuro surgical team and the Neuro ICU team, has been an interesting challenge/experience. Thankfully, the Ortho doctor really worked hard to coordinate all the teams and communicate with us what they were doing and what was happening with Loren. He was amazing. Their desired treatment plans were sometimes the opposite of each other prohibiting them from treating multiple issues simultaneously. The brain needed to take precedence over the spine for obvious reasons. Christmas and New Year's day came & went with us hovering in twos (2 visitor limit) around his bed. We're still waiting to"celebrate" Christmas after he returns home. Although, one special memory I have is when we went up to the Mc Kinney room on the 11th floor and played and sang Christmas carols on Christmas Eve; an Amish family whose 2 year old son was receiving his last chemo treatment asked to come and listen. It was special to me.Since our hospital is not local, we are having to get lodging and food in and around the hospital. Once out of the ICU, there will be Rehab and various types of therapy due to him being totally bedridden for so long as well as effects of the brain bleed and spinal fusion. This may require us to stay near the hospital beyond his initial hospitalization.He is on disability insurance and therefore his income is decreasing over time since October of 2015. He also has been informed that the company he works for has done a reorganization and done away with his regional sales management position. So, when he does return to work, the position they are offering him instead will be about 2/3 the income of the former.Under normal circumstances, this year was going to be a financial challenge for our single income family with 2 daughters in college and 1 wedding this summer so these unexpected expenses will be a huge burden on our family.We would greatly appreciate your prayers for a total recovery for Loren and patience for him and us as he continues this journey to restoration. We have great faith in our gracious and loving heavenly Father and don't know what we would have done without the support and love from so many wonderful people. Many people have been asking how they can help in this time. That is why we set up this go fund me account to help with the expenses. We appreciate, love and thank God for all of you.

 With heart felt gratefulness,
The Widrick family