My name is Brittany Davids; I made this to help my mother-in-law with bills, gas, and parking as my father-in-law has been at the UofM since August 4th.

James is 53 years old and the father to 4: Justin, Brandon, Rebekah, and Nathan, and a grandfather to 10!

Chris has been with him at the hospital every day. That is gas going to and from the hospital, food, and parking. Unfortunately, she has no more PTO, and with how things are looking, she can not be at work. Please read below to see how things have progressed the last week.

These are posts from Chris as he's been in the hospital...

August 5th: James is in the U. He had a rough day yesterday. After calling 911 for chest and arm pain, he went to Ridges hospital. They did 3 EKGs trying to capture what was going on, along with a chest X-ray. They determined he needed to be transferred to Southdale hospital and after they transferred him on the transport gurney, he coded. They got his stable as best they could and sent him on. At Southdale he coded again, twice. They put 2 stents in as he had 2 arteries blocked at 100%. Then they had a team come in and put shunts in, basically they are working to oxygenate his blood and do the work his heart would normally do. They are giving his heart a rest. They will slowly reintroduce his heart back into the job it's intended to do. After this procedure was complete, they again transferred him to the U of M.

I'm heading there now with Bekah. Please say a prayer for James... The doctor was optimistic he will get through this fine, it's just a waiting game at this point.

August 6th: Update on James. He is still heavily sedated, but he can follow simple commands.

Squeeze my finger

Wiggle your toes

The ECMO machine is still relieving his heart of most of its duties and it was decided it's too early to test his heart based on the labs, his heart is not yet strong enough to take over it's normal job.

James started eating through a feeding tube. Lots of protein is on his menu...

He also indicated he was hot with a short nod.

They were concerned about fluid in the lungs and are watching it. If they decide it's needed they can go down his breathing tube and literally suction out the gunk in his lungs. For now they said he has improved a little on his own so nothing immediate is planned.

James body temp is now normal. As I was told yesterday, once a body comes out of hibernation a lot of things can happen. Plan on a very busy day of activity on James

So far, none of that has happened. His big events are listed above. I'll take that as a big win.

August 7th: James has been taken off the neurologist piece. He can do thumbs up, put 2 fingers up and wiggle his toes. His brain is no longer a concern.

James lungs are not receiving the oxygen needed due to his esophagus collapsing right before the lungs. They have altered the airflow to the ventilator to try to keep the airway open. They say he should be more comfortable.

❤️He squeezed my hand today ❤️

Until they resolve the lung concern they cannot address his heart. So we are still on wait and see.

August 8th: Update on James. The arterial line in his groin for the ECMO machine is going to be moved. The reason for this is increased oxygenation and as James is slowly woken up, he will need to sit. Having a line coming out his groin is less than ideal. The location also is a higher risk for infection.

Unfortunately, because his arms have clotted from dialysis over the years the best option and only option is his neck. I know he isn't going to be happy about this. But with my conversations there are no other options.

The oxygen flow has been re-adjusted to better align with his normal breathing patterns.

James seemed uncomfortable maybe? I can't tell. He's got these mits on so he doesn't pull on his lines. He might feel a little more restricted and he is receiving lower doses of sedation. He is still getting antibiotics as a precaution. He has no infections currently.

Tomorrow they may try to "turn down" the ECMO machine to see how his body responds with rejoining the game. This may not happen depending on his blood pressure and a whole slew of stuff I will never remember.

August 9th: Today they turned down the ventilator 4 notches and that worked okay. The labs drawn after were good.

They then turned down the ECMO machine to see how his heart was functioning. It runs at 4. (I don't know what that means)

They turn it down 0.5 for 2 minutes and continue to move it an additional 0.5 every 2 minutes until they reach 1. This is to see how his heart functions with blood flow etc. He made it to 1.

He didn't pass the test because his heart is unable to sustain him. Yet. but they have a baseline. They will let his heart rest and try again in a day, maybe 2 and see how he is then.

James has some fluid in the back of his lungs. They are increasing the pressure of the ventilator hoping that helps to dry him out.

Tomorrow we will have more results from tests done later this afternoon.

Prayers are graciously received.

August 11th: No big changes with James. They are doing daily turn downs of the ECMO machine. Today will be the 3rd day, expected to be around 1:00 or so.

Our pastor was just here and James was very interactive with him. Nodding, squeezing my hand and he opened his one eye for the pastor.

After the pastor left James was trying to tell me he saw 2 of me. Poor guy I suck at charades so it took some time. I told him to close his eye and keep resting.. his arms that previously flailing about are now calm, and he's holding my hand.

August 13th: Today Amy got to see James. When we got there he was a little more active, and by that I mean he squeezed both our hands and opened his eye to look at us. Wiggled his toes and nodded his head. That sort of thing.

They had to adjust his ventilator setting again and his "gasses" that are measured from his groin connection to the ECMO machine (I can't remember the techy word) were off but they did fall back where they should be for now.

Yesterday he had a balloon pump put in his thigh artery to hopefully get more blood flowing, thereby helping his heart. He hasn't made any progress for the daily turn downs, and that is why we had to take this route. They didn't do any turn down today so tomorrow is important.

Tomorrow is a new day, hopefully with the changes, no matter how small, we see some improvement.

August 14th: The doctors said that James cannot remain on life support for his heart. In 3-4 days they will be removing him from the ECMO machine. They will do what they can by other means, meds, etc but his heart is very weak. They have made it clear that the chance for his survival is probably slim. He has made no improvements in the last 3 days and leaving him on the machine is not going to strengthen his heart.

August 15th: For those following James here's a weird update. The primary Dr that has been caring for him is on a new cycle and a different primary came in today. Nate was with me. The previous doc, in my opinion, focused more on the negatives and has always had a 14 day goal to be off the ECMO machine. Enter new doctor. What they are doing for James now is they turned the machine down to 3, from 4. He said the heart has been fed with blood by the ECMO machine and he's changing that. With blood pressure medication and other tweaks, they are forcing his heart to work. If the food is always brought to you, it really doesn't need to work. He is still battling a lot of fluid that they are struggling to get off and needs to come off. Still working on that. 2-3 weeks on these machines, and now I refer to the ventilator he is on, is when they may see problems with the windpipe because of the tube that is there. Some people may develop a condition where they may need a traech (or the hole in the throat) to breathe. But, They Are Not Giving Up on him. There are no plans to shut the machine off at this time. I feel frustrated with myself for either not hearing correctly yesterday - or the delivery was badly explained to me. Either way, sorry if I caused unnecessary alarm.

August 16th: I don't know how to say this other than God is good. James made it through the night with the ECMO machine reduced to 3. Blood pressure meds have been reduced to almost nothing and he's holding his own. Early this morning, the ECMO machine had a glitch and it stopped working for about 2 minutes. Normally, people on any kind of life support would classify this as a disaster. James heart however, kicked in and pumped the blood for those 2 minutes! He's still in the race and I don't believe ready to throw in the towel. Now he's still back on the ECMO machine, and tomorrow is a big day for the turn down. He hasn't been able to do that in 4 days or so. The doctor is hopeful that by Friday he may be able to stop needing the machine and his heart will be able to maintain. He is in no way out of the woods, but we have progress. Baby steps. Thank you for all the prayers, God is listening. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

August 18: All went well. ECMO machine is GONE. James heart is beating on its own. Next step once he's settled in and his heart meets all the tests, the balloon pump will be removed. Finally the ventilator will come out last. He's still a critical patient but the first big step is done and if all plans go as expected, he will slowly lose the other "accessories" God is good.

August 21: “James developed a fever overnight. One of his lungs is clear but the other isn't. It could be that the dialysis is not pulling evenly, or he may have pneumonia. They cannot tell because it's faint on the X-rays. Today the ventilator is set to breathe 11 times per minute. But James is taking about 40/min total so he's jumping back on the let's get breathing train. His breaths are quick and somewhat forced sounding compared to prior days. But the docs say he's doing good. So I'll take that and hold onto it. He's following simple commands but not all the time. Still sleeping. He didn't wake up for Brittany & I today. I'm impatiently waiting for him to wake up. Maybe tomorrow, today doesn't feel promising for that to happen.”

August 22: James is still sleeping and still has a fever. It looks like it's pointing towards pneumonia but still not 100%. His hands are colder as are his feet, which could be sepsis. Blood pressure decreased a bit so they had to restart blood pressure meds. James has been on the ventilator longer than ideal, it's still in talks right now but they may be forced to start a trach to protect his throat this week unless things turn around quickly. That may help any anxiety he might be having with the tube down his throat while allowing him to stay on the ventilator if he needs it, which it sounds like he will. He's over breathing and because of that, the oxygen that should be going in his blood is not. It is escaping from his mouth so the "gasses" they pull for labs indicate the oxygen in his blood is not ideal yet. They have him on a antibiotic that normally covers a very wide spectrum of bugs, and do have a stronger one to try if this doesn't work. Today felt like a zero progress day but tomorrow is a new day. The docs are doing everything they can, and the rest is in God's hands.

Please donate what you can!

All prayers are greatly appreciated.