Help Tom's Family During His Healing Journey

On the morning of Saturday July 27th Tom and his boys Ben and Devin went to a card show, in Rochester, MN. While there Tom started to feel dizzy and unwell. He went outside to get some air, while outside he was experiencing chest tightness which wasn’t uncommon for him. He decided to take a nitro and sit against the side of the building. Soon after Ben and Devin went out to check on him, in the process of helping him up off of the ground he passed out. He was transported by ambulance to St. Mary’s hospital. While in the Emergency Room they ran a series of tests and In the good old Tollefson fashion all of his bloodwork and scans came back normal, as if nothing was really going on. Since everything came back normal they were thinking that him passing out was due to the heat and being dehydrated. During scans they got lucky and saw a full blockage in one of his Arteries but they didn’t seem too concerned considering the rest of his numbers looked really good. They were going to let him go home and continue with outpatient appointments.

They had all the discharge papers printed and ready when we requested cardiology come down and explain the reasoning behind there decision, and to make sure it was safe. Once he got there and was questioning Tom he told him that he had an episode similar the week prior while at work. Because of that they decided to put him on a new medication and to keep him overnight for observation while starting it, because it could cause the light headedness to get worse. Sunday morning (July 28) he was taken for a walk in the hall and only got about 30ft before having another “episode”. From there they didn’t think it was cardiac related because everything continued to be normal with his bloodwork. After considering to send him home and getting some of kick back from family, they said they would keep him another night and scheduled an Angiogram for the next morning. On Monday (August 1st) he went in for an Angiogram, and it came back that he had 8 blockages with one of them being 100% and the other 7 were between 50%-90%. Monday night it was up in the air about when surgery was going to be and what the exact plan was. Tuesday morning they took him in for some ultrasounds and tests and planned out everything for the surgery.

Wednesday July 31st, he went in for a Triple Bypass Surgery, from start to finish it lasted about 9-10 hours. Everything went really good during surgery. He did have to have a blood transfusion which they said was pretty normal. Taking him off bypass went great as well only had to shock his heart 2 times to get it going but once it got going His heart didn’t need any help keeping a good rhythm, so that’s a really good sign, They placed 3 drain tubes to get ride of fluid build up in his chest and as of today Saturday (August 3) they are still in place and continue to drain. Once they start to dry up they will remove some of them.

Anyone that knows Tom knows how hard of a worker he is and is constantly go,go,go. While working he would walk up to 10+ miles a day without any problem. Never complained about anything pushing through and just got the work done. Tom is the sole provider for his family, his wife Denise isn’t able to work due to her going through end stage COPD and being on Oxygen 24/7. With this unexpected medical emergency he won’t be able to work for quite some time. “Although he thinks he will be back to work just a few days after being back home” Any money raised will go towards bills and everyday living expenses including household items, food, gas for his wife and son to be able to go to and from the hospital and appointments in the future, and anything else that may be needed. He isn’t the type of guy to ask for help but at this point something’s gotta be done.. We will try our hardest to keep everyone updated!