On Friday, January 6th, my wife, Melanie, died.

As she was heading off to work, she slipped on some ice on the stairs on our front porch. She fell down the stairs, to a very sudden and hard stop when she hit the frozen ground.

Thankfully I hadn't left yet. Melanie told me "Don't panic, but I broke my leg," I rushed over to take a look at it, and it was, to say the least, bad. After looking at the injury we agreed that "We need help". I quickly called 911 and within a short time, our local ambulance showed up. They quickly and expertly got the injury stabilized, got her loaded in the ambulance, and on her way to the nearest hospital.

They took her to St Mary's in Cottonwood, ID. After being assessed by the ER Doctor and staff they concluded that Melanie had two compound, spiral fractures of the left tibia and fibula; and was in need of surgery to repair the damage. Because of how bad the breaks were, they were unable to properly treat it there. They called Life Flight, and the helicopter was called to take her to Tri-State Hospital in Clarkston, WA.

The nurses looked her over in the room, and she was her usual self. She was madder about spilling the breakfast smoothy I made for her that morning than she was about breaking her leg. She was in very good spirits. During that time an orthopedic surgical team was gathered to operate on her leg. All of them seemed confident that it would be a quick and easy operation. Something that they handled many times in the past.

While preparing for the surgery she needed to be under anesthesia. But the anesthesia caused her heart to just stop. I heard the code blue being called over the speakers. I didn’t know for sure that she went into cardiac arrest until the surgeon came in to tell me what was happening. It was around that time that Connor arrived, he was completely oblivious to what was going on until nearly ten minutes later. The medical staff informed me and Connor they had been doing CPR non-stop for 40 minutes and they were seeking permission to stop CPR, they even asked that they perform an autopsy on her in order to find out the cause of her heart stopping from the anesthesia. That just could not happen, it was not an option whatsoever. I am still in shock and angry that they’d even suggest such a thing. Once I got my thoughts straight, I insistently demanded that they continue CPR and all other possible life-saving measures for her and not give up no matter what.

It was at that time when the staff had Connor and me stand outside the operating room where everything was going on to try and give her some kind of support. It was then that we were utterly terrified and horribly upset about the situation that was going on. Finally, after an hour of constant chest compressions and who knows how many defibrillations, the team got a pulse. Connor and I calmed down a lot when we got the news. We watched as they wheeled her to ICU for close observation.

As we waited for further news we watched as they took her to do a CT scan. Connor and I went to the cafeteria to get something to eat, and as we did, we heard that she went into cardiac arrest again, and they began CPR again. Like before, I demanded that the team keep their efforts up and do anything to save her. It took about 15 more minutes of CPR to get her pulse back.

As all of that was going on the hospital was getting everything ready to move Melanie to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, once she was in a more stable condition. They called Life Flight to make the transfer the moment she was stable. Connor and I stood by and watched as the crew loaded Melanie up into the helicopter and took off.

Her condition Has been improving day by day. The ventilator they had had her on since that night was removed on the 17th and she was moved out of the ICU to a regular recovery room. Now she is continuing care for her kidneys which had shut down from the trauma of the cardiac event. Now she is on dialysis three times a week for four hours at a time, She has blood clots in her right arm as well. Thankfully her oxygen levels have become much more stable over her stay, and her own breathing has become much more stable too.

She is in a lot of pain right now though. Not only from what happened to her leg and the clots in her arm but also from all of the ribs and her sternum that were all broken from the CPR I demanded she be given. Melanie will have a very long and equally rough road to recovery ahead. Right now, her discharge date is to be determined based on her kidney function returning to normal levels.

Yes, she has medical insurance, but she must pay 10% of all that is not covered by insurance and as of right now the estimated medical bills are approaching around $2.5 million. All the household expenses still go on as usual. But we are not certain as to when she can return to work.

We are immensely appreciative of the help and support we’ve received from our family and friends, even the generosity of more than a few strangers during this really difficult time. I do not think we can bake enough cookies to thank everyone for everything.