New Orleans Ride Home!

Hi Family & Friends,

Our Dad (Mike) and mom (Norma) recently celebrated their 50th anniversary, and to celebrate planned five (5) day trip to New Orleans in September.

On Friday, September 9th (day one), they had a chance to visit the famous restaurant Pascal's Manale. If any of you have ever been to New Orleans, they are best known for their barbeque shrimp. They wined and dined and truly enjoyed themselves.

They visited the French Quarter and St. Louis Cathedral on Saturday and Sunday (days two and three).

Here is a photo from the French Quarter with our parents.

On September, 12 our dad came down with a 103 fever and was taken by emergency ambulance to a nearby hospital in New Orleans. (New Orleans Medical Center). Our dad had a severe infection and was sicker than we ever imagined. Upon arrival in the ICU, he was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and a hiatal hernia. He spent over a week in ICU on antibiotics, and oxygen, all while having support from Norma every step of the way!

Once released from ICU, he moved to a standard room, still at New Orleans Medical Center, for rest and recovery.

Since our parents were trapped in New Orleans, I (Rebecca) flew down to support them for two weeks. Carrie and Greg were incredibly supportive from afar by sending photos, cards, and daily face times to help our dad!

Here is a photo from one of the New Orleans Hospital Rooms. Always smiling!

As you can imagine, the entire family had many questions throughout their stay in New Orleans. What causes aspiration pneumonia? How can they fix it? Can he swallow? Can he eat? Are antibiotics helping? How long are they stuck in New Orleans? When can they go home? How do they get home?! The questions were endless, and the doctor visits grew daily! Nonetheless, our dad always remained positive throughout the extended stay and fought hard as he recovered. God was on his side every day!

To find the answers, we worked closely with all sorts of doctors and specialists in New Orleans. You name a test, and our dad had it done. X-rays, barium swallow tests, respiratory tests and treatments, blood work daily, the list goes on and on!

The Barium Swallow test did reveal our dad was having issues with his esophagus, and there was a partial blockage. This blockage caused food and water to enter his lungs, thus causing aspiration pneumonia.

As a result of the blockage, our dad had a feeding tube put in to help with nutrients and weight gain. Per doctor's orders, no food or drink by mouth.

At week three, we had a bit of a setback, and our dad experienced another round of aspiration pneumonia. He returned to ICU, got on antibiotics again, and continued fighting to return to St. Louis!

Once moved out of ICU, he started recovery once again! Lots and lots of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. With God's strength, even on the most challenging days, our dad always managed to put a smile on his face.

Here is a photo from one of our many hospital rooms in New Orleans. Another great smile.

Every day was one step closer to coming home to St. Louis! Every day the entire family prayed for strength and courage as we brainstormed ways to get our dad back home.

Our mom, Norma, played an integral role in diligently working with the New Orleans doctors, insurance companies, hospital case managers, and St. Louis Rehabilitation Center to figure out the logistics involved in managing our dad's travel home.

Here's the thing: While bedridden in the hospital for three weeks, our dad lost a good amount of average muscle mass, weight, and strength. As a result, he could not sit upright for extended periods...so he could not simply hop on a plane and fly home. We needed to find another mode of transportation to St. Louis.

We scoured the internet, made multiple calls, and finally found a few hospital transportation vans willing to make the twelve-hour drive from New Orleans to St. Louis. They choose TransMedCare.

Finding a ride home gave us hope!! The only downside was that insurance would not cover these "non-standard" transportation costs. As you can imagine, this was disheartening to hear. Our parents quickly weighed the pros and cons of paying for the van out of pocket, and when it came down to it - our dad needed to get home! Home to better care, home to family, home to support! We all needed him to be home in St. Louis.

Finally, on October 4th, our dad was released from New Orleans hospital and returned to St. Louis. He traveled 12+ hours with an onboard certified nurse, (2) drivers (so they could drive non-stop), and the love of his life, Norma.

Here is a photo of our dad traveling home. BIG smile!

Upon arriving in St. Louis, our dad was admitted to St. Louis Rehabilitation Center at midnight. They made it!

For the next 3 weeks, Oct 4-Nov 8th, our Dad worked hard at rehab to gain strength to get back to normal life. During this period, he still had a feeding tube fed through his stomach, which required 24-hour medical support. His only form of nourishment through the mouth was small amounts of ice chips. Yummy! ;) By that point, he had lost 35 lbs - but was still determined to survive.

I don't know if any of you have ever been in rehabilitation before, but the nurses had a very strict strengthening schedule for him. Exercising arms, back, stomach, and shoulders, and increasing his endurance thru physical and occupational therapy. Every hour was a different therapy with rests and breaks throughout. Speech therapy involved exercises for the throat & neck muscles, to help our dad swallow food again. These exercises continued daily, with growth and improvement each day.

Over time, our Dad continued to get stronger and stronger - but still being fed with a feeding tube. His goal was to get to the point of eating solid foods without the feeding tube.

On November 4th, we had a breakthrough! After weeks of unique throat exercises, our dad took another swallow test, and the esophagus was open. It was a miracle of God! Our dad could finally eat some solid foods, after living on ice chips and a feeding tube for 5 weeks.

Here is a photo of his first solid meal - YUMMY! ;) Mostaccioli and Cream Spinage.

All the doctors, nurses, and therapists at Rehab STL were absolutely the best, and the extra care they provided for our dad was beyond incredible. They go above a beyond for their patients and words cannot explain how thankful we were to have had them for our dad's care.

Now the grand finale of our dad's story - TIME TO GO HOME!

On November 8th, our dad was released from rehab and was ready to go home! All of our family and friends' prayers were answered. God is good, and blessed us with the gift of time. More time on earth with our dad! His first stop before heading to his home in Kirkwood was lunch at Chick-fil-A-Filet.

Here is a photo - SMILES all around!

After 58 days in New Orleans and St. Louis hospitals - our dad was finally home! We are all so thankful for this endless strength and fight to live for his family.

Thanks to all our mom's sisters for making the welcome home so much more special! There is no place better than home.

To date, our dad is doing beyond great - he is thriving and living his life thankful for each day. He is gaining weight, increasing his endurance, graduated from in-home rehab, and can even drive his truck again!

His journey has been a true miracle from God. We want to take this time to thank everyone for the continued support, prayers, phone calls, texts, cards - all from near and far.

One life lesson our dad taught all of us (Rebecca, Carrie, Greg) early on in life was -not to be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. Asking others for help is not a sign of weakness, but can be seen as a sign of strength. It is hard to be vulnerable, but if you take down that wall of pride - it allows others to give assistance or support. We are asking for your help.

This Go-Fund Me Page is dedicated to Mike Reger. Our loving, strong, positive, smiling dad and husband to Norma. All funds donated will be used to help cover the cost of the medical transport from New Orleans to St. Louis home.

We thank each of you for your continued support and wish all of you a happy new year. As we all know, life is short. Hug those you love and cherish every moment together. God Bless.

Love,

Rebecca Lemcke, Carrie Gale, Greg Reger