Rich & Patty “Medical Emergency”

Hello everyone, let me share our story below and why we are humbly asking for your help. My husband and I are both at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee and have gone 5 weeks without an income. The daily bills still come in, hotel costs for me to be close by on emergency days, pet sitters fees, gas prices, wear and tear on 3 hour round trips to the hospital and the now beginnings of the first of many to come; medical bills.

Our world has been turned upside down. My husband Rich, tore his esophagus just as we arrived to our campsite on October 13 at 7pm. We had been awake since 3am, worked full time all day, then drove 1 1/2 hours in the pouring rain in hopes for a relaxing weekend away.

I could tell something was wrong though; my husband was pale and sweating and holding his stomach as we drove.

We arrived to the campground, and after he had thrown up blood and looked at me, unable to speak, I called 911. By the time the ambulance arrived and drove him over 2 hours away, they ran tests and immediately did his 1st surgery to repair a torn esophagus. They wanted to fly him to Mayo Clinic, in another state because of the specialty surgeons needed for the surgeries to come, but Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee ended up finding the surgeons and facility needed. The 1st surgery failed, and he suffered 2 additional tears due to a faulty stent that was installed. We are now 3 more surgeries later and multiple teams covering all his organs, infectious diseases, hematology, etc. By the 4th surgery, we were told this was the last ditch effort to save his esophagus.

He almost died 2 weeks ago in the ICU and all the doctors and nurses were so kind and loving, knowing it may be our last days with him. We were told that these tears released toxins into his lungs and chest cavity where it’s supposed to be sterile. He has over 5 deathly bacteria and fungal toxins ravaging his insides; requiring an anti fungal and antibiotic cocktail in his IVs. One hour of these toxins could be fatal, yet he had over 15 hours of toxins releasing into his body the first time around, than many more hours following when the multiple surgeries failed. Besides the pain of multiple surgeries on an older fella and all the internal damage, the overwhelming finances we are incurring is beyond belief.

He has had many toxic liters of fluid removed from his lungs over and over again via 3 chest tubes and every time we think it’s done, it refills with more toxic liquid. One night, one chest tube turned dark green and chunky. They took him in for a rush surgery to open the right side of his chest and scrubbed out his chest cavity and lungs the best they could.

A few days later, he was gasping for air, and it turned out that one of the chest tubes failed, sucking air into his chest and forcing the left lung crushing into a fist size ball, completely collapsing it. He said he felt like he was drowning over and over again. It’s the worst thing to watch, and feeling so helpless. My heart just aches for him. All I am capable of doing is praying and trying to keep everything afloat.

We’re going on 5 weeks now; in and out of ICU, and I haven’t left his side other than use restroom, grab lunch, and leave when visiting hours are over to care for our pets. 

His recent stent, is longer than the first, forcing the stomach flap to stay open. This means he cannot lay flat otherwise the stomach acids will move up to the esophagus, starting this hell all over again.

Our surgeons came in last night, and explained they are concerned about another leak in the stent. This was another one of many blows to us.

They finally removed 4 chest tubes and his NG tube from his nose, but the last chest tube is staying in. They are going to put a feeding tube in his abdomen in the next couple days, hoping this works. If it fails then sadly, he will have his esophagus completely removed.

 

I journal updates daily about our ups and downs on this roller coaster. Please send us your prayers, and if you have the ability to help donate a gift to our cause in raising funds, we will be beyond appreciative.

We will have months of healing ahead of us. Thank you all for reading and if you are interested on the updates, feel free to read our story journal on CaringBridge.com.

Under Rich Lathrop “Rich’s Story”

Thank you, Patty