Support Richard's Open Heart Surgery Recovery

Hello Family and Friends

Update: 2/11/2025

Richard is home! We were discharged today! He is still in a lot of pain, but for the most part he is walking and moving. We’re calling him T-Rex at the moment!! I truly from the bottom of my heart am very thankful for everyone helping where they can.. dinners, donations and taking care of our boys for us. This is just the beginning of the healing process. ❤️

Update: 2/7/2025

Richard’s surgery went well and he’s recovering. ❤️

I’m going to try this again as I deleted the last one. I thought we were out of the woods and he was getting better, but things turned completely around and now Richard has to have open heart surgery. It’s been a very long road for the last month and it looks like we have about a 3-month recovery according to doctors. Hopefully sooner, but we need this man to heal completely!

Richard went into the hospital Christmas night with very strange symptoms and neck pain. He was given the migraine cocktail and sent home. We also thought he just had a virus or he was getting a cold. Richard pushed hard to go to work but physically and mentally struggled. One week later, the symptoms only got worse, and new symptoms appeared. Again, he didn’t want to go to the ER, but I forced him. Different hospital, but the same outcome: migraine cocktail and sent home. White blood count and red blood count all came back good. “Nothing was alarming according to the doctors.” Richard pushed through it again. He didn’t seem right; he was losing his train of thought, he would get dizzy, and had chest pain. Literally watching him suffer another week, I told him I was taking him back in. We drove to another ER. This would be 3 different ER visits in less than a month. This hospital read through his chart and saw they did “every test they could.” The only test they hadn’t tried was a spinal tap. Spent the entire night running blood and getting this spinal tap. Everything came back “normal” again, and he was sent home. Saturday was a day he just slept, but waking up he felt good (must have been all the medication). Sunday came and he said the head pain was back. He took medication and slept most of the day. Monday, Richard woke up with the worst headache he ever had (later we found out that you get a Lumbar Puncture Headache when you get a spinal done). Richard pushed through all day Monday. Tuesday, he woke up and said he felt fine, but the moment he got up, he collapsed right back on the bed. I instantly said, “I’m taking you back.” Again, another ER visit. This time doctors noticed the labs from a couple of nights ago and said, “You’re getting admitted; you have “bacterial meningitis!” We were admitted. Finally, we felt like he was going to get better. Instantly started him on antibiotics. A few days later, we were discharged. All tests came back “clear.” A whole week went by, but Richard still had these weird symptoms and still had the headache. But he felt a little “better,” so good he was ready to go back to work. Monday was a follow-up appointment, but that Monday after his appointment, he was hit with an “episode.” The headache was another bad one. When he would get these “episodes,” it would completely knock him out. We went home and he slept most of the afternoon and through the night. The next day, he was so winded he slept all day. Come Wednesday morning, he told me he felt like he got hit by a bus. I called the doctor’s office to see if we should go in there or go back to the ER. They suggested taking him to the ER. Yes, we went to ANOTHER ER. Within minutes of being there, he was taken back, had an IV put in, and instantly took blood. Within 30 minutes, we were told his cardiac enzymes were high. We had more MRIs done and an echocardiogram. We were then admitted (1/29). This time we felt like someone was listening to us and didn’t treat us like another number. Within hours of being there, they found out Richard had an infection on his heart and also a severe leak. Long story short, they need to do open heart surgery to replace a heart valve and to get rid of the infection. He will be getting a mechanical valve. On top of this, Richard is also fighting a bacterial infection and will have to go home with a PICC line, which they already placed. Surgery is set for Friday 2/7/25.

We really appreciate all the love and help we are getting. We have reached out to all the resources we could at the moment. Unfortunately, they only help with a few things, and we still have other bills that will soon begin to pile up. I would like to take as much stress off of Richard as I could so he can rest and heal without having to worry or even think about getting back to work to play catch up.

Please know that no contribution is too small. Every dollar will help ease the burden right now so we can focus on the healing process and not the financial stress. Even if you can’t donate, please consider keeping all of us in your thoughts and prayers. Your support, in any form, means the world to us.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity, love, and prayers.