Zack is in the ICU
Donation protected
On Tuesday, August 20 I took Zack to the ER for pain in his pancreas. This wasn’t his first time having issues with his pancreas, but it was the first time he didn’t hesitate to tell me that he needed to go to the ER. After an agonizing 45 min wait, they finally called us back. His pulse was high, BP was low, and they couldn’t even find his temperature with 2 different thermometers (skin contact or tongue). They promptly rushed us back to a room and a swarm of doctors and nurses flooded the room to run all sorts of tests and ask us a ton of questions. They took him back for a CT scan and it showed major inflammation of his pancreas. They told us they would need to admit him to the ICU for 3-4 days...and we’ve been here ever since.
For the first 3 days he was pumped so full of fluids that his lungs started to fill with fluid. He was given breathing tubes at first, then a face mask, and now he is on a ventilator. They also discovered that he had very high triglycerides, which caused his pancreas to hold onto fats and alcohol WAY longer than it should, in turn causing further damage and overworking of his pancreas. In fact, his triglycerides were so high that they couldn’t even be read on the blood test for 3+ days (even with cholesterol meds) - his count was just reading as “over 5000” - the highest the blood test shows. Doctors couldn’t tell us if it was 10,000, 8,000, 5,100, etc. Finally at day 4 they lowered to 4100 and have steadily decreased from there to a normal level (after a brief rise again in between).
He’s also struggled with with high pulse, low blood pressure and a horrible fever - for a day his fever hovered around 103. This was due to his body fighting off the inflammation in his pancreas. The left side of the body is still full of fluids that have spilled from his pancreas. His white blood cell count was steadily increasing over the last week but finally decreased yesterday, 8/29, after they moved his feeding tube into his small intestine - so it bypasses the pancreas, in turn allowing the pancreas to heal. At this point, scans are showing he has about 1/3 of a functioning pancreas left, but hopefully once inflammation dies down, we will see improvement on future scans. But the damaged parts of the pancreas will never heal. Thankfully at this point, no other organs have been affected and are all healthy.
He has been on a breathing tube since early Friday morning due to the fluid in his lungs and pancreas, making it nearly impossible for him to breathe on his own. After they put the tube in he self extubated 2x in frustration on Friday night and had to be put on very strong sedatives since. They have slowly started to wean him off as of Wednesday, 8/28, but it’s a game of give and take with different meds as they want him somewhat sedated as long as the breathing tube is still in. The tube will not be removed until the fluid in his body dissipates as it causes pressure against his lungs and for now, without the tube, his lungs would collapse from the surrounding pressure. On Friday, August 30, they put a drain into his body, below his lung, to drain off the fluid surrounding his lung. For now he can only somewhat “communicate” via squeezing our hands, nodding, and opening his eyes. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s progress. The plan now is to hopefully remove the tube on Sunday, September 1st.
He’s been poked, prodded, drugged and scanned for 10 days now, and doctors expect him to be in the ICU for several more weeks. From there he will go to rehab as he will basically have to learn to walk and get around by himself again.
My heart aches for him. I miss him more than I can even put in words. Seeing him in this state is unimaginably hard. But I am so grateful for the amazing support system that we have. His mom has been at the hospital with us since we got to the ER, and his dad and step mom flew in from California a few days later. His sister, my parents, my sisters, Doug, our friends and family are all there for us to help with anything we need. Also his brother and sister who live out of town, and so much more family that live far and wide are always checking in on Zack and all of us. He is loved by so many.
We all just want our Zack back, healthy and well again. His daughter will be here in 4-5 weeks and to think that he might not be there with me to witness her birth, her first breath, her first cries, just makes my heart feel like it’s being crushed. I don’t want to do this without him. But as his mom told me the other day - at least he will be here for her first words, her first steps, her first birthday. Also thankful that our girl has heard my pep talks as she is head down and I have zero progress so far as of my visit with my doc on 8/28. She expects me to carry to 40 weeks or beyond (so Sept 30 or further!). Come on daddy!!!
Doctors said a year ago they were not as knowledgeable about pancreatitis, and this could have been fatal for him. They have learned so much over the last year and he’s getting wonderful care where he is. It’s a slow process but he will eventually heal and be back to normal. Needless to say we all can’t wait to have him back and healthy again.
Please send prayers and good vibes. It’s a marathon but he’s going to win it! We love you Zack!!!
Love you all,
-Kelly Palmer
I started this go fund me to help with medical and household bills. While we do have insurance, we elected a high deductible plan. Our deductible is $6000 and the out-of-pocket max is $9000. At this point we have only hit around $3500 of our deductible (including what we have paid for labor / delivery) so we will be looking to spend about $5500 more on medical bills from this ICU stay (and maybe more). Zack will not be able to work for a couple months, and he does not have any benefits with his job. So we will be out his income for quite awhile. Our first baby is due in about a month (Sept 30) and with this ICU stay, I am using up the weeks of PTO that I have saved for my maternity leave. Therefore I will only be paid the minimum FMLA payment of 6 weeks for leave, but I will be off work for 13 weeks total. So all of this money will be deposited into savings to help with medical bills, mortgage, utilities, etc.
I encourage everyone to leave comments here for Zack so he can see how much of an impact he has on everyone, and how much he means to all of us. I think it will mean a lot to him to be able to come back and read sweet and encouraging comments from his friends and family.
For the first 3 days he was pumped so full of fluids that his lungs started to fill with fluid. He was given breathing tubes at first, then a face mask, and now he is on a ventilator. They also discovered that he had very high triglycerides, which caused his pancreas to hold onto fats and alcohol WAY longer than it should, in turn causing further damage and overworking of his pancreas. In fact, his triglycerides were so high that they couldn’t even be read on the blood test for 3+ days (even with cholesterol meds) - his count was just reading as “over 5000” - the highest the blood test shows. Doctors couldn’t tell us if it was 10,000, 8,000, 5,100, etc. Finally at day 4 they lowered to 4100 and have steadily decreased from there to a normal level (after a brief rise again in between).
He’s also struggled with with high pulse, low blood pressure and a horrible fever - for a day his fever hovered around 103. This was due to his body fighting off the inflammation in his pancreas. The left side of the body is still full of fluids that have spilled from his pancreas. His white blood cell count was steadily increasing over the last week but finally decreased yesterday, 8/29, after they moved his feeding tube into his small intestine - so it bypasses the pancreas, in turn allowing the pancreas to heal. At this point, scans are showing he has about 1/3 of a functioning pancreas left, but hopefully once inflammation dies down, we will see improvement on future scans. But the damaged parts of the pancreas will never heal. Thankfully at this point, no other organs have been affected and are all healthy.
He has been on a breathing tube since early Friday morning due to the fluid in his lungs and pancreas, making it nearly impossible for him to breathe on his own. After they put the tube in he self extubated 2x in frustration on Friday night and had to be put on very strong sedatives since. They have slowly started to wean him off as of Wednesday, 8/28, but it’s a game of give and take with different meds as they want him somewhat sedated as long as the breathing tube is still in. The tube will not be removed until the fluid in his body dissipates as it causes pressure against his lungs and for now, without the tube, his lungs would collapse from the surrounding pressure. On Friday, August 30, they put a drain into his body, below his lung, to drain off the fluid surrounding his lung. For now he can only somewhat “communicate” via squeezing our hands, nodding, and opening his eyes. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s progress. The plan now is to hopefully remove the tube on Sunday, September 1st.
He’s been poked, prodded, drugged and scanned for 10 days now, and doctors expect him to be in the ICU for several more weeks. From there he will go to rehab as he will basically have to learn to walk and get around by himself again.
My heart aches for him. I miss him more than I can even put in words. Seeing him in this state is unimaginably hard. But I am so grateful for the amazing support system that we have. His mom has been at the hospital with us since we got to the ER, and his dad and step mom flew in from California a few days later. His sister, my parents, my sisters, Doug, our friends and family are all there for us to help with anything we need. Also his brother and sister who live out of town, and so much more family that live far and wide are always checking in on Zack and all of us. He is loved by so many.
We all just want our Zack back, healthy and well again. His daughter will be here in 4-5 weeks and to think that he might not be there with me to witness her birth, her first breath, her first cries, just makes my heart feel like it’s being crushed. I don’t want to do this without him. But as his mom told me the other day - at least he will be here for her first words, her first steps, her first birthday. Also thankful that our girl has heard my pep talks as she is head down and I have zero progress so far as of my visit with my doc on 8/28. She expects me to carry to 40 weeks or beyond (so Sept 30 or further!). Come on daddy!!!
Doctors said a year ago they were not as knowledgeable about pancreatitis, and this could have been fatal for him. They have learned so much over the last year and he’s getting wonderful care where he is. It’s a slow process but he will eventually heal and be back to normal. Needless to say we all can’t wait to have him back and healthy again.
Please send prayers and good vibes. It’s a marathon but he’s going to win it! We love you Zack!!!
Love you all,
-Kelly Palmer
I started this go fund me to help with medical and household bills. While we do have insurance, we elected a high deductible plan. Our deductible is $6000 and the out-of-pocket max is $9000. At this point we have only hit around $3500 of our deductible (including what we have paid for labor / delivery) so we will be looking to spend about $5500 more on medical bills from this ICU stay (and maybe more). Zack will not be able to work for a couple months, and he does not have any benefits with his job. So we will be out his income for quite awhile. Our first baby is due in about a month (Sept 30) and with this ICU stay, I am using up the weeks of PTO that I have saved for my maternity leave. Therefore I will only be paid the minimum FMLA payment of 6 weeks for leave, but I will be off work for 13 weeks total. So all of this money will be deposited into savings to help with medical bills, mortgage, utilities, etc.
I encourage everyone to leave comments here for Zack so he can see how much of an impact he has on everyone, and how much he means to all of us. I think it will mean a lot to him to be able to come back and read sweet and encouraging comments from his friends and family.
Organizer
Kelly Palmer
Organizer
Garland, TX