09/13/04 - Terry Brown

David Suffers From Mild Heart Attack at 1:00AM...

It's amazing how things can change in just a blink of an eye. This morning I received a call at 1:27AM that David suffered a mild heart attack at about 1:00AM this morning. The doctor was calling for verbal consent to intubate him and put him back on a ventilator since he is unable to breathe on his own right now. He is also bleeding internally somewhere in his abdomen and they are holding off on surgery until it's a last resort. They don't want to ruin the skin graft that has healed so nicely over his abdomen these last 4 months! It's a no win situation right now...

I threw on my clothes and drove like a maniac to Shock Trauma this morning. I got there at about 2:15AM to find him mentally out of it and fighting the ventilator. His nurse told me that his blood pressure became thready at about 11:00PM and then he started to experience difficulty in breathing. They had hoped to bring his blood pressure to within normal ranges with fluids but David just did not respond this time! They think he suffered a mild heart attack which sent him into acute respiratory distress. They had to give him four units of whole blood during the time that I was there. They sent me home about 2:00PM to go get some sleep. When my sister Wanda and I were leaving they were going to give him two more units of blood and other blood products like plasma and RFB. They have him scheduled for a CT scan of his abdomen tonight to find out where he is bleeding from. They think, it may be his gall bladder and have promised to call me at home, as soon as they know more. I've never seen David so scared before...I could see it in his eyes and the look on his face. He can't speak because he's intubated but he tried to tell me that he was afraid and that he wanted to know what was happening to him. They had to give him a paralyzing drug in order to intubate him. Later they gave him pain medication, something for his anxiety so that he would calm down and not fight the ventilator. They had to restrain his hands and put mitts on them as well. I guess that it's time to kick our prayers up a notch for David...please continue to pray for him and please continue to pray for me that I will once again have the strength to see him through this very frightening time for him. As soon I know more from his doctors I will keep everyone updated. I'm going to try and eat and then crash for a few hours of sleep.

Terry