Cousin had foot surgery a month ago and had been sedentary. He got up and fell on a TV tray injuring himself. When daughter found him he had such sever chest pain he could not breath and had crushing chest pain. Took him to local ER. He could not talk from crushing chest pain. The ER docs interpret the CT that he has another aortic dissection and would die shortly without treatment. Cousin had a living will and medical power of attorney stating that cousin did not want extraordinary measures and DNR. Daughter had to go to the admin office to register said documents so they would not proceed with heroic measures.
When she retuned to ER the bed her dad was in was gone. The bed in the next alcove had a sheet over the body with attendants cleaning, etc. she did not say anything to anyone, she just assumed it was her father. Devastated, daughter went to a waiting room and started to call relatives...
Meanwhile, while she was gone from the ER a very hyper ER Dr had put cousin in a medically induced coma and loaded him into an ambulance and sent him to Stanford, where the Drs that took care of the dissection 10 years ago eagerly awaited to fix him again.
Nurses finally found daughter and wanted consent for Stanford to treat him. Can you imagine the rush of feelings?? What? He's still alive? Daughter jumped in car and rushed down to Stanford while explaining on the phone her father's wishes about no further treatment. When she got there, dad was still in medical coma and intubated. She thought the worse. The Dr explained that he was OK. He did NOT have another aortic dissection. The other DRs at the ER thought the scars from the old repaired dissection was actually a new, worse dissection. Actually, his heart was fine, looked surprising well compared to the post surgical CTs taken 10 yrs ago. But he still couldn't breath without extreme pain.
Prognosis? The damage from the fall caused so much pain that he could hardly breath reducing his oxygen levels bringing on a myriad of symptoms that would lead a Dr to make that diagnosis based on cousin's med history and the CT. The ribs were not broken so the Drs did not catch the chest injury. But apparently, he severely injured the muscles and ligaments of his chest area that caused extreme constriction and pain of the muscles and ligaments around the heart and lungs. They will keep him heavily sedated so he can breathe. So, cousin will be OK, Praise The Lord. It does make you wonder about the medical system. I can't believe the chain of events that allowed all of us to believe that he died. But, again, thank God the med system messed up and he is very much alive and will live to tell the story of his almost passing.
Again, thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
and The William too!
