David A. Lemmink

Hello!

Wow!  When things happen, they happen fast!

Life was just moving along.  David started to have some “stomach” pain Monday so we contacted Dr. Brinker who set up a CT scan for that day.  We got ourselves together and headed down to St. Mary’s to get the scan.  One of the stipulations that David had that day was that he said he would NOT drink the “chalky” contrast stuff.  He said he felt bad enough without drinking that “junk” and feeling worse.  They told him that would be fine.  We got to St. Mary’s and signed in, waited our turn, and when they called his name followed the nurse back.  As we headed down the hall, she said they would be using the intravenous contrast.  He started saying “no! no! no way!”  Well, that was it!  We headed out without getting the scan.  For those of you who know me, I was furious, to say the least.  Speechless would be what some would be, but of course, I am rarely speechless.  (I’m not sure he knew what hit him!) WOW!

So home we went.  Life moved along (without a lot of words out of this Greek woman).  He didn’t say much how he was feeling.  Tuesday night, we didn’t get much sleep.  David was agitated and out of sorts and did not sleep very much.  That means I didn’t sleep either.  I finally got up around 3:30 or 4 and headed out to the living room.  I think with me gone, he finally was able to sleep, which was a good thing.  Later, I went to work and he did his new normal.  When I got home around 5:45, he was having much trouble breathing.  Short of breath and labored.  I asked him what he wanted to do.  He said, let’s head to the ER.  So, that’s what we did.  We got to St. Mary’s and were ushered in immediately.  Shortness of breath is grave and they take it seriously.  Our nurse, Bob was amazing.  He was on top of everything immediately and they got him hooked up to monitors and worked to stabilize him.

We spent the next 4 hours in ER.  He got an x-ray which didn’t show much.  They were able to slow down his respiration a bit, but not enough to make him comfortable.  After all that time, the decision was made to admit him.  When admitted, they took him for a CT scan (yes, he had to have it anyway, and he didn’t complain at all!!!) That of course is what showed the pulmonary embolism in one lung.  SCARY!  They immediately started him on blood thinners and also gave him fluids.  Today because his hemoglobin was down again, they gave him 2 more pints of blood. I guess it’s been a very interesting last couple of days, and I would love to get back to boring!

At this time, they are not saying when he will be released.  I guess when his respiration is normal and they see that the clot is gone.  They may decide to keep him on the blood thinners to avoid this happening again.  They are now talking about having Physical and/or Occupational Therapists come here and work with him a couple of times a week.  I am all for that.  The stronger he gets the faster he will heal.

So as you see this week has been a not very fun week!  Please pray the blood clot dissolves and David can come home.  Praise God for the care from the nursing staff at St. Mary’s.  They are loving caring people who take great care of David.  We are so thankful for them!

Thank you so much for your kind and loving words and of course for your prayers for David.

Love, Connie