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Ricer1 in trouble


Tonik
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43 minutes ago, redkow97 said:

Damn man...  I'm glad to hear there's some positive news, but it's also sounding more serious than I had been thinking.

How does something like this happen to a person who takes care of himself? I'm sitting here questioning my own mortality now.

Genetics or environment. 

 

Hope everything turns out ok. Sounds like a very tough situation for his friends and family. 

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So I just left. I will be honest, I went to see him to say goodbye. But I didn't, there is hope. He most certainly responds quickly and strongly to stimulus even though he is still sedated. He moves on his own like someone tossing in their sleep.

Then he let out this giant sigh. To me thats a physical response to an emotional thought. To me that is huge.

He has a lung infection, so he is on antibiotics and the ventilator until they clear his lungs. And while that is going on they have to keep him sedated. They hope tomorrow that they will remove the ventilator.

 

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It's times like this that I hate that I live 2 hours from home.  We are all rooting for you John.  It's just like the 50 mile bicycle rides that you do.  It might suck now, but you'll get through it.  

One thing for sure, tomorrow marks 5 years from when my twin passed.  You definitely can't let that happen!  

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Update: Spoke with John's daughter again this morning.  They are delaying the meeting with the brain doctor for another day or two to give him some more rest.  He's still fighting the infection.  

His daughter said "we are still praying his brain wakes up".   

Keep fighting John. 

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thats some good news, i really hope he pulls through this. The reactions the family noted hopefully is not just hand squeezing etc, hopefully it involves significant limb and body movement which is a good starting sign. Possible the down time was not as bad as they feared initially and his wife starting CPR was a big blessing. As tonic said when hypothermia was mentioned i was loosing hope, but now i kind of have a feeling this guy is gonna get back to us, we just have to wait. 

When we were riding together roughly couple of weeks ago, I would be pulling ahead and waiting for him at the next intersection.  And i told him " i like riding with you because i know you are enjoying your ride at your pace and not trying to keep up and i have zero worries and absolutely sure you are going to show up at the next intersection no matter the wait time" . I guess he is gonna do it again. We just have to wait and he will show up. 

 This is kind of hitting me hard because at that time we got to talk a lot and ended up discussing some deep stuff , and as if getting jinxed we were discussing about heart attack, stents, bypass surgery, getting old, life support every thing, what he prefers whats right thing to do etc  :(  Now looking back it  I wish we didnt talk about those. 

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52 minutes ago, Tonik said:

So I just visited again. Yes @NinjaDoc the movements are significant. Entire body, arms legs head and not just from stimulus. Today he started to sit up....raised himself up several inches. And the movement is frequent.

No changes since yesterday. Still running a 38.3 fever with fluid in lungs. So they are postponing removing the ventilator and waking him. Perhaps until Friday, but maybe tomorrow.

The family really needs our visits, it really helps them. They are good peeps.

Thank you for the update.  Glad to hear of significant movement.  Yes, his family is a representation of himself. All really good people.  

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Just left. Keep in mind all my info is second hand as I do not talk directly to the doctors.

Not a good day. They took him off sedation, he was not responsive other than to pain. If they poked him in the feet with a needle he reacted strongly. But nothing from verbal commands or touch.

So back on sedation and they wanted to do an MRI to look for any signs of a stroke or injury to the brain from the fall as this happened.  They were not able to get him sedated enough before the end of the day to get it done. He is still moving around too much for that.

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23 minutes ago, Tonik said:

Just left. Keep in mind all my info is second hand as I do not talk directly to the doctors.

Not a good day. They took him off sedation, he was not responsive other than to pain. If they poked him in the feet with a needle he reacted strongly. But nothing from verbal commands or touch.

So back on sedation and they wanted to do an MRI to look for any signs of a stroke or injury to the brain from the fall as this happened.  They were not able to get him sedated enough before the end of the day to get it done. He is still moving around too much for that.

Keep the updates coming Jim. I have been praying for him and his family every day since I heard.  This is just going to take a lot of time for doctors to completely assess him.  If he can't speak, it's going to be that much harder.  One day at a time my friend, you will get through this John!

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1 hour ago, Tonik said:

Just left. Keep in mind all my info is second hand as I do not talk directly to the doctors.

Not a good day. They took him off sedation, he was not responsive other than to pain. If they poked him in the feet with a needle he reacted strongly. But nothing from verbal commands or touch.

So back on sedation and they wanted to do an MRI to look for any signs of a stroke or injury to the brain from the fall as this happened.  They were not able to get him sedated enough before the end of the day to get it done. He is still moving around too much for that.

This is not good to hear... This just reminds me so much of my brother it's kind of sickening.   When my brother crashed, the initial report I got was that he was seriously hurt and wasn't likely to make it.  Then I get to the hospital and all the things the doctors told me were positive things from the initial report so I kind of got my hopes up... Then they stabilized him and took him to surgery, even more positives and more hopes... Then the doctors came and told me he didn't make it.  Almost exactly 5 years to this date 7-12-12

 

I just hope it's not the same thing...  It's the worst when bad things happen to such great people.  John, we are still all rooting for you.  Don't give up, keep fighting!  You can do this!

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@whaler and I just left. The MRI came back ok. No physical brain damage. But that does not indicate what brain activity there may be. Thet did so an EEG when he first got there.  He is still sedated and the family expected to meet with the doctor this evening.

Beyond that I dont have much to add.

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Better day today. They are backing off the sedation in preparation for the neurologist to see him. He is responding to commands. My wife said hi John, he opened his eyes and looked at us.

 

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They just met with the neurologist. He's failing to respond to basic commands and they seem concerned about that. 

 

They are weeding him off the sedation. He was able to breathe for 45 minutes on his own before he got too irritated with his throat. 

 

Still waiting to see him now. I'll update when I know more. 

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I was at the hospital for over 6 hours yesterday and I've gotten a much more fuller story.

The honest truth is he is in real trouble.  He is unable to do basic commands such as squeezing his hand.  This falls on the same level of brain functioning as swallowing, so the neurologist believes he is unable to swallow either.  As a result, they can't remove the ventilator in fear he'll suffocate on his own saliva. Therefore, they can't un-sedate him fully because of the ventilator.  

He is unable to breathe continuously on his own, he tries like hell, but just can't do it.  They've taken him off Fentanyl (pain med) to see if that will improve his situation.  They are going to attempt another test this morning to see if he's able to complete these tasks.   He is only responding to pain, no other stimulus seems to get a legit response.  The neurologist believes he has damaged part of the brain that controls that.  72 hour is the threshold where the brain should be capable of doing whatever it's able to do.  We are at 144 hours now.  

The reality is he is in real trouble.  Things are looking much more grim today than the last 4 days as his improvement has stopped and we now believe he has some significant brain issues. 

They are going to bring in the Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion.  We can't give up hope, because if there is anyone who is able to come back from this, it's John.  Unfortunately, reality is what it is.  Everyone keep praying or doing whatever you do to bring good vibes to John.  He needs everyone's support!  

Keep fighting John.  The amount of people I saw come in to support John yesterday was incredible.  There was 10-15 people there continuously.  Friends, family, bike family.  He's influenced so many people it is incredible.

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@whaler and I spent some time at the hospital yesterday.  We couldn't see John as they said he was too agitated, so we hung out with the family for a little bit.  John has an awesome family that are all pulling for him.  I am trying to stay positive for them, but am concerned about the same things Derek listed above.  Maybe the second opinion from the Cleveland Clinic will help clear some things up for the family.  I guess we just continue to keep John in our thoughts and prayers until the family discloses more info.

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