A lot happened in the last week so I will try to keep this as condensed as possible...just have to write about it to get it all out.
I picked Nels' sister Heidi up from the airport last Tuesday and spent some time with Nels and his tearful family - cousin Heather, his stepmom Laurie, and his aunt and uncle Nancy & Daniel. Daniel is David's twin brother. It was a difficult day. A week ago today, Nels' family was afraid that David was going to die. He was in very bad shape, the flu combined with a severe sodium deficiency caused him to pass out and lose consciousness. His lungs were not working as they should, and he had to have surgery to be on an ECMO machine that delivered oxygen directly into his body. This machine is rarely used, especially on adults, so he had to be airlifted from one of the hospitals in the Quad Cities to Rockford. He was the first adult ECMO patient in the Rockford area. He was in a drug-induced coma and the doctors said they would not know if there was any brain damage until he awoke.
I went back to Rockford Thursday night to stay with Nels for the rest of the weekend, and the mood was entirely different. His whole family was smiling and happy and jumped up to hug me when I walked in the waiting room area. David had made tremendous progress - he had already been taken off of the ECMO machine and was now on a ventilator instead. All signs were showing that he would pull through. He was already able to open his eyes for brief periods of time, squeeze your hand, and nod "yes" or "no" to questions!
One of the most emotional points was when I was with Nels for one of the first times David opened his eyes. Nels leaned over and said, "When you get better, I'll eat dinner with you all the time and go with you to the store, because I know you always ask me to and you like that. I took it for granted before." Just like in a dramatic Lifetime movie, David started opening his eyes. I cried after we left the room, it was so touching.
On Friday morning, they did some CT scans of his brain and lungs. ALL CLEAR. They were expecting some damage to his head from the fall and from his oxygen levels falling so low. He continued to improve hour by hour - staying awake for longer periods of time, "communicating" with us through nodding since he still had the ventilator tube down his throat, and so on.
Sunday afternoon, I said bye to Nels' dad and let him know that his family was still all here and we are all so proud of how great he's doing. He squeezed my hand for a long time.
Here it is a week later and yesterday they were able to remove the ventilator and his lungs are supporting him on their own! He is able to eat soup and is talking and doing well! He may need some physical therapy and they are still trying to determine exactly what happened so that it won't happen again.
I am so happy for Nels and his family that David is still here with us. I know there is so much left of his life to go and so much that his children, Nels and Heidi, want him around for. Over the weekend, I also fell in love with Nels' family even more. I really hope they become my in-laws soon! His aunt, uncle and cousins said I'm already part of the family and one of his cousins is hoping Nels "gets on with it already" in terms of proposing ; ) They are such good, strong, and caring people and I was so happy to spend so much time with them the last few days, even though it was not under great circumstances.
Here are some pictures of our weekend together:
Starting on the left: cousin Heather, Nels, me, Aunt Nancy, Heidi, cousin Beth, Uncle Daniel:
Nels' sister Heidi, cousins Beth & Heather, Nels, and me:
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