Eeyore's Pal
Trading pins since before there were rubber backs
- Joined
- Nov 14, 1999
- Messages
- 3,779
1/18/05:
Just got off the phone with Ruthie. Today Jim achieved a major milestone: He is totally off the respirator! Of course he is still pretty doped up, so now that he can talk, he is saying some pretty odd things.
This is just the first of many hurdles on this long recovery. It will be 1-2 more weeks before they will know whether his esophagus is repaired enough to work normally. But it was a very "up" day overall because at least communicating is possible again.
I have been tasked with distributing "Thank You!"s to a ton of people:
-- the ER staff at Celebration Hospital -->> according to the doctor and critical care staff at Florida Hospital, these guys saved Jim's life by moving so quickly. (Ruthie would like to send them some kind of thank you gift and is looking for suggestions.)
-- the OKW resort manager has been an angel from heaven! This lady has accommodated a guest's need way beyond anything I've ever heard of.
-- JudithM for personally stepping in to help in the middle of her own vacation.
-- Darlene (Mickey7811) for opening her heart and her home.
-- All of her DISpals who called, sent messages through me, sent prayers, pixie dust, and support. (I've been reading the board messages to her every other day.)
<b>You guys are wonderful!
</b> 
1/15/05:
The last few days have been a bit frustrating. On Tuesday & Wednesday, Ruthie and kids were able to communicate with Jim with sign language and word boards and drawing letters in the air. Sara was particularly good at "reading" her dad's messages and was dubbed official interpreter. But it seems the doctor felt that things were moving too fast, and he upped Jim's sedation to keep him more completely out. So communication has halted, and that has been hard on Ruthie and the kids.
Sara and Ryan headed for home today, and Jeff leaves in the morning. Ruthie will then be on her own, and I know it will be harder to handle the stress of the situation and the many responsibilities.
OKW has really gone above and beyond in trying to accommodate the family emergency. It appears that Ruthie will be able to stay on another week at a special rate. After that, one of our own, Darlene (Mickey 7811) had graciously invited Ruthie a room at Mickey Manor.
So one huge concern seems to be under control.
Another big Thank You to JudithM -- She has greased wheels at OKW and arranged for some respite park time for the family.
As of tonight, Jim's condition remains stable. He is down to only about 30% respirator, the rest is breathing on his own.
I have related to Ruthie via phone, everyone's messages and prayers. She sends a group Thank You back to all.
1/12/05:
Just spoke with Ruthie and she is having an overdue moment of release because JudithM stopped by to see how she is doing!
I gave her a quick recap of all of the wonderful supportive messages that her friends posted here. She sends along a huge THANK YOU to everyone. (Mike: I passed along your message too.)
As of today, Jim is still stable, but the surgeon refuses to be optimistic until the danger period is over -- probably through the week.
Thanks to the help of a CM friend, OKW has worked out a great deal for the family to stay on through this week. Assuming Jim continues to improve, the kids will have to leave sooner or later, and Ruthie will have to navigate the responsibilities alone. And as much as Ruthie would like to .... she can't stay at OKW forever, but she can't leave Jim in a Florida hospital by himself. So she will have to figure out that problem at some point.
Keep the good wishes and thoughts coming! Every bit is appreciated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Friday Ruthie traveled to WDW with DS#1 Ryan for the 2005 Disney marathon. Ryan's dad drove down too.
For those who might not know, Ryan is 28 and a competitive runner. He came in 13th in the 2004 Disney marathon. Ryan did not have a great start but he came in 10th! Ryan also won first place for his age category!
Sunday night, Ryan partied at PI with other marathoners and Ruthie & Jim went to MGM but were not actually together. No pretenses here -- Ruthie and Jim have been separated for 16 years.
Later that night, Jim called Ruthie (they were both staying at OKW, different studios) and told her he was in horrendous pain, vomiting a lot, and he was calling the front desk for an ambulance. Ruthie hailed the ambulance as it came through OKW, and went with Jim to Celebration Hospital. It took about 90 minutes for them to figure out that Jim had a ruptured esophagus. This is a rare, catastrophic event, caused by an esopageal spasm following violent vomiting. It is usually fatal.
Jim was airlifted to Florida Hospital and underwent 6-7 hours of surgery to repair his esophagus and clean up the mess. The doctor warned Ruthie that most people do not even survive the surgery. Luckily Jim is otherwise healthy, very fit, and very fiesty. He is now in ICU with tons of tubes, on a respirator, and antibiotics. The biggest risk now is the possibility of infection or that the repair won't hold. The surgeon told Ruthie it's about 5-6 days before they'll know if Jim will make it. If things go well, he would continue in ICU for up to three weeks (this should give you all a signpost of how serious this is), and then another three weeks in the hospital.
Ruthie's DD, Sara, arrived in FL this morning -- a friend drove her down from VA.
Ruthie's DS#2, Jeff, has just started his second semester of college in southern VA, but he will be in FL by Thursday.
For now the family is still at OKW -- and with help from a CM friend -- hope to get Disney to pick up the room for this week. Ruthie is not sure what to do beyond that.
There are about a thousand details to be handled. I'm 900 miles away, on the phone with Ruthie as much as I can, doing what I can to help her figure out some of the logistics.
She doesn't have internet access, so she won't see this any time soon. But I had to post this so our DIS family could send prayers and pixie dust to Ruthie and family.
Just got off the phone with Ruthie. Today Jim achieved a major milestone: He is totally off the respirator! Of course he is still pretty doped up, so now that he can talk, he is saying some pretty odd things.
This is just the first of many hurdles on this long recovery. It will be 1-2 more weeks before they will know whether his esophagus is repaired enough to work normally. But it was a very "up" day overall because at least communicating is possible again.I have been tasked with distributing "Thank You!"s to a ton of people:
-- the ER staff at Celebration Hospital -->> according to the doctor and critical care staff at Florida Hospital, these guys saved Jim's life by moving so quickly. (Ruthie would like to send them some kind of thank you gift and is looking for suggestions.)
-- the OKW resort manager has been an angel from heaven! This lady has accommodated a guest's need way beyond anything I've ever heard of.
-- JudithM for personally stepping in to help in the middle of her own vacation.
-- Darlene (Mickey7811) for opening her heart and her home.
-- All of her DISpals who called, sent messages through me, sent prayers, pixie dust, and support. (I've been reading the board messages to her every other day.)
<b>You guys are wonderful!
</b> 1/15/05:
The last few days have been a bit frustrating. On Tuesday & Wednesday, Ruthie and kids were able to communicate with Jim with sign language and word boards and drawing letters in the air. Sara was particularly good at "reading" her dad's messages and was dubbed official interpreter. But it seems the doctor felt that things were moving too fast, and he upped Jim's sedation to keep him more completely out. So communication has halted, and that has been hard on Ruthie and the kids.
Sara and Ryan headed for home today, and Jeff leaves in the morning. Ruthie will then be on her own, and I know it will be harder to handle the stress of the situation and the many responsibilities.
OKW has really gone above and beyond in trying to accommodate the family emergency. It appears that Ruthie will be able to stay on another week at a special rate. After that, one of our own, Darlene (Mickey 7811) had graciously invited Ruthie a room at Mickey Manor.
So one huge concern seems to be under control.Another big Thank You to JudithM -- She has greased wheels at OKW and arranged for some respite park time for the family.
As of tonight, Jim's condition remains stable. He is down to only about 30% respirator, the rest is breathing on his own.
I have related to Ruthie via phone, everyone's messages and prayers. She sends a group Thank You back to all.
1/12/05:
Just spoke with Ruthie and she is having an overdue moment of release because JudithM stopped by to see how she is doing!
I gave her a quick recap of all of the wonderful supportive messages that her friends posted here. She sends along a huge THANK YOU to everyone. (Mike: I passed along your message too.)
As of today, Jim is still stable, but the surgeon refuses to be optimistic until the danger period is over -- probably through the week.
Thanks to the help of a CM friend, OKW has worked out a great deal for the family to stay on through this week. Assuming Jim continues to improve, the kids will have to leave sooner or later, and Ruthie will have to navigate the responsibilities alone. And as much as Ruthie would like to .... she can't stay at OKW forever, but she can't leave Jim in a Florida hospital by himself. So she will have to figure out that problem at some point.
Keep the good wishes and thoughts coming! Every bit is appreciated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Friday Ruthie traveled to WDW with DS#1 Ryan for the 2005 Disney marathon. Ryan's dad drove down too.
For those who might not know, Ryan is 28 and a competitive runner. He came in 13th in the 2004 Disney marathon. Ryan did not have a great start but he came in 10th! Ryan also won first place for his age category!
Sunday night, Ryan partied at PI with other marathoners and Ruthie & Jim went to MGM but were not actually together. No pretenses here -- Ruthie and Jim have been separated for 16 years.
Later that night, Jim called Ruthie (they were both staying at OKW, different studios) and told her he was in horrendous pain, vomiting a lot, and he was calling the front desk for an ambulance. Ruthie hailed the ambulance as it came through OKW, and went with Jim to Celebration Hospital. It took about 90 minutes for them to figure out that Jim had a ruptured esophagus. This is a rare, catastrophic event, caused by an esopageal spasm following violent vomiting. It is usually fatal.
Jim was airlifted to Florida Hospital and underwent 6-7 hours of surgery to repair his esophagus and clean up the mess. The doctor warned Ruthie that most people do not even survive the surgery. Luckily Jim is otherwise healthy, very fit, and very fiesty. He is now in ICU with tons of tubes, on a respirator, and antibiotics. The biggest risk now is the possibility of infection or that the repair won't hold. The surgeon told Ruthie it's about 5-6 days before they'll know if Jim will make it. If things go well, he would continue in ICU for up to three weeks (this should give you all a signpost of how serious this is), and then another three weeks in the hospital.
Ruthie's DD, Sara, arrived in FL this morning -- a friend drove her down from VA.
Ruthie's DS#2, Jeff, has just started his second semester of college in southern VA, but he will be in FL by Thursday.
For now the family is still at OKW -- and with help from a CM friend -- hope to get Disney to pick up the room for this week. Ruthie is not sure what to do beyond that.
There are about a thousand details to be handled. I'm 900 miles away, on the phone with Ruthie as much as I can, doing what I can to help her figure out some of the logistics.
She doesn't have internet access, so she won't see this any time soon. But I had to post this so our DIS family could send prayers and pixie dust to Ruthie and family.
.
