Thanks for prayin', & for stoppin' by here.
Dave was comin' over to my house before I was born. His dad (my uncle) was very close to my mom (his kid sister) & visited often. So he's is very much my older brother.
As of today, 11/21, he's still @ Olympia Medical Center & will not be home for Thanksgiving, but by the grace of God, he's improving.
At this point, I'll let his wife tell the story:
Dear family,
Dave has continued to get better, hour by hour. I am hopeful that by the grace of God he is going to pull out of this! Around 5 a.m. today Dave opened his eyes a little and was clearly tracking with what I was saying. The nurses are reducing his sedatives to prepare him to "wake up" and begin weaning off of the ventilator (breathing machine) and start breathing on his own.
He's still expected to stay remain at Olympia hospital for at least a few days until he gets stronger and more stable. As stable as he appears to me, the doctors still consider him "very critical" and "unstable." The longer they're willing to give him that designation, the better. He is able to receive more attention in intensive care than he could in a regular hospital room.
The cardiologist here at this hospital said that Dave did not have a heart attack (i.e., where part of the heart muscle dies), but went into "sudden cardiac arrest caused by ventricular fibrillation". The electrical system to his heart malfunctioned, his left ventricle began beating wildly, and his heart shut down. From what I've read, in cases like this, death follows within minutes unless the patient receives immediate emergency treatment--CPR and defibrillation (shock) to the heart--precisely what Dave got (see
http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/9/1675_57789.htm for an easy to read write up on this).
Eventually (no timetable on this yet) Dave's doctors at Olympia are planning to transfer him to Cedars-Sinai (a highly regarded hospital) for an angiogram (to identify any other problems with his heart) and to insert a pacemaker and defibrillator. If Dave goes into ventricular fibrillation again, the defibrillator will automatically shock his heart to get it started again (it sounds like pushing a reset button on a piece of electronic equipment--Dave should like that!).
In hindsight, while it was traumatic for the band and everyone in the audience, Dave could not have had a better setting for this to occur. Praise God that:
- A doctor and nurse were in the crowd and administered CPR IMMEDIATELY
- The paramedics arrived within a few minutes of the attack and wasted no time in using their defibrillators to shock his heart back into operation
- Dave was taken to the hospital literally next door to where the band was playing. Dave still had tremendous fluid built up in his lungs that was drowning him. He needed immediate medical care to address this.
- An on-call pulmonary specialist came quickly and figured out what was happening. He opened a tube from Dave's lungs and the fluid streamed out. He adjusted the ventilator (breathing machine) to get oxygen flowing in Dave's body.
- God pumped Dave's heart when it was too weak to pump itself. Even at the ventilator's highest settings, Dave's heart was too weak to get enough oxygen into his body. That's when the ER doctors told me to call the family, because they didn't think he'd make it until morning. But God heard our prayers and helped Dave when he could not help himself. Independently, a couple of our friends who were praying over Dave told me that they saw images of God's "hands" massaging Dave's heart.
Please keep praying for Dave's heart to be strengthened and for God's protection as he awaits an angiogram (which may lead to other corrective procedures such as angioplasty or bypass surgery) and insertion of the defibrillator.
"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully commited to him." 2 Chron 16:9
Trusting God,
Cindy