Kate & Dave
He's A Miracle Man For Sure
18 September 2004
My 52 year old significant other, Dave, recently found this support site and asked me to write my version of his ordeal.
He called me on the evening of January 14th 2004 from the Annapolis Maryland area (I live in Western Massachusetts) and told me that he was feeling strange and that his blood pressure was dropping. I told him to not fool around and go to the hospital to get checked out. He sounded reluctant (a guy thang), but after calling his sister (a nurse in Colorado) who agreed that he go get checked out, he went. Throughout the night, I received several calls from him at the emergency room. He let me know how frightened he was which was very unusual for him because he rarely complained about himself. Nurses and Doctors got on the phone and told me that he probably wasn't going to make it through the night. They kept saying that he has the same thing that killed the actor John Ritter...a dissected aorta.
He was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital and underwent emergency surgery at 5am. By the time I landed at BWI at 3pm, I received the news that he survived the surgery, but was in very critical condition. I spoke to the surgeon who told me how he had repaired his aorta. The aneurysm exploded on the table just after they had opened him up...what a mess!
The 5 days in the ICU were pretty scary to say the least. The nurses were concerned that he wasn't "coming out of it" as quickly as they wanted him to. He was out of his mind and combative, but by the 5th day, he came back.
I should have begun this story by telling you what happened less than 2 years previous to all this. He came to visit me one weekend April 2002 and awoke with a numb left leg and arm...what I thought was a stroke because he is treated for his high blood pressure. I brought him to a local emergency room here in MA where he was diagnosed with an encapsulated abscess in his brain. He underwent emergency brain surgery to biopsy the abscess. It turned out to be a freak thing. Three different strep infections had developed and encapsulated in his right brain and was causing pressure.
After 6 months of intravenous antibiotic injections, the infection cleared up. He was left with only residual numbness in his left leg. We had been told by the neurosurgeon that he was only 1% of survivors from that kind of brain infection...a miracle man! No one could really tell us why it happened or what to expect in the future although he appeared to be very normal after. He has regular follow-up ct-scans to the brain to check the scarring. The complaints that he had after that were thought to be residual from the brain surgery.
In late October 2003, I went to visit him in Maryland and noticed that he had developed a "vagal nerve" cough. I have been in the medical field and knew that it was time to get his blood pressure medications checked. He also started gaining weight and looking "puffy". I mentioned these things to him. He began complaining about loss of energy and an all round feeling that he "was dying". I know it sounded dramatic, but coming from Dave, it was unusual. I really didn't think that these symptoms were residuals from the brain surgery, but we were both still focusing on that.
Throughout the holidays we enjoyed being together during celebrations. I noticed he had gained weight, but it didn't appear that he was eating more than usual. He just looked puffy. Now, in retrospect, I am aware that his body functions were slowly shutting! down. I am sure the focus of his unrelated brain surgery masked the symptoms of what was happening to his aorta. I KNOW he would have had his symptoms looked at closer if it hadn't been for the brain surgery.
After the repair of his aorta and as soon as he got home, he developed a huge case of gout in his right knee which complicated his recovery. In the past, he had short bouts of gout in his right big toe, but never anything like this. When the kidneys were shut down during the surgery, his high uric acid (the sludge) kicked in big time. I used to work in an emergency/trauma room and have never seen anyone in such CONSTANT pain as I saw Dave those weeks during his attempt to recover. There were questions about what kinds of meds to treat his gout with that wouldn't interfere with his recovery.
It's been a long road for both of us. His blood pressure appeared to be stable and right where the Drs wanted it to be for 4 months after the surgery, but suddenly started to spike up this past April. He's had his 3 and 6 month scans and the surgeon says everything is checking out normal. The Cardiologist appears to be "playing" with his meds...changing them every two weeks or so. He is having a difficult time trying to find his "normal feelings" when the meds are being changed so much and his reactions to them vary.
He's in the process of moving back up north to be closer to his family and myself and he's back at work, but frustrated with his varied limitations. He's been depressed which is to be expected, but is doing his best to be as productive as possible.
These 2 near death occurrences seem so unfair for someone who has always been an otherwise extremely healthy person. He doesn't smoke or do drugs and has always been strong. My brother said that he's the "luckiest, unluckiest man he's ever known". To me, he's a miracle man for sure!
Discussion, comments, or questions: Kate Ruscio
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