Sorry to have to report another tough day for Lea, but she seems to be struggling quite a bit right now. She is evidently very much aware of the severe pain in her abdomen now, and that is causing her to hyperventilate and raise her blood pressure to dangerous levels. It is like she is in panic mode, breathing very fast and heaving her chest as though she can’t get enough air.
This has caused her nurses to give her more medications to support her heart and lungs, while trying to bring her up off the sedatives, until they reached a point that Lea seemed to just give up, and her heart rate dropped to nil again today, just about 23 hours after she did it the first time. In this case, however, the nurse was in the room watching her when the event took place, and recovery was much quicker.
I had talked to Dr. Kirton earlier in the day, who thought the problem might have been caused by her abdomen being bound up so tightly after the surgery, causing intense pressure on the organs. He thought this might have caused so much generally distributed pain that Lea just decided to give up in order to escape it. He did say, though, that he didn’t think that sounded like her.
After today’s “cardiac event,” as they call it, the hypothesis is that she had a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot in the lungs, that stopped the flow of blood back to the heart. Since she was now stabilized, they felt the danger was now over from that blood clot, but they had discovered another one, using ultrasound, at the top of the left groin. There was a danger that the clot would be the next to move to the lungs.
The ICU doctor on duty explained that they couldn’t thin the blood to dissolve the clot because Lea still has an open wound, and would bleed profusely from that. They weren’t able to do their normal scan for the embolism in the lungs, because the dye that has to be injected into the blood to do the test would destroy her ailing kidneys. So, they had to make an educated guess, and the guess was that she was having blood clot problems. They didn’t want to move her at all, so proposed doing an emergency procedure right there in her room. Because of the incision in her abdomen, they couldn’t tell on the ultrasound whether she had any blood clots already on the way to the lungs.
The procedure that the Dr. recommended is similar to a heart stent implant, except in this case a metal ball similar in shape to an umbrella is implanted in the large vein leading to the lungs. The device captures any blood clots that might be traveling to the lungs, and prevent them from causing any problem. If the device should get clogged with a clot, there are additional, smaller veins that would reroute blood to the lungs.
I approved the procedure, even though there was a chance that there may have been a clot already in front of the point of insertion of the catheter. If there was, it would likely push the clot into the lungs where it could wreak havoc. If the clot were big enough it could shut off a large portion of one of the lungs. I prayed, along with those of you who responded to our emergency prayer request this afternoon, that God would deliver her from this latest trial. And, He did! Praise God! He is working miracle after miracle in answer to our prayers!
Lea is resting comfortably right now, under heavy sedation. That’s probably going to help her rest much more than she was earlier when she was so apprehensive. Tomorrow Dr Kirton has planned another surgery on her abdomen. If she has healed well enough he may go ahead and close the rest of the incision up. Once that is done, she has a good chance of turning the corner and beginning the recovery stage. On the other hand, there are still lots of things that can go wrong. She remains very, very sick, and will be sick for several weeks even if things go very well.
Please continue to pray for her miraculous recovery so she can return to us healthy and whole, full of energy and good cheer, a blessing to all around her. Her countless friends and wonderful family earnestly yearn to hear her laugh and see that glorious smile. I long to have her by my side once again, my best friend, just as we were in Maine only a few weeks ago.
Glory to God for his loving care,
Larry
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March 28, 2007 at 9:59 am
Pray-ers
DAY THIRTY-TWO
FROM: Dallas
Aug 16 @ 8:14 AM
Dear Larry & Lea, God’s blessings to you both. I have been receiving forwards from the town marshal’s wife, keeping up on your updates. I found the last one to be VERY TOUCHING, heartfelt, dealing with the precious important things in our lives; relationships. Larry, I always knew you have a beautiful heart, but what I did not know is the eloquence of your writing ability, expressing your deepest love for Lea, it encourages my heart to believe that you both will survive this trial/opportunity and your love will only be sweeter.
I am getting ready to leave Thursday to go to Washington D.C. for the International Society of Poets Convention, (if ya can believe that!! hahaha) I started writing poetry again after a hiatus of several years…I received an e-mail from Poet’s,com saying :submit an original poem in our contest and chance of winning $20,000.00 Grand Prize,$5,000.00 2nd prize…so I had a poem called Just Like A Dad that I had written a year and a half ago for a friend of mine whose Dad passed away, the family took me in when I was 17 so I could finish school, and he was just like a dad to me.
Anyway, I received a letter saying it was a semi-finalist and will be published in a book called Eternal Portraits this fall….A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter from them saying that it had been chosen for the Editor’s Choice Award and that they want to have it professionally recorded on a 3 cd set with 33 other poet’s work. Pretty cool huh?? Pray I win the Grand Prize and should I win ,I will give 1/10th of it to your Lea ‘s fund…whatever I might win, I will nontheless. If you want, I will send some of my poetry in another e-mail, some funny, some inspirational/religious, some social commentaries ,I’m a mixed bag, but I guess you already knew that to some extent, right?
Atlanta remains on our collective knees, crying unto God in your behalves. I love you both, Take care, God bless.
REPLY FROM: Larry Vaughn
Aug 17 @ 9:03 AM
Thank you for your wonderfully kind thoughts. You have such a sweet soul, and Lea and I both appreciated your kindness and thoughtfulness during the time we worked together in Atlanta. We wish you the very best, and look forward to visiting with you again soon. I took the liberty of putting you on the distribution list for Lea’s updates. Just let me know if you don’t want to receive these. Thank you for spreading the word of Lea’s need for prayer. I feel the Lord working through our difficulties, and have faith that He will see us through.
FROM: Lance
REF: Emergency Prayer Request
Aug 16 @ 9:32 AM
Dad just called. Mom’s heart stopped again today and she had to be resuscitated. The doctors believe she has a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs. My conversation with Dad was short, but I’m thinking this is what the doctors believe is causing her heart to fail. Via ultrasound, they have also found a blood clot in her left groin, caused by inactivity. A specialist is being called in to place a trap in the artery that leads to her heart in hopes of catching any clot which might come loose. A blood thinner cannot be used due to her
incision. The nurses are working on her right now, trying to slow her circulation until the trap can be put in, which will likely be around 4:30 or 5:00pm today. I am unsure of the severity of this procedure, but the whole situation just sounds horrible. I don’t know how much more of this she can take. We love you, Mom!!
FROM: Dean
Aug 16 @ 10:09 AM
Dear Larry, Thanks for the generally very good news. Lea is making good progress. I know the ups and downs must be heart wrenching, but overall, things are steadily improving.
FROM: Neil
Aug 16 @ 12:49 PM
Hi Larry. I heard about the unfortunate circumstances that have made you a temporary resident in Connecticut. Irwin Mortgage has an office right down the road from Hartford in Rocky Hill. Most of our staff lives and resides within a mile or so of Hartford. Please contact us and let us know if we can be of any assistance. We would love to take you out for a few hours and show you around. Give me a call and let me know if we can take you out for dinner or a quick beer. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
FROM: Barb S
Aug 16 @ 7:43 PM
I am pasting a copy of a note that one of (the) mothers (for whom I baby sit) sent out to the people in her address book. She included the update from 8/15.
——Forwarded Message—–
FROM: Mandy
Subject: Aug 15 Lea update
Below is an update from my friend, Dawn. Her Aunt Lea has been in critical care for almost 4 weeks now. It has been a very serious pancreatic attack. Below is an update from her husband. In all that happens, he continues to give glory to God! Through his emails you can sense his outstanding faith. It gives me chills!
Please pray for this family.
FROM: Link
Aug 16 @ 10:09 PM
Hello all – I just wanted to give everyone a quick update that the clot trap was placed today without incident and that Mom is resting and stable. Dad will have more in his update later today. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!