Broken

I was planning to post some fun information this week but sadly and suddenly I was informed yesterday that my best girl friend of 30 years lost her husband on Easter Sunday.  Saturday morning Doug had taken 3 of his 6 kids to do baptisms for the dead.  When they finished they all went to the park to play some ultimate frisbee.  Lisa, was guarding her husband. She looked over at him and he was drooling. She asked him if he was ok but he couldn’t respond. She asked him if he could lift his arms, he couldn’t.  Lisa is a nurse and immediately knew what was happening. She helped him lie down and she called an ambulance.  They made it to the hospital and were able to give Doug the medication that is suppose to help reverse the results of a stroke.  She was excited they had gotten him there to the medication in under an hour because it would improve his chances of recovery.

After performing a brain scan a large blood clot was found in his brain.  The doctors immediately took him in for surgery.  They were able to remove most of the clot but a few pieces broke loose and lodged into his brain deeper. Saturday evening there was little improvement but they were hopeful because he had a little movement in his right arm.  He could only say 3 words.  Saturday night was long for Lisa so Sunday morning when Doug’s father arrived at the hospitals she decided to go home and shower and take a nap.  Not long after she got home she received a call from Doug’s father telling her they had some new brain scan and things weren’t looking good.  She rushed back to the hospital to find out that half of his brain was no longer functioning.  At that time Lisa had to decide if the doctors should continue treatment with no hope of ever having a full recovery and a life on a feeding tube or stop everything and wait for him to die.  Lisa knew what Doug would have chosen so she stopped the medical care.  

Lisa was grateful that it only took 2 hours before Doug passed away.

I learned of his death just minutes later.  I couldn’t even get the words out when I tried to tell Adam what had happened.  Adam convinced me to go to the hospital.   I posted a couple of pictures from the hospital.  Lisa’s 12 year old was almost constantly holding her dads hand and laying on his arm.  I can’t imagine what Lisa went through when she and her oldest 3 children finally walked away from the hospital.  Lisa has 6 kids ages 18 down to 2.  Luckily she is a certified nurse that has worked just enough to keep her license current.  That being said, I can’t imagine the road ahead for her and her children.