Wednesday, July 28, 2010 7:58 PM, MDT

Just letting everyone know the update will be late tonight. We are on our way home.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 9:21 PM, MDT

It was a big day today! We got the news that we would be heading home this morning! The EMT's got there and in no time, Joy was on the plane with Bill and speeding off to the airport.

Bill is all settled into the rehab hospital. The doctors seem really nice and the hospital will be a good place for us. Bill slept for most of the day which turned out to be Ok. It probably would have been difficult to explain in writing everything that was going on.

The girls are taking their time getting home.

Please don't be concerned if we don't post for a few days. As things get to be more routine and there aren't any big changes, we just won't be posting daily.

Thursday, July 29, 2010 5:58 PM, MDT

So we hit a pothole late last night...Bill had some breathing issues which sent him to the ICU at the Medical Center of the Rockies. Luckily it isn't a long term problem, but he will be here for a couple of days.

The girls got home safely. We are now all adjusting to being home again.

We'll let you know when we are ready for visitors.

Wednesday morning I thought maybe we would be leaving but I wasn't sure. I had a bag packed, I could only take one small bag. When we got to the hospital Bill was asleep and and kind of out of it. I was hearing from different people that we were leaving that day. I finally got a confirmation that we were leaving. I had to send the girls down to the truck to get my bag. Things started moving pretty quickly, the team that would be flying us to Colorado was there and the next thing I knew I was in an ambulance on the way to the airport.

The airplane was a small twin engine plane. I was not scared or excited, I was just numb, not sure why that was except that after everything I had been through not much could phase me at that point.

The flight team consisted of a pilot, nurse and two EMTs.

They had given Bill a sedative before we left. He slept the entire trip. I am not even sure that he knew he was going home that day as he was kind of "out of it" before we left.

On the plane I was given a small seat at the back of the plane by the door. I had been forewarned about the flight by my friend Rhoda. Rhoda's husband was in the ICU at the same time as Bill. He had a brain bleed on his brain stem while on a cross country bicycle trip. They are from Colorado Springs.

She had told me that the plane was very cold and if I could, bring a blanket. She was right. It was very cold and not comfortable at all. I did try and sleep because I really couldn't see out any windows. I am not usually  a good flyer so I was surprised at how calm I was. 

I finally looked out and could see the mountains of home out the window and I nearly cried. We landed very quickly. I was in Loveland Colorado. I don't even know how to explain what I was feeling. I got into the ambulance and the driver asked me about my story. All I had to say was that we were the 3rd meningitis victim.

We got to the Long Term Acute care hospital near Loveland. The nursing staff and doctors were very nice and welcoming. My parents were at my house and were quickly on their way to see me and Bill. It was early afternoon by this time. My dear friend Faith and Jon were excited to see us too and offered to bring me dinner, which I accepted gratefully. Bill was still mostly sleepy and woke up only to say hi to Faith and Jon, and their son. It was so good to see them and my parents after being on my own for so long.

After everyone had left, I was getting settled in for the night as I was staying with Bill at the hospital. As I was trying to go to sleep around 10pm Bill's oxygen monitor kept alarming. I was about to call for help when the nurse came in and in a matter of a few seconds there was a large group of nurses in Bill's room. I am in a dark corner watching all of this not understanding what is going on when I hear someone say "we have to get him to the medical center". I knew that that was the Medical Center of the Rockies. I was terrified! A nurses aid drove me to the hospital and dropped me off at the emergency entrance. It was the middle of the night, I was alone and scared and didn't know what in the heck had happened.

I was soon brought into the ER and was allowed to see Bill.  He was intbated and on a ventilator. I was in disbelief. The ER doctor told me that he had pulled something out of Bill's mouth that looked like a piece of meat and that it appeared that he choked on it. I told him that it couldn't be meat because Bill hadn't been allowed to eat yet.

Soon Bill  was transferred to the ICU. I was looking for a place to lay my head as I had not slept since the night before. Finally the nurse brought me a cot to sleep in Bill's room. I was just getting to lay down when the doctor came in and was going to scope down Bill's airway. The nurse was just asking me to leave when the doctor said "she can stay if she wants to". I did stay and watched the scope of Bill's airway. It was clear. The doctor thought that what had happened was that the flight and move had dislodged some old "junk" in his lungs and he had aspirated it and stopped breathing. His heart also stopped while he was in the ambulance. The prognosis was good, I was able to kind of sleep for a while.

The girls were on the way home that day and was suppose to be home sometime that afternoon. I didn't want to tell them what had happened because I knew how upsetting that would be for them. Of course they are texting me asking how things were going and such. I had to be evasive in my texts back. I wanted to tell them in person.

My parents were on their way to a family reunion when I called them and told them what had happened. They did a u-turn and came to the hospital right away. I was sure at this point that Bill would be ok, because I was watching the ventilator and knew from previous experience that he was starting to breath on his own.

The doctor that was on day shift was Dr.Petron. Dr.Petron had been one of the doctors that took care of the other two men that had died of meningitis. He was very concerned about Bill and really wanted him to recover. He also was concerned for me. He told my parents to "get me out of the hospital". They did I went home for the first time since June, took a shower and ate. The girls got home soon after and I had to tell them what had happened. They actually took the news quite well.

Sunday, July 25, 2010 7:20 PM, MDT

This morning Bill was all bright eyed and perky.
The dialysis took nearly 6 liters of water out of his body yesterday. What a difference that made.

His hearing seems to be improving as well. We are not using the white board nearly as much. He his understanding alot of what we say.


 Bill was out of bed and in his wheelchair for nearly 5 hours. We had lunch outside again today (we ate he napped) and sat in the waterfall garden for quite some time.
We played a game of UNO and watched some television. It was pretty relaxed Sunday.

We are hopeful that we will be headed home soon.

Monday, July 26, 2010 7:20 PM, MDT

Bill is still on the right track. Standing and transferring from bed to wheelchair is getting easier. He sat in the wheelchair all day today and didn't want to get back to bed this afternoon. That is good that he doesn't want to be in bed. He had PT two times today and Bill welcomed it.

Our friends Deb and Dave are here to help us and to get the girls home as I will be flying with Bill. It  looks like we will be home this week. We are so happy to be headed home.
To all our neighbors: My parents, Max and Carolyn, are going to be at our house tomorrow. They are driving a big truck and camper with a boat. They will be there for a few days taking care of some things for us. They are on their way to a family reunion and will return next Monday. 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:25 PM, MDT

Well, today was kind of a slow day. Bill slept for most of the day. He had dialysis this afternoon, which went rather smoothly.

Last night a doctor came in and looked at Bill after being off for 5 days. He said that Bill looked 100% better and thought that he would be walking and almost back to normal sooner than we think.

We have been accepted into the Northern Colorado Rehab Center, but have yet to have a time of departure. It should be either tomorrow or Thursday.

Making arrangements to go home was a fairly involved process. Thankfully, there was a social worker, Rachel who took care of all the arrangements for me. I wouldn't have had the first idea of where to start. I didn't know what to feel about going home except that it was time. I am pretty sure that the hospital in Great Falls would have been ready to discharge Bill to a long term acute care facility wether I needed to go home or not.

Our dear friends, Dave and Deb drove up to Great Falls to help drive the truck and the girls home. The hospital was talking about sending Bill and me home earlier, I told them that I would not leave the girls here alone so.... Luckily it worked out ok and Dave and Deb got here before I had to go.

Bill kept asking to see his truck, we took him out to the parking lot and showed him the truck and camper. Before Bill got sick we had broken a window in the camper. When he saw the damage he told me how he could fix it. I was sure that his brain damage wasn't anything that couldn't come back over time.

Bill was also worried about how the girls were getting home. He kept saying that they should leave before we did, he was being a good dad trying to take care of his girls.

When the rehab doctor told us his opinion of Bill's recovery we were very optimistic of his complete recovery. I just knew that everything was going to be ok.

The girls were starting to get ready to go home. Kayla was trying to think about going to college. She bought some things for her dorm room and was trying to get her head around the fact that she was moving to Grand Junction soon. I had told her that she had to go to college as planned no matter what. That is what her dad and I wanted. Being that Bill was doing so well I thought that she could go to school with an easy mind.

I was a little concerned about the location of the rehab center we were going to. It was 25 miles from home just outside of Loveland, Colorado. I was relieved though that we didn't have to go to Denver.