For those who don’t know, I’m presently at Stanford Hospital with my family, taking turns at the bedside of my dear brother Solomon.
He’s been hospitalized since the 16th of February, after my brother-in-law, Stephen, followed his intuition and visited Saul’s apartment to check on him that morning. He found Saul disoriented and struggling to breathe. Alarmingly, Saul didn’t recognize Stephen, who’s been part of our family for 28 years. When he asked Saul to stand up and come with him to the hospital, Saul fell over. 911 was called.
The paramedics found his oxygen levels were terrifyingly low — 40 and below at times. The admitting doc at emergency said, in his 30+ years in medicine, he’d never seen someone so sick. Apparently — had Stephen not found him — he had just hours left.
—-
Pretty quickly, he was intubated with a ventilator and sedated before being transferred to a hospital better capable of treating him. By Monday, his kidneys were in acute failure, so he was put on continuous dialysis. By Friday, the 23rd — it became necessary to transfer him yet again, this time by helicopter to Stanford to be treated with an ECMO machine.
That first day — on the 16th — the call I got informed me he was battling severe pneumonia. Though it was hard to be so far away, I was getting daily updates and it seemed like he was getting better. When I learned he was being airlifted to Stanford, I started looking into flights to California.
I landed at SFO just after 10am on Saturday the 24th, where I was collected by Karen; my best friend of 26 years. She kindly brought me to the hospital and remained here with me for most of that day.
She brought me a bag full of snacks, a water bottle, teacup, lots of teas and a tear-inducing card, full of prepaid Visa cards worth several hundred dollars; her Xmas money. 😳 ’You have to eat.’ ...she said.
—-
Saul was in surgery when I arrived, getting set up with the ECMO.
The ECMO is essentially a bypass, with an artificial lung that oxygenates his blood for him, as well as removing carbon dioxide. The idea is to let his badly infected lungs rest and, hopefully, heal.
It’s a rather surreal technology/process. Imagine tubes the width of a finger; one delivering oxygenated blood through his right jugular, straight to his heart and lungs — the other draining blood via his vena cava, sending it through the bypass. The one in his neck is physically stitched to the skin on his chest. So wild!
I’m learning a lot about present medical technologies.
—-
The last five days have been the strangest time-warp. Hours seem to fold themselves into compacted fragments while I stand at Saul’s bedside. I’ve serenaded him at turns, playing songs on my quarter-size guitar, singing through the mask I must wear.
The emotional impact of this hits me in waves. I acclimate to the sight of him — attached to more tubes than I ever thought possible — then the gravity of his predicament overtakes me and suddenly my paper mask is drenched with tears.
Though his lungs are looking better today, he’s still in critical condition and has a very long road ahead. Turns out the bacterial pneumonia is a secondary infection, in addition to a type A flu. We’re told the initial influenza infection is primarily to blame for his kidney failure, which is a response to sepsis.
At this point, they’ve entirely stopped all sedatives in hopes that he’ll begin to wake up a bit. So far he opens his eyes and seems to respond to our voices that way, but has yet to track nor respond to requests for hand-squeezing/toe-wiggles. This is mostly to be expected, considering the monster doses of sedatives he’s been on, plus the paralytic during the first week.
We’re reminded over and over again that this is a marathon — that progress will be made in small increments — that there will invariably be setbacks — but hopes remain high that he’ll make a full recovery; even if that takes months.
He is very sick, but — thankfully — in the best possible hands for an illness this dire.
—-
We’re blown away by the level of care he’s receiving — with dedicated teams for each, crucial aspect. As well, we’re impressed by how attentive they are to our needs as his support team.
This is hard for all of us, but he is SO loved and we’re all here with him — every one of his siblings and our Mum. There are enough of us to ensure he always has someone at his side (except at night, while they keep him sedated.) We’re doing our best to take care of each-other, too.
Amidst the difficulty, life offers the most unexpected gifts.
On Monday, after booking the previous two nights via Hotel Tonight, we were finding nearly every hotel was booked, and rates had doubled. As I was on the phone in the waiting area, explaining our situation to a hotel — a woman overheard and, without hesitation, interrupted me to offer us her guest room and couches.
She handed us, total strangers, the key to her house, insisting we go rest there while she stayed at her boyfriend’s side as he began to recover from cardiac surgery. While we’ll need to find other accommodations beginning on Friday, her immeasurable generosity has saved us well more than $1k. An angel, of the most genuine kind. 💜
Such kindness has softened the emotional strain of this, even if only by degrees. Learning that her name is Theresa — the same as my late grandmother — felt like a little nod from Nanny, as if to say...’I’m here with you, too.’
We’ll get through this... 🦋🙏🏼💖
Posted using Partiko iOS
Oh, dear....
I am soooo sorry he is struggling
Please, know, my thoughts are with you and family
Oh, honey. Tears. Sending so much love to you and your family. And what a gift, that guest house was! There are good people in this world. So glad you're watched over. (((hugs)))
So sorry to hear about your Brother. Prayers and Thoughts out to you and your Family and him.
It's so uplifting to see that kind of generosity and kindness that woman gave you. Really inspiring.
So many hugs and healing light sent your way. <3
I'm so glad you gave me a heads-up on Discord when this began, so I could enlist the thoughts and prayers of TheAlliance family to back you. We're still thinking of you & your brother, and appreciate the update! 💖
Thinking of you and sending out positive thoughts for your brother, yourself and your family. Wishing him a speedy and full recovery. 💖
So sorry to hear all you are going through, it is a terrible situation and I wish the best to your brother Solomon in this difficult time.
Such an awful time for your family and you :( I hope your brother will recover, it is a great boon that Stephen had followed his intuition to check up on him.... Almost feels as if there are benevolent forces looking out for your brother!
The kindness of that woman is incredible and lifts my spirit when I read how people, regular people, have amazing capacity for so much good... and reading this post has renewed my faith in humanity, to be sure.
Sending my best thoughts to you and your brother and your family <3
sendin' love your crew's way <3 <3
Good to hear you've found such warmth and comfort during such a difficult time from a good friend and a stranger. Hope things turn out for the better. Best wishes.
I have no words adequate to this situation...
I hope he makes a full recovery!
In the deepest of crises you often meet the most wonderful souls... Life is wonderful, with all its ups and downs and the love between family and the kindness between strangers are the key parts to the wonderfulness of life; this horrible, but heartwarming story, and its author are ample proof of that.
Dear Zipporah, I wish you all the strength, patience, love and positive vibes needed to persevere through your brothers recovery. And thank you, once again, for sharing it all in your usual way, you know, like a professional writer 😊
Warm hugs and love from The Netherlands are coming your way now 🙏🏼 🤗 🧡
Sending love Zipporah ♡
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May the peace of the Lord be with you and the Holy Spirit of God comfort you. I know it may not seem much comfort being as they are just words but I'll be praying for you anyways.
Warm thoughts and much love, Steven
Your post was presented on PYPT, and you are in our thoughts.
Sending love and happy thoughts your way miss Lady
I'm so sorry that you have to go through this sweetie. All my love and hugs to you and your family ❤️🌹❤️
Wishes for your brother to recover well.
Just know you are never alone and you are Sooo Loved 💕💕💖