Brian

My oldest son Brian, who is 25 years old has had a very bad week. I got a phone call last Sunday evening from Joey, who told me that Brian was taken to the hospital in Sharon, because he had passed out twice during the day. I figured he would be okay, passing out didn't sound like anything that I needed to go to the hospital for. I told Joey to keep me posted, and he said he would. Around 1:30 in the morning on Monday, joey called me to tell me that Brian had blood clots in his lungs and his leg. I then realized that this was very serious and Dawna and I rushed to the Sharon Hospital. Once we got there, we got to see Brian, and he was not doing real good. He has had problems over the years moving his bowels. It has been an on-going problem with him, but, I didn't realize how bad it was until that day. His stomach was distended badly. Kind of like he was 11 months pregnant. The nurse said they were going to monitor him for the night, and gave him blood thinners for the clots. Dawna and I went home and slept for a few hours, and then went back to the hospital around noon. About 4PM, the doctor talked to me, and said they could not do anything else for him there, and they were going to life flight him to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. I knew this was bad, but, I didn't want to think what could happen to him. Dawna and I went to Kmart and picked up some things, we were not sure how long we would be in Pittsburgh, and then we were on our way, with joey and my ex-wife Denise in tow with us. Taking my ex wife was not a good idea, but, she had no other way to get there. After spending all day at the hospital, and most of the night, and the ride to Pittsburgh I remembered why I did not want to be married to her. She is a real trip! More on her later. We got to Allegheny Hospital around 6:30 PM, and I got a phone call from Sharon hospital telling me that Brian had not left yet. They could not fly the helicopter, due to freezing rain, so they had to send a ambulance from Butler to Allegheny hospital to pick up a nurse, then they went to Sharon to get Brian. This made for a long wait in the waiting room in Pittsburgh. While we were waiting, Denise's sister and her husband and daughter showed up to wait with us. Brian finally got to the hospital around 10:15PM. They stabilized him, and told us they would not do anything that night, except to monitor him. I saw no reason to stay there, while they did nothing. So, Dawna and I decided to head home for the night, and go back the next day. Denise road home with her sister, which made us happy. I don't think Dawna and I could have handled listening to her all the way home. We did have to pick her up the next morning and take her back down with us. Another long ride, listening to her whine about her cold. We stayed there till 2PM, and got to see Brian, but, they still weren't going to do anything that day. Dawna and I went home for the day, and let Denise go back with her sister again. My daughter Tiffany showed up at the hospital with her girl friend Jill. Another long story there. My niece, Sarah drove them down. We had more people there, than most people have in the hospital waiting room. Anyhow, They finally did some surgery on Brian on Thursday morning. They basically did a colonoscopy and cleaned him out. Not a pretty sight, but, they had to do this. I have not been back to the hospital since Tuesday, but I have talked to Brian on the phone, and communicated with the doctors to monitor his progress. I will be going back to see him on Tuesday of this week. He is doing better, but, he is still in CCU. He came very close to not making it through all this. He really gave us all a scare. We need to keep praying for his recovery, and for him to get all the help he needs. I will let you know more when I find out more.