Thursday, March 3rd, 2005
Last night was Sam's worst night yet. His blood pressure and oxygen were very low. They had to put the blood pressure medicine way up. They were afraid he was going to have a heart attack. They had a crash cart and everything ready. But they were able to turn everything around, but were not sure how. They continued to struggle through the early part of the day. Maur and some St. Mary's nurses brought a bed that would help. They had about 11 nurses and doctors there to set up the bed and help Sam. This new bed that they got from St. Mary's Hospital would have him lay face down, which is a way to treat the respirtory distress syndrome (ARDS) Last word tonight is that is oxygen level is up to 100% and he appeared to be draining better when suctioned.
--Katie Jessop's journal entry
**This was one of the worst nights so far. I still think of March 3rd as the night that my brother almost died. The crisis started at 4:00 in the morning (a nurse's aide ran down to the 6th floor and woke us up) and continued until about 5 p.m. the next day. Sam's doctor, Dr. Al, told my mom that Sam's heart was going to stop. So my mom put on a pair of gloves and started ordering people around (she was a critical care nurse for 15 years). My dad's face was grey and he started to have chest pain again and a doctor took him away. Heath and I were in Sam's room, holding his hands and singing songs to him, I remember at one point his face was blue. But somehow he didn't code...he held on. My mom and I slept in a lazyboy in the ICU hallway for small moments before going back into the room. Then they told us that a special kind of bed might be able to help Sam's lungs. So my mom's friend (Jill, a nurse from St. Mary's) found this bed called a Stryker, got someone to drive it over to Covenent Hospital and they got Sam on it. This bed helped Sam lay right way up and face down and helped his lungs improve. Thank you for the bed, Jill. You (along with my mom and others) saved Sam's life that day.
---Bec