Stand by Kim
Donation protected
As some of you may know, our sister-in-law, Kim Pittman was rushed to the hospital late Monday night (3/4/19).
UPDATE 4/8/19: Kim continues to get stronger everyday. Her trache was taken out yesterday and she is being released home today!! She is showing zero signs of any deficits. Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. -Oly
UPDATE 4/4/19: Kim is doing better and getting stronger everyday. She is now out of ICU and in a regular hospital room. She can speak with the trache in and is walking with a walker and support. She will be needing some rehab but looks like she will be coming home within a week. Thanks everyone for your continued prayer and support. -Oly
UPDATE 4/1/19 (and it’s no joke! ;) ) Kim is doing much, much better. She is getting stronger everyday. All drugs are off. All tubes are out. Her ventilator is off and all she needs for now is a CPAP to help her breathe. If all tests go well, the plan for tomorrow is to take out her feeding tube and allow her to start eating. Next would be therapy to teach her to speak while the trache is still in. She is going through therapy to help her get her strength back and be able to walk. She is writing for us and can now text, so I'll let her tell you the rest. -Oly
I hear you loud and clear God! His timing His way. After a month of being in the hospital asleep , I have made critical and amazing changes these past 3 days. Drs can't believe my progress. There is a long road ahead but I've finally rounded the critical bend. "Thank you" is not enough to say to all of you. Thank you for the prayers, meals, checking on oly and my kids, and donating. I get overwhelmed thinking of everyone that has done something to help. Love to everyone! ♡♡ -Kim
UPDATE 3/27/19: Things are really like a rollercoaster. Kim has improved since yesterday. She remains completely sedated.
Pneumonia continues, however her fever is under control, and her lung x-ray looks better than yesterday. The ventilator levels have also come down a bit.
Her CT continues to show no signs of stroke. Vasospasms have stopped they believe. They are now coming down on all the post-aneurysm medications which should allow for her rapid heart rate to hopefully slow down.
She isn't making blood like she should be yet, so she did require another unit of blood today.
A lot of good news today, but there is still a very long road ahead for her. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. -Oly
UPDATE 3/26/19: Kim has been having problems with getting enough oxygen, even while on the ventilator. They believe it might be partially neurological due to the brain trauma, but now she has also been diagnosed with pneumonia. She is on a more specific antibiotic as of this morning.
She was somewhat alert for about 12 hours after her tracheostomy, however has been sedated ever since and is now on an even higher sedation.
She is getting weaker everyday due to the sedation, but we are looking at at least another 1 to 2 weeks before they think they can wake her up.
CT scans have been put on hold until her blood oxygen levels become stable enough to move her.
Vasospasms are mild and hopefully coming to an end.
Please continue to pray for her and the family. -Oly
UPDATE 3/21/19: Kim's tracheostomy surgery had no complications, and the breathing tube is now through her neck. Vasospasms are mild but continuing. Her fever continues and her heart rate is extremely high. She is mostly off the sedation medication now, and is waking up. She is alert at times, and will communicate with small head shakes of yes or no. She is very confused, very uncomfortable, and extremely weak. Therapists have already begun to examine her and try to determine the best course of action. They need to get her swallowing and breathing on her own; communicating, as she will be unable to speak for some time; as well as being able to move her limbs, which she is barely able to do now. She will have a very long road of recovery ahead of her. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. -Oly
UPDATE 3/20/19: Kim is currently undergoing surgery for a tracheostomy to move the breathing tube from her mouth and allow it to enter through her throat. She has continued to be kept heavily sedated. The vasospasms are continuing but today are considered mild. They removed the ventriculostomy (the tube that is draining her brain) this morning as well. -Oly
UPDATE 3/18/19: Kim is off of the paralytic, but still sedated. Tests this morning showed that her vasospasm have reduced to moderate instead of severe. Her lungs are looking better, and her blood oxygen is remaining good. Her temperature is being regulated with Tylenol and ice. She is still on the breathing tube, but that will need to come out soon. They will probably be giving her a tracheotomy in the next couple days to have a breathing tube go directly through the bottom of the throat. This should be temporary. They are currently lowering her sedation because they need to check her reflexes. She becomes extremely agitated and restless during this time. She will be have a CT tomorrow to check on progression and look for any signs of stroke. Otherwise they are traversing the vicious circle to maintain high blood pressure and a moderate heart rate to help the vasospasms. Thank you all for the continued prayer and support. -Oly
UPDATE 3/16/19: Kim is continuing to have severe vasospasms, and this remains the biggest concern at this time. Today they have removed the paralytic medicine and thus removed her from the coma. She is still on heavy doses of fentanyl and sedation medication so is pretty unresponsive, however she is moving some now, and opening her eyes. This is all a huge improvement from the last few days. She does becomes aware at times today and is very uncomfortable, and confused. The breathing tube will remain in for the time being. - Oly
UPDATE 3/14/19: Sorry for the delay in updates. Things have been very scary and a rollercoaster for the last 2 days. Kim is currently in a medically induced coma and will be for an unknown amount of time. Her lungs were tightening up and would not allow oxygen in. A paralytic medicine was all that allowed her to get air. Two other events happened and it seemed that her blood oxygen levels were down to dangerous levels. The doctors just figured out in the last few hours that it was false numbers and that her levels are actually really good.
Severe Vasospasms continue and she is getting daily angiograms with treatment. These treatments in turn lower her blood pressure, but her blood pressure is needing to be kept high on purpose to help the vasospasms. This in turn keeps her heart rate excellerated too high so they have her on meds to slow it down, which in turn lowers her blood pressure again. It is a very delicate circle just to maintain her values.
Her fever is currently being controlled by a cooling machine. And antibiotics are hopefully fighting off any infections.
CT scans continue to look good despite the severe vasospasms.
Thank you all for your support and prayers.
Please continue to pray for her healing and our family. - Oly
UPDATE 3/12/19: Most recent CT of the brain shows no signs of stroke. Severe Vasospasms continue so she's going for another angiogram with treatment. Heart Rate is very high. High fever they believe due to temperature regulation in the brain not functioning correctly. She will be on a machine to hopefully lower temperature. Lungs have lots of fluid which is affecting her breathing. She is completely sedated and 100% on breathing machine. Please continue to pray for her healing and our family. -Oly
UPDATE 3/11/19: Kim is continuing to have severe vasospasms, which is contracting of arteries in the brain. She also has a fever and is fighting off a possible infection. The doctors were trying to wake her up and pull the breathing tube out today, however her heart rate is too high and she was having some breathing issues so they decided to wait. They needed to perform another angiogram today to deliver medicine directly to arteries in her brain. She will be completely sedated for now. Please continue to pray for no vasospasms and healing, as well as for the family. -Oly
UPDATE 3/10/19: Kim is showing vasospasms this morning in the cerebral arteries. They are taking her for another radiological guided angiogram with possible intervention. She is also low on blood and they need to start giving her some. She is showing a little fever and so they are running cultures of everything to see if there are any infections. please continue to pray for her healing and for the vasospasms to stop completely. - Oly
UPDATE 3/9/19: Kim is in the still in the SICU. She is now on a feeding tube as well as the breathing tube. She is now fully sedated. They performed an angiogram to see active vasospasms and deliver medication directly to the brain to hopefully control them. As of this morning there are still vasospasms occurring and they continue to deliver medications via PICC line. The children were all brought in to see her yesterday for the first time since this began. It was a very heartbreaking ordeal for us all. Thank you for your continued support and prayers for her healing and our family. - Oly
UPDATE 3/7/19: Kim is in the SICU. She is still on a breathing tube and mostly sedated. She becomes alert at times but doesn't understand what's happening due to having short term memory loss which could last for a while. Today she will undergo another angiogram to check for vasospasm in her brain. She will be in the hospital for at least 15 to 21 days if all goes well. Thank you for you supports and prayers for her healing and our family.
(3/4/19) Kim and Oly's evening started as normal and was ending as normal with Kim going in to tell her girls goodnight. During their nightly bedtime routine Kim started complaining of a stiff neck. She said that she couldn't move her head. Her eye sight started to become somewhat of a tunnel vision, and a major headache began. She described it as the worst pain she had ever felt, and this woman has birthed 4 children! Oly said we are going to the hospital. Kim said just give me a minute to see if this goes away. He immediately thought, "If this is not better in 10 seconds we are going to the hospital!” When he turned back around she was unconscious. He checked her breathing and called 911.
Kim was unresponsive for 10 full minutes. All the while her children were there in a panic! After a quick ride to the hospital she was admitted to the ER and given a CAT scan. It showed that she had suffered a Brain Aneurysm!
Tuesday she had surgery to fix the artery that had ruptured. Tuesday afternoon they did another surgery to place a drain in her skull to keep the swelling down. They kept her sedated all night to help her heal. Wednesday morning, she was in and out of consciousness. She is alert at times, and seems to be able to communicate, but is still intubated.
They are still unsure if there will be any Brain Damage, they are estimating she will be in the hospital anywhere from 2-3 weeks, and possibly longer. After returning home she will likely have a long road ahead of her before she is fully recovered.
Kim is a stay at home Mom who is dedicated to raising her children to be amazing adults. She has homeschooled 4 children, two of whom are grown now (and pretty amazing, if you ask me). Even in her immense pain (and again when she woke up this morning, after she inquired about the kids and him) she was letting Oly know that he needed to cancel this or that class for the kids.
Oly is self-employed and has needed to take time off from his Chiropractic business to be with her and their children. He has also needed to cancel some comic conventions that he sells art at to help supplement their income. As they are a single income family, the lack of work combined with this unexpected Medical emergency will be too extensive for them to handle on their own.
Please say a prayer and donate to help this amazing family stay afloat! This is urgent as bills are due! Please help!
Sincerely,
Ben & Anna Pittman
UPDATE 4/8/19: Kim continues to get stronger everyday. Her trache was taken out yesterday and she is being released home today!! She is showing zero signs of any deficits. Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. -Oly
UPDATE 4/4/19: Kim is doing better and getting stronger everyday. She is now out of ICU and in a regular hospital room. She can speak with the trache in and is walking with a walker and support. She will be needing some rehab but looks like she will be coming home within a week. Thanks everyone for your continued prayer and support. -Oly
UPDATE 4/1/19 (and it’s no joke! ;) ) Kim is doing much, much better. She is getting stronger everyday. All drugs are off. All tubes are out. Her ventilator is off and all she needs for now is a CPAP to help her breathe. If all tests go well, the plan for tomorrow is to take out her feeding tube and allow her to start eating. Next would be therapy to teach her to speak while the trache is still in. She is going through therapy to help her get her strength back and be able to walk. She is writing for us and can now text, so I'll let her tell you the rest. -Oly
I hear you loud and clear God! His timing His way. After a month of being in the hospital asleep , I have made critical and amazing changes these past 3 days. Drs can't believe my progress. There is a long road ahead but I've finally rounded the critical bend. "Thank you" is not enough to say to all of you. Thank you for the prayers, meals, checking on oly and my kids, and donating. I get overwhelmed thinking of everyone that has done something to help. Love to everyone! ♡♡ -Kim
UPDATE 3/27/19: Things are really like a rollercoaster. Kim has improved since yesterday. She remains completely sedated.
Pneumonia continues, however her fever is under control, and her lung x-ray looks better than yesterday. The ventilator levels have also come down a bit.
Her CT continues to show no signs of stroke. Vasospasms have stopped they believe. They are now coming down on all the post-aneurysm medications which should allow for her rapid heart rate to hopefully slow down.
She isn't making blood like she should be yet, so she did require another unit of blood today.
A lot of good news today, but there is still a very long road ahead for her. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. -Oly
UPDATE 3/26/19: Kim has been having problems with getting enough oxygen, even while on the ventilator. They believe it might be partially neurological due to the brain trauma, but now she has also been diagnosed with pneumonia. She is on a more specific antibiotic as of this morning.
She was somewhat alert for about 12 hours after her tracheostomy, however has been sedated ever since and is now on an even higher sedation.
She is getting weaker everyday due to the sedation, but we are looking at at least another 1 to 2 weeks before they think they can wake her up.
CT scans have been put on hold until her blood oxygen levels become stable enough to move her.
Vasospasms are mild and hopefully coming to an end.
Please continue to pray for her and the family. -Oly
UPDATE 3/21/19: Kim's tracheostomy surgery had no complications, and the breathing tube is now through her neck. Vasospasms are mild but continuing. Her fever continues and her heart rate is extremely high. She is mostly off the sedation medication now, and is waking up. She is alert at times, and will communicate with small head shakes of yes or no. She is very confused, very uncomfortable, and extremely weak. Therapists have already begun to examine her and try to determine the best course of action. They need to get her swallowing and breathing on her own; communicating, as she will be unable to speak for some time; as well as being able to move her limbs, which she is barely able to do now. She will have a very long road of recovery ahead of her. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. -Oly
UPDATE 3/20/19: Kim is currently undergoing surgery for a tracheostomy to move the breathing tube from her mouth and allow it to enter through her throat. She has continued to be kept heavily sedated. The vasospasms are continuing but today are considered mild. They removed the ventriculostomy (the tube that is draining her brain) this morning as well. -Oly
UPDATE 3/18/19: Kim is off of the paralytic, but still sedated. Tests this morning showed that her vasospasm have reduced to moderate instead of severe. Her lungs are looking better, and her blood oxygen is remaining good. Her temperature is being regulated with Tylenol and ice. She is still on the breathing tube, but that will need to come out soon. They will probably be giving her a tracheotomy in the next couple days to have a breathing tube go directly through the bottom of the throat. This should be temporary. They are currently lowering her sedation because they need to check her reflexes. She becomes extremely agitated and restless during this time. She will be have a CT tomorrow to check on progression and look for any signs of stroke. Otherwise they are traversing the vicious circle to maintain high blood pressure and a moderate heart rate to help the vasospasms. Thank you all for the continued prayer and support. -Oly
UPDATE 3/16/19: Kim is continuing to have severe vasospasms, and this remains the biggest concern at this time. Today they have removed the paralytic medicine and thus removed her from the coma. She is still on heavy doses of fentanyl and sedation medication so is pretty unresponsive, however she is moving some now, and opening her eyes. This is all a huge improvement from the last few days. She does becomes aware at times today and is very uncomfortable, and confused. The breathing tube will remain in for the time being. - Oly
UPDATE 3/14/19: Sorry for the delay in updates. Things have been very scary and a rollercoaster for the last 2 days. Kim is currently in a medically induced coma and will be for an unknown amount of time. Her lungs were tightening up and would not allow oxygen in. A paralytic medicine was all that allowed her to get air. Two other events happened and it seemed that her blood oxygen levels were down to dangerous levels. The doctors just figured out in the last few hours that it was false numbers and that her levels are actually really good.
Severe Vasospasms continue and she is getting daily angiograms with treatment. These treatments in turn lower her blood pressure, but her blood pressure is needing to be kept high on purpose to help the vasospasms. This in turn keeps her heart rate excellerated too high so they have her on meds to slow it down, which in turn lowers her blood pressure again. It is a very delicate circle just to maintain her values.
Her fever is currently being controlled by a cooling machine. And antibiotics are hopefully fighting off any infections.
CT scans continue to look good despite the severe vasospasms.
Thank you all for your support and prayers.
Please continue to pray for her healing and our family. - Oly
UPDATE 3/12/19: Most recent CT of the brain shows no signs of stroke. Severe Vasospasms continue so she's going for another angiogram with treatment. Heart Rate is very high. High fever they believe due to temperature regulation in the brain not functioning correctly. She will be on a machine to hopefully lower temperature. Lungs have lots of fluid which is affecting her breathing. She is completely sedated and 100% on breathing machine. Please continue to pray for her healing and our family. -Oly
UPDATE 3/11/19: Kim is continuing to have severe vasospasms, which is contracting of arteries in the brain. She also has a fever and is fighting off a possible infection. The doctors were trying to wake her up and pull the breathing tube out today, however her heart rate is too high and she was having some breathing issues so they decided to wait. They needed to perform another angiogram today to deliver medicine directly to arteries in her brain. She will be completely sedated for now. Please continue to pray for no vasospasms and healing, as well as for the family. -Oly
UPDATE 3/10/19: Kim is showing vasospasms this morning in the cerebral arteries. They are taking her for another radiological guided angiogram with possible intervention. She is also low on blood and they need to start giving her some. She is showing a little fever and so they are running cultures of everything to see if there are any infections. please continue to pray for her healing and for the vasospasms to stop completely. - Oly
UPDATE 3/9/19: Kim is in the still in the SICU. She is now on a feeding tube as well as the breathing tube. She is now fully sedated. They performed an angiogram to see active vasospasms and deliver medication directly to the brain to hopefully control them. As of this morning there are still vasospasms occurring and they continue to deliver medications via PICC line. The children were all brought in to see her yesterday for the first time since this began. It was a very heartbreaking ordeal for us all. Thank you for your continued support and prayers for her healing and our family. - Oly
UPDATE 3/7/19: Kim is in the SICU. She is still on a breathing tube and mostly sedated. She becomes alert at times but doesn't understand what's happening due to having short term memory loss which could last for a while. Today she will undergo another angiogram to check for vasospasm in her brain. She will be in the hospital for at least 15 to 21 days if all goes well. Thank you for you supports and prayers for her healing and our family.
(3/4/19) Kim and Oly's evening started as normal and was ending as normal with Kim going in to tell her girls goodnight. During their nightly bedtime routine Kim started complaining of a stiff neck. She said that she couldn't move her head. Her eye sight started to become somewhat of a tunnel vision, and a major headache began. She described it as the worst pain she had ever felt, and this woman has birthed 4 children! Oly said we are going to the hospital. Kim said just give me a minute to see if this goes away. He immediately thought, "If this is not better in 10 seconds we are going to the hospital!” When he turned back around she was unconscious. He checked her breathing and called 911.
Kim was unresponsive for 10 full minutes. All the while her children were there in a panic! After a quick ride to the hospital she was admitted to the ER and given a CAT scan. It showed that she had suffered a Brain Aneurysm!
Tuesday she had surgery to fix the artery that had ruptured. Tuesday afternoon they did another surgery to place a drain in her skull to keep the swelling down. They kept her sedated all night to help her heal. Wednesday morning, she was in and out of consciousness. She is alert at times, and seems to be able to communicate, but is still intubated.
They are still unsure if there will be any Brain Damage, they are estimating she will be in the hospital anywhere from 2-3 weeks, and possibly longer. After returning home she will likely have a long road ahead of her before she is fully recovered.
Kim is a stay at home Mom who is dedicated to raising her children to be amazing adults. She has homeschooled 4 children, two of whom are grown now (and pretty amazing, if you ask me). Even in her immense pain (and again when she woke up this morning, after she inquired about the kids and him) she was letting Oly know that he needed to cancel this or that class for the kids.
Oly is self-employed and has needed to take time off from his Chiropractic business to be with her and their children. He has also needed to cancel some comic conventions that he sells art at to help supplement their income. As they are a single income family, the lack of work combined with this unexpected Medical emergency will be too extensive for them to handle on their own.
Please say a prayer and donate to help this amazing family stay afloat! This is urgent as bills are due! Please help!
Sincerely,
Ben & Anna Pittman
Organizer and beneficiary
Anna Pittman
Organizer
El Cajon, CA
Kimberly Pittman
Beneficiary