Help Brian rehabilitate back to health
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Brian (aka ThesPNation on YouTube) has been hospitalized since the afternoon of December 10, 2020 with severe double pneumonia. Little did we know what would be in store only 12 short hours later……….
It still amazes us that Brian walked into that ER somehow although his blood oxygen level was so dangerously low it showed he was in respiratory distress. Fortunately, the ER staff moved quickly and admitted him to the ICU with severe double pneumonia. Of course, in this Covid rampant era, Jonathan (Brian’s partner) would not be allowed to accompany him to the ICU until Brian’s Covid test result returned negative. Jon never envisioned when he left the ER that day that the next time he saw Brian he’d be on a ventilator, in a medically induced coma.
Jonathan would later learn, that after Brian transferred up to the ICU he coded on three separate occasions and the ICU staff didn’t expect him to survive. Brian’s doctors requested he give them approval to intubate, paralyze, and place him on a ventilator. Brian had to make that terrifying decision alone in the wee hours of the morning, which Jon would only learn of after he was unable to reach Brian on his mobile.
After what seemed like the longest day of Jon's life, he finally received the call he had been waiting for from the hospital. Brian’s Covid test was negative and Jon would be given unrestricted access to visit and even stay with Brian in the ICU. The days and weeks which followed would be some of the most difficult for Jon but what he didn't know at the time, was even harder days were still ahead.
Brian’s illness perplexed all of his doctors. Every specialist you can imagine consulted, and each test performed would come back negative. Brian was tested for everything they could think of since his body wasn’t responding positively to any of their efforts. Brian went into multiple organ failure, he would have high blood pressure followed by bouts of extremely low blood pressure, his kidneys were failing, his heart rate would spike and drop, and eventually his body developed Sepsis.
Brian’s kidneys were not responding to daily dialysis so he was moved to 24-hour dialysis. He had been on countless rounds of antibiotics, steroids, pressers and so many, many other medications. He had Bronchoscopy, CT scans, x-rays, and multiply sputum tests. Brian’s body decided it had enough and went into A Fib Dec 30th (an irregular heartbeat) requiring him on two separate occasions needing to be paddled twice to get his heart back into a normal rhythm. And this was just what happened in the month of December.
It would constantly be one step forward and two steps backward….extubating Brian on the 18th of December, only to intubate him again on the 23rd of December. It became clear after the New Year that Brian’s lungs were still severely damaged by the pneumonia and he would need more time on the ventilator to allow his lungs to heal. On January 5th Brian underwent a tracheotomy and a feeding tube was inserted. Brian slowly began showing small improvements beginning with his white blood count, he was even able to get back to regular daily dialysis.
It seemed like the rollercoaster was finally coming to a halt on January 5th when it seemed Brian was just stable enough that he could be transferred to a special long term care hospital but Brian’s body disagreed and decided it still had time for one more long ass rollercoaster ride…..on January 11th Brian had a setback. He went from being stable enough for a transfer, to as gravely ill with pneumonia as his condition was when he first arrived in the ICU.
Everything they worked through was gone in an instant and they were back to multiple organ failure, 24-hour dialysis again, on 100% oxygen and were unable to get Brian’s blood oxygen to an acceptable level. It seemed the pneumonia was worse than the first time. Brian’s doctors even had a Palliative Nurse speak with Jon. With Brian’s doctors nearly out of options, they opted to try pruning him once more (pruning places Brian upside down to try to help get the fluid off his lungs). But Jon, his family and friends continued to pray and never lost faith that Brian would be healed.
The next couple of weeks were uncertain therefore all the small positive baby steps Brian took were celebrated until he was stable enough once again to move to the specialty long term care hospital. On January 28th Brian was transferred and the journey towards his recovery began. The facility Brian was moved to specialized in weaning patients off ventilators. Every day their team worked on reducing the amount of oxygen Brian needed, and eventually started alternating with a CPAP machine to begin exercising his lungs.
On Feb 19th he began trials needed, in order to get off the ventilator and he started using a tracheostomy collar. The first day he got to 6 hours, the second day he did 12. In the following few days Brian would eventually get strong enough to stay on the collar 24 hours a day. He was finally classified as no longer needing mechanical ventilation. This seemed once like an impossible milestone but he finally reached this stage of his recovery.
February 23rd a speaking valve was inserted to Brian’s trach and he was able to speak and hear his voice for the first time since December 10th. Brian then began working with a speech therapist on February 25th and was green lighted to have ice chips. He was even told the following week that he would do more tests to see when he would be ready to progress towards soft/solid foods. On March 1st Brian passed his swallow test and was approved to have food, without restrictions. Then on March 4th Brian’s trach collar was removed. He is now receiving supplemental oxygen only through his nose.
It’s hard to imagine being bedridden a week much less 3 months. Although Brian’s been bedridden since December 10th, he’s super excited to have reached yet another milestone by starting physical therapy this week. Brian is now on another waiting list, hoping to be transferred next week to a Rehabilitation hospital where he will get 3 to 5 hours of physical therapy daily, in order to learn to do all the basic tasks again that we often take for granted. This aggressive stage of his recovery on average takes about 3 weeks. Once transferred, Brian will begin facing the difficult challenge ahead of re-learning how to use his body again, getting his hands & arms to work as they once did, re-learning how to once walk again and so on. There is still a long road to recovery ahead but Brian & Jon are beyond grateful and feel nothing short of blessed for the progress Brian’s made thus far.
Jonathan has been right beside Brian all through this entire ordeal. Jon was out of work for 3 weeks when Brian was at his worst and again at each of his setbacks. Luckily, they do have medical insurance but they need some help financially to pay the 20% they are responsible for as well as their out of pocket deductible. Needless to say, this has also put a financial burden on Jon with only one source of income, given he’s the only one working. The first hospital submitted its bill of $640K, and the 2nd hospital submitted a partial bill of $394K. And this doesn't include any of the physician/specialist bills that have been received so far or we have yet to receive.
In addition to all that has happened with Brian, during the Ice Storm in Dallas on Feb 19th a water pipe burst, flooding the first floor of their townhome.
This fund was created to help with the financial hardship of the medical bills piling up and living expenses while Brian is receiving treatment and working towards recovering. Brian would like to thank you for reading this post and showing support in any way you can. Please also keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
It still amazes us that Brian walked into that ER somehow although his blood oxygen level was so dangerously low it showed he was in respiratory distress. Fortunately, the ER staff moved quickly and admitted him to the ICU with severe double pneumonia. Of course, in this Covid rampant era, Jonathan (Brian’s partner) would not be allowed to accompany him to the ICU until Brian’s Covid test result returned negative. Jon never envisioned when he left the ER that day that the next time he saw Brian he’d be on a ventilator, in a medically induced coma.
Jonathan would later learn, that after Brian transferred up to the ICU he coded on three separate occasions and the ICU staff didn’t expect him to survive. Brian’s doctors requested he give them approval to intubate, paralyze, and place him on a ventilator. Brian had to make that terrifying decision alone in the wee hours of the morning, which Jon would only learn of after he was unable to reach Brian on his mobile.
After what seemed like the longest day of Jon's life, he finally received the call he had been waiting for from the hospital. Brian’s Covid test was negative and Jon would be given unrestricted access to visit and even stay with Brian in the ICU. The days and weeks which followed would be some of the most difficult for Jon but what he didn't know at the time, was even harder days were still ahead.
Brian’s illness perplexed all of his doctors. Every specialist you can imagine consulted, and each test performed would come back negative. Brian was tested for everything they could think of since his body wasn’t responding positively to any of their efforts. Brian went into multiple organ failure, he would have high blood pressure followed by bouts of extremely low blood pressure, his kidneys were failing, his heart rate would spike and drop, and eventually his body developed Sepsis.
Brian’s kidneys were not responding to daily dialysis so he was moved to 24-hour dialysis. He had been on countless rounds of antibiotics, steroids, pressers and so many, many other medications. He had Bronchoscopy, CT scans, x-rays, and multiply sputum tests. Brian’s body decided it had enough and went into A Fib Dec 30th (an irregular heartbeat) requiring him on two separate occasions needing to be paddled twice to get his heart back into a normal rhythm. And this was just what happened in the month of December.
It would constantly be one step forward and two steps backward….extubating Brian on the 18th of December, only to intubate him again on the 23rd of December. It became clear after the New Year that Brian’s lungs were still severely damaged by the pneumonia and he would need more time on the ventilator to allow his lungs to heal. On January 5th Brian underwent a tracheotomy and a feeding tube was inserted. Brian slowly began showing small improvements beginning with his white blood count, he was even able to get back to regular daily dialysis.
It seemed like the rollercoaster was finally coming to a halt on January 5th when it seemed Brian was just stable enough that he could be transferred to a special long term care hospital but Brian’s body disagreed and decided it still had time for one more long ass rollercoaster ride…..on January 11th Brian had a setback. He went from being stable enough for a transfer, to as gravely ill with pneumonia as his condition was when he first arrived in the ICU.
Everything they worked through was gone in an instant and they were back to multiple organ failure, 24-hour dialysis again, on 100% oxygen and were unable to get Brian’s blood oxygen to an acceptable level. It seemed the pneumonia was worse than the first time. Brian’s doctors even had a Palliative Nurse speak with Jon. With Brian’s doctors nearly out of options, they opted to try pruning him once more (pruning places Brian upside down to try to help get the fluid off his lungs). But Jon, his family and friends continued to pray and never lost faith that Brian would be healed.
The next couple of weeks were uncertain therefore all the small positive baby steps Brian took were celebrated until he was stable enough once again to move to the specialty long term care hospital. On January 28th Brian was transferred and the journey towards his recovery began. The facility Brian was moved to specialized in weaning patients off ventilators. Every day their team worked on reducing the amount of oxygen Brian needed, and eventually started alternating with a CPAP machine to begin exercising his lungs.
On Feb 19th he began trials needed, in order to get off the ventilator and he started using a tracheostomy collar. The first day he got to 6 hours, the second day he did 12. In the following few days Brian would eventually get strong enough to stay on the collar 24 hours a day. He was finally classified as no longer needing mechanical ventilation. This seemed once like an impossible milestone but he finally reached this stage of his recovery.
February 23rd a speaking valve was inserted to Brian’s trach and he was able to speak and hear his voice for the first time since December 10th. Brian then began working with a speech therapist on February 25th and was green lighted to have ice chips. He was even told the following week that he would do more tests to see when he would be ready to progress towards soft/solid foods. On March 1st Brian passed his swallow test and was approved to have food, without restrictions. Then on March 4th Brian’s trach collar was removed. He is now receiving supplemental oxygen only through his nose.
It’s hard to imagine being bedridden a week much less 3 months. Although Brian’s been bedridden since December 10th, he’s super excited to have reached yet another milestone by starting physical therapy this week. Brian is now on another waiting list, hoping to be transferred next week to a Rehabilitation hospital where he will get 3 to 5 hours of physical therapy daily, in order to learn to do all the basic tasks again that we often take for granted. This aggressive stage of his recovery on average takes about 3 weeks. Once transferred, Brian will begin facing the difficult challenge ahead of re-learning how to use his body again, getting his hands & arms to work as they once did, re-learning how to once walk again and so on. There is still a long road to recovery ahead but Brian & Jon are beyond grateful and feel nothing short of blessed for the progress Brian’s made thus far.
Jonathan has been right beside Brian all through this entire ordeal. Jon was out of work for 3 weeks when Brian was at his worst and again at each of his setbacks. Luckily, they do have medical insurance but they need some help financially to pay the 20% they are responsible for as well as their out of pocket deductible. Needless to say, this has also put a financial burden on Jon with only one source of income, given he’s the only one working. The first hospital submitted its bill of $640K, and the 2nd hospital submitted a partial bill of $394K. And this doesn't include any of the physician/specialist bills that have been received so far or we have yet to receive.
In addition to all that has happened with Brian, during the Ice Storm in Dallas on Feb 19th a water pipe burst, flooding the first floor of their townhome.
This fund was created to help with the financial hardship of the medical bills piling up and living expenses while Brian is receiving treatment and working towards recovering. Brian would like to thank you for reading this post and showing support in any way you can. Please also keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Organizer and beneficiary
Brian Blair
Organizer
San Antonio, TX
Jonathan Saucedo
Beneficiary