Support for Mike Reuter

As you may or may not be aware of, our dad, Mike, suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Las Vegas in early August. An angiogram was performed showing he would need further surgery. He underwent a triple bypass (CABG) and a maze procedure for his a fib. Mike initially had troubles being weened off the ventilator and had to spend several days on the ventilator vs hours that was expected post-op.

During his recovery we learned he was placed on dialysis due to his kidneys failing. The doctors didn’t know if this would be permanent or just temporary while he was recovering, but as time has continued, dialysis is looking like a necessary treatment that will continue for the foreseeable future.

Mike has struggled with breathing due to excessive fluid in his lungs and has had almost weekly thoracentesis treatments to help alleviate this. The fluid retention has finally started to decrease. This is allowing him to move easier and breathe better with less oxygen assistance. He does still need supplemental oxygen at this point. The hope is that this can be discontinued as the fluid becomes less and less and he is able to move more.

The biggest obstacle currently is that he is orthostatic. He is not able to maintain his BP from a laying to sitting to standing positions. When transitioning from one position to another, it causes him to pass out. This is obviously concerning for a number of reasons (fall risk/injuries) and it also doesn’t allow for him to participate in PT much to get stronger to be able to be discharged.

He has moved between ICU, Med Surge, Observation, and the Rehab Units at the hospital as we have tried to stabilize him, get him healthy enough to do rehab, and get back home. He has a vast array of doctors from Nephrology, Cardiology, Pulmonology, Internal Medicine, several nurses, PT, OT, social workers, and others attending to him regularly!

Yes! Mike is STILL in the hospital in Las Vegas and we would love to be able to bring him back home to Madison, WI as soon as he is healthy enough to do so! Today marks day *64*, as he has been there since Aug 4. Mike is not stable enough for a commercial flight at this time for a discharge date to be set.

Upon discharge, Mike will still require home care or need to be moved to a skilled/assisted living facility. This will all depend on when we can transition him to Madison and his level of care still needed.

Mike does have his cell phone with him and is able to text. We would love people to reach out and send him encouraging messages and to help boost his spirits! He needs some positivity and something to look forward to as these days in the hospital are getting long and exhausting.

Mike is blessed with good health insurance, but we all know that doesn’t cover everything. He does have some tremendous colleagues who have been a blessing already with some help, but he will need more!

If you are so inclined to support Mike in his recovery with some financial support, so he can focus on his recovery and sharing his love of baseball with others again (aside from the medical staff whom I’m sure have suffered the same stories now repeatedly!!), his kids and grandkids would be forever grateful!