Phil’s medical expenses

1/23/23

Hello friends and family!

I cannot believe we have been in the ICU for 10 days. I know many of you have been in a text and or Facebook loop of communication but I’m sure there are many questions about what happened and about Phil’s current condition.

On Friday January 13, Phil suffered a massive cardiac event. Paramedics were called and we were sent to Swedish Edmonds. During our time there it was discovered that Phil had a tear in his descending aorta. This tear was quite massive and caused severe blood flow issues to his lower body. We were transferred by ambulance to the cardiac care team at Swedish - Cherry Hill, where we remain today.

The team here prepared him for surgery and proceeded with a bypass to re-establish blood flow to his legs. The surgery was successful, but was not enough to get a strong blood flow for both legs. Because of this he went back into surgery and they did a bypass from his right coronary artery to both his right and left legs. This surgery was also successful and both legs regained a pulse and blood flow, saving his legs. Upon recovering from these two surgeries however, the tear in his aorta, which had to remain untreated so they could attempt to save his legs, blocked the blood flow to his spine. This required urgent action and another surgery. This third surgery repaired the tear and placed stents throughout his entire descending aorta to ensure the aorta stayed open and blood flow kept, well, flowing. The consequence of so much time without blood flow before the first and subsequent surgeries is likely permanent waist down paralysis. Unfortunately, we will only know the full extent of the damage once he is more stable and recovers.

These three surgeries were major surgeries requiring full anesthesia, intubation, and full cardiac and vascular teams. He has some minor kidney damage that is requiring dialysis to ensure no further damage and to take some of the work away from his heart/body. While we battled these things and took stock of his condition, it also became evident that the aortic valve we were able to save with Phil’s last open heart surgery in 2012 is failing and needs to be replaced.

This process has been made even more complicated by the fact that most of what Phil needed to save his legs was contraindicated to what was needed to treat and protect his blood pressure and heart. I’ve become quite an expert in cardiac/thoracic vocabulary in the last 10 days, not by choice of course.

This all brings us to our present condition, Phil is still intubated, lightly sedated most days, on dialysis and receiving supplemental nourishment. He continues to fight and the doctors are encouraged by his progress so far. That said, he is really sick and working extremely hard each day to get better.

He has been alert enough from time to time for me to talk to him, convey the massive amount of love he’s receiving, and assure him he’s safe and being taken care of. Most of our days are spent with me in the ICU in the morning and Wendy or Bill (his mom and dad) in the afternoon. The ICU only allows us to have two visitors while he’s here, but since he’s young, they’re allowing us three.

In the days since this event, we’ve seen not a community of folks, but an army of people coming out to support us emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially. My dear friend Kole flew in from Hawaii to help with the kids and manage the house, the grandparents are on a rotating schedule for kids and food, Phils aunt Cindi has been helping decode medical things, the Hilfman crew providing all the support and much needed comedic relief, our friends Luke and Linh are keeping me fed in the hospital and Kellye and Meredith are on deck for childcare assistance, and my friends, my dear friends, you are the reason I’m still standing. I feel so held by all of you and the love you have for Phil and our family is just overwhelming. For now, while much of the specifics are unknown, what we do know is that it’s going to be a long road and your continued support makes a HUGE difference.

Once he recovers, which could be weeks or months, we’ll have a tremendous amount of appointments and therapies to understand the paralysis and support how we can. Once he’s recovered enough, we’ll have to do open-heart surgery to replace his valve and then go through the recovery process again.

So much of this is out of our control and I know many of you have asked how you can help and support us. For now, monetary and emotional support are key. Phil is the primary earner in our family and my main goal is staying in our home and keep continuity for the kids. Your texts and emails and cards are so uplifting, please keep them coming. If you are able and would like to donate to medical expenses and bills, we have a go fund me attached to this page and you can also Venmo directly to me @christinacjh.

I’ve invited some friends to help me manage this page, so feel free to leave comments, questions, or messages for Phil! I remind him everyday of how amazing he is and how many people love him and can’t wait to hug him and play games with him!

Thank you & All my love,

Christina