All this came about because pneumonia triggered pancreatitis. Neither of us knew he was walking around with pneumonia.
This was taken the morning after he was admitted into ICU. All night long he pointed to the corner of the room, saying he saw 2 people, a man and a woman. He knew they were there for him. He started losing his mind around 1 am, putting random words together, like "78 omelet taco." But you could tell by looking in his eyes, he clearly knew what he was thinking, but the words were just not coming out right. Around 3 am he lost the power to speak, mumbling incoherently til around 9 am when he simply.... "returned."
If you're curious as for what signs to look for when your loved one is dying, watch for their skin turning greyish-yellow. Adams was grey-yellow when he was crashing, every part of him was shutting down and the ER doctor told him he would die very soon (meaning that night). Adam told her very kindly "No, I'm not." I think he just knew things that the medical people didn't know. The ER staff came up the next morning to see if he made it through the night. They were amazed, not only did he not require resuscitation, his organs had begun to stabilize. The first ones to stabilize were his heart, brain, lungs, skin, liver, pancreas, gall bladder, kidneys, the last to "turn back on" were the stomach and colon.
He was allowed to sip soup and clear liquids on day 2 in the ICU, then baby food. Then he was transferred to a normal room on another floor (4th floor, lots of spiritual activity there, to keep a medium company during the wee hours of the morning).
And then his energy started to show that he was really going to beat this
And by day 5.....
He felt so renewed and alive when he got home, I couldn't stop him from doing projects around the house. He wanted to fix things. Mr. Stubborn assembled a bed frame a week after surviving heart failure.
And of course our dog helped...
He has some weight to gain.... thats ok, I have some to lose. We can work together and meet in the middle.
I don't know how to say thank you to the hospital staff. They gave us more time together. 6 months, 6 years, or 60 years - we don't know. Adams living proof that we don't get to go home until our time of service here is 100% complete.
I wrote an article for a health magazine online and his story was added with a pingback to my blog where the indepth version is. If you want the link, just message me.
