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ARDS
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In February, 2008, 27 year old Jordan, who was living in Louisiana when she became ill with what she thought was a bad chest cold. She had difficulty breathing and just did not feel well. Jordan's husband, Kevin, was deployed at Iraq at the time and she was six hours away from her family in Texas. Because she had three kids, she turned to her friend for help. She stayed with her friend for three days and did nothing but sleep.
Jordan's friend watched her children and tried to get her to go to the doctor but Jordan did not. She thought maybe she could will herself to get better and brought her kids back home. The five minute drive wore her out and her eldest daughter, who was only eight years old, had to help her up the stairs to her room.
Jordan ordered pizza that night for dinner but barely ate. The following morning she tried to walk down the stairs but passed out. Luckily, her daughter called 911. She also called her friend, who took Jordan's kids and called Jordan's parents. Then Jordan went to the emergency room on the base.
Of course, they knew right away that Jordan was extremely ill. Her oxygen was wavering between the 60s and sometimes 50s. She was administered drugs for hours; her parents arrive about six hours after her admission and spoke to the doctors. They said that she might have had a heart attack so they sent Jordan to a larger hospital. Doctors advised that she was not seriously ill and her kids went back to Texas with her parents. However, only eight hours after arriving home, Jordan's father received a call that his daughter was doing so poorly that she might not make it through the night.
By this time, the Red Cross was notified that Jordan's husband needed to know she was in the hospital on life support and her chances of survival slim. For two weeks, the doctors offered no hope. But then, after about four weeks, Jordan began to improve. It was slow but steady ad after about two weeks more, she got off the vent. Jordan's husband, Kevin, was sent home to be with her and their children.
Jordan was admitted to the hospital on February 21, 2008 and discharged on April 21, 2008. The doctors and nurses were suprised and amazed. Jordan's ARDS was due to sepsis caused by an infection from an infected tooth. Jordan was sent home on oxygen for three weeks and then was able to wean completely. Jordan has improved and is almost back to 'normal' after eight months. Even though she gets winded from time to time and sometimes experiences emotional issues due to nearly dying, she is doing quite well. However, Jordan admits to fear of ARDS again and dreads that first anniversary date of February 21, 2009.
Sandy's story... The World is a Poorer Place....
April's mother, Sandy, was admitted to the hospital for severe pneumonia
as well as liver failure and kidney failure on October 19, 2008. At that
time, she was somewhat coherent when the ambulance arrived. Upon admission,
doctor's decided to put her into a drug induced coma, intibate her and began
to treat her failing organs, as well as her pneumonia.
When she was not getting better, doctors performed a lung biopsy and found that she had developed ARDS. Her kidney had improved but her liver had not; further, she had a very low platelet count. Because of that, they were never able to give Sandy a trach. April, who lives in California, flew home to central PA the day after her mother was admitted to the MICU and sat next to her bed for two weeks, staring at her vitals, the respirator, her O2 levels, all the while holding her hand and speaking works of encouragement to her.
April had to leave at that point for work, on November 3, 2008, but she felt somewhat optimistic and encouraged at that point because her physician was optimistic and felt her mother, Sandy, was taking baby steps towards her recovery. The next two weeks were filled with ups and downs for April's mother. Although doctors were able to get her oxygen down to 55%, the medications did not seem to be helping. She also had complications with emphysema and after they took her off the paralytics, she was completely unresponsive.
Doctors did a neurological exam and they reported to April that her mother was brain dead. They called April on November 18, 2008 to offer her this prognosis.
On November 19, 2008, Sandy was taken off the vent. She was given morphine, and passed within 10 minutes. Sandy's ex-husband and her sister were with her; she was surrounded by love.
April is not only saddened, but shocked, by her death; still she is grateful for the support she has received from family and friends as well as the information she found from this organization. Sandy turned 48 years old on November 13, 2008, but she passed away only days later, on November 19, 2008. Still she knows that she passed peacefully. April, heart goes out to every family who is dealing with ARDS and as she reads other stories, she remembers that she is not alone. The world is a poorer place...
Kim's ARDS story began on Sunday November 13th,1994. She was enjoying a Sunday afternoon, where she lived in Alabama, with family and friends. They were cooking out and watching the kids ride on the four wheelers. Kim was married at the time and her son was in the first grade. But she was just not feeling well. She had a kidney infection the week before so she presumed maybe that was making her ill. But she began to get worse, running a high fever and feeling feeling achy. Kim was an LPN at the time, so she knew that something was not quite right. At the emergency room, she was sent home and told that she had a stomach virus.
However, the next day, her fever shot up so she went back to the emergency room. Once there, she was told that they were going to call her anyway because they learned that she had pneumonia. Kim was admitted to the hospital on a Monday and by Wednesday, she was in the ICU on a ventilator, in a drug induced coma. Her family was told that the doctors did not know what was wrong with Kim. At one point they told Kim's family that her lungs were three quarters full of fluid and that she had only about a one percent chance of survival.
Shortly thereafter, doctors diagnosed Kim with ARDS. She needed chest tubes on both sides and was in the drug induced coma until around Christmas. Finally, when Kim awoke, she could only move her neck back and forth. She could not even move a finger. Kim was twenty one years old, but so ill; she wondered if she would ever make it home to her son. Kim also remembered the day her son came in to see her and he was so frightened that she told them to take him out and not to bring him back while she was in this condition. It was heartbreaking to Kim, but to have her son have to see her like that was more heartbreaking.
Eventually, Kim was moved to a rehab hospital on January 26, 1995. When she left the rehab facility, she was only able to walk a few feet and had to do so with oxygen. Kim was not sure what her prognosis would be, but she knew she was a walking and talking miracle. That being said, every two years it seemed she had one problem or another. Severe lung damage, critical illness, neuropathy, PTSD, and avascular necrosis in both ankles. Kim has had a right lower lobectomy due to sever damage and she has had to have her right ankle fused due to the necrosis.
Kim said that she was a perfectly healthy twenty one year old woman with her whole life ahead of her, exercising all the time and living healthy and then suddenly, ARDS changed her life forever. She wants people to know that they should never take their lives for granted because in a split second, everything can change.
Kristiana's ARDS Survival Story
Kristiana Creamer was 22 years old when she learned that she was pregnant. Everything was going fine with her pregnancy, until she was at 18 weeks. Kristiana awoke on May 13, 2007, which was Mother's Day and had difficulty breathing. At first she thought it was just her asthma, so she tried some breathing treatments at home but nothing help. Later that day, Kristiana decided to go to the hospital; she was vomiting and really struggling to breath.
Kristiana was sent from her home town hospital to OSU Medical Center in Columbus Ohio. She spent a few hours in the ER before being sent to the MICU because her oxygen was too low. She had to be put on a ventilator and forced into a drug induced coma. Kristiana's mom and husband were by her side the whole time. Kristiana was on the vent for 13 days and recalls having the most odd and vivid dreams. Kristiana thought she could see her family but they told her she had not; she just heard them.
During her hospitalization, her body started to retain fluid and started to swell. In addition her blood pressure was rather high, as well as her temperature and she required cooling blankets. X-rays were taken everyday but she remained unchanged, until the twelfth day. And then suddenly, they said her lungs improved and she was better. They extubated Kristiana and woke her. She had no idea what had happened, only remembered going to the hospital. Best of all, they said that the baby showed no signs of stress. A few days after she was moved from the ICU, she had sharp chest pains. They did a CT and said she had 2 Pulmonary Embolisms and started her on Lovenox immediately. A few days later, she got dopplers on her legs just to be safe and found out she had three dvt's in her right leg also. When she was discharged out of the hospital she was very weak. She took physical therapy for 2 months. Kristiana stayed on the Lovenox until Kristiana delivered her daughter on October 1 2007. Her daughter was healthy and beautiful. Kristiana has been on Coumidin since then and soon will be off of it. She is thrilled that her daughter, now eighteen months, is doing well. Further, doctors say that Kristiana's Health is good; she is working as a STNA and is in college for Nursing. Kristiana hopes to help people the same way others helped her.
Melanie Raczka-Sinasac 's ARDS Survival Story
Everyone always says to enjoy every minute and live your life to the fullest because you truly never know what could happen. I was completely unaware of the fears of my fiancé, family and entire medical team in the Intensive Care Unit at Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital located in Windsor, Ontario Canada. Together, they hoped I might somehow make it through the sudden turn of events that led me to lying in a deeply sedated coma on one of the strongest life-support machines. My fiancé; Matthew and I had spent the last couple years preparing to get married. Like many young couples, we were completely immersed in putting the final touches on the kitchen of our new home and arranging the last minute details for our wedding of 300 quests. I had put off seeing a doctor about a lingering cough for a month but when I suddenly at the age of 23 felt severe chest pain and my heart began to race I asked my father to take me to the emergency room. On August 28th, 2008 I was then admitted to the hospital where it was discovered that I had community-acquired pneumonia. Four days later my condition was worsening and I was struggling to breathe. My heart rate was escalating to a rate of 230 beats per minute. My body was being robbed of the ability to take in oxygen because of a life-threatening condition called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Although I was young and healthy my doctor admits there was a real chance that I might not recover. In order for my brain and other organs to receive the amount of oxygen required to sustain my life, the doctors had to deeply sedate me and enable a life support machine to get enough oxygen into my blood with the hope of getting my lungs functioning again. My parents, sister, and fiancé; spent every moment possible at my bedside and I truly felt them there. The nurses were like angels taking care of me. They patiently educated my family about my vital signs and how ARDS was impacting my body. Ten days later the antibiotics had run their course, yet my condition had still not improved. My family was pushing thoughts of my wedding out of their mind and was afraid of having to plan my funeral. My doctor then decided to take a new course of action. Since ARDS can be related to inflammation in the lung, he prescribed a course of steroids to see if this treatment might help my lungs heal. Over the next 24 hours my condition gradually improved and my heart rate began returning back to normal. As I was weaned from the medications that was keeping my body still, my mother talked to me and told me how many reply’s had come in the mail and that my wedding dress had come in. When I finally regained full consciousness my mother told me it was my fiancé; Matthew’s birthday. I immediately started to cry and couldn’t believe how many days had past. My fiancé; definitely got his only birthday wish which was for me to be able to wish him a happy birthday! What exactly enabled me to regain my health is still a mystery according to my doctor. They all call me a true miracle. I was released from the hospital on September 16, 2008. I just feel I had way too much to live for. My recovery was remarkably quick compared to most patients with ARDS. I was still experiencing some tiredness as my wedding day approached just 5 weeks later, but I knew I was still going to marry the man of my dreams on the very same date we had planned with one added element, I would make a stop at the hospital to thank the entire ICU team for making my new life possible. Our wedding turned out absolutely wonderful and we had the time of our lives. I will be forever grateful to my doctors and nurses who saved my life and also all my wonderful family and friends who stood by me and my family and constantly prayed for me during this difficult time. We now strongly believe in the power of prayer and that miracles can happen. When I think back I still can’t believe this happened to me, and really makes me think just how precious life really is and not to take one single moment for granted. Live your life to the fullest and enjoy every moment you have together because you never know when it could be your last.
Abraham (Al) Rothstein, the World is a Poorer Place...
My dad who was 82 years old at the time, was taken to the hospital by ambulance on March 2nd, 2009 after being found on the floor of his apartment....He was diagnosed with pneumonia and sepsis, and was doing fine for the first few days...He was on oxygen, and then on the 12th of March, he was struggling to breath, and he was intubated. One of the doctors said he had ARDS, but unfortunately, it seemed like none of the doctors knew much about it, and it was too late to have him transferred to a larger hospital to be treated, since he was on a respirator. Shortly after that, his kidneys started to fail, and they started dialysis. A few days later, he wasn't absorbing the food from the feeding tube, and was bleeding from his GI tract. It seemed every day, he just got worse, and a new problem occurred daily. His poor body couldn't handle it, and he died on March 27th, 2009.
We're having a difficult time accepting this, and there is a lot we don't understand, except that he's gone. I hope that someday there is some sort of test that can be given, and treatment for this horrible syndrome. Pictured with my dad is Vivian (Dolly) who was he wife. Sadly, Dolly passed away just 6 short weeks after my father. While we were sad to lose her so close to my father, we are so glad they are now together. He was survived by his 3 daughters, 2 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren who loved him and miss him everyday.
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The ARDS Foundation
3330 Dundee Rd. Suite C4
Northbrook, IL 60062
PH: 312-749-7047
Eileen Rubin
Zacharias, President
Paula Blonski, Vice President
The ARDS Foundation
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