BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

“This is it!” David said. Printing out the statement, they presented hospital officials with the letter. “It’s been over 21 days since my father’s diagnosis,” David told them. “I want to see him, now!” Although Valerie was still on oxygen and using a walker, she too visited Dan in the ICU. Organs Shutting Down After two weeks, the tube doctors had inserted had to be removed, and Dan was given a tracheotomy for long-term use with the ventilator. In the middle of one night, David got a call from the hospital: “You’d better get back up here. Your dad’s kidneys stopped functioning. He might not survive the night.” To keep him alive, doctors put Dan on a dialysis machine. His kidneys responded and started working again. A few days later, David got called to his father’s bedside again. “His liver is shutting down. We don’t think he’ll make it through the night,” doctors told him. Dan was given three blood transfusions that boosted his liver function. In a drug-induced coma, Dan had no idea what was happening. He did, however, have a conversation with God. Lord, why is this taking so long?... I can’t take anymore. I’m going. 'No, you’re not going anywhere.' Pictures of Valerie, Mindy and David scrolled across Dan’s mind. 'You’ve experienced miracles every year of your life. Let Me show you….' A film clip of miracles showed like a movie in Dan’s mind. 'Later, I want you to write a book about the miracles.' As Dan approached six weeks on the ventilator, doctors explained to the family that there was only a 1% chance of him surviving. Meanwhile, David became convinced that he needed to get his dad out of the hospital. But no one would take a patient on a ventilator. A Whole New World After extensive research, David found a long-term care facility that agreed to accept Dan on the ventilator. He was transported there on his 40th day in the hospital. Staff there weaned him off the ventilator and the drugs. Dan opened his eyes and looked around. “What’s going on here?” he managed to say around his tracheotomy. A nurse walked to his bed. “Oh, you’re awake!” She wrote her name on a whiteboard. Then she added Oct. 5. “Why are you writing Oct. 5?” Dan asked. “They put me under on Aug. 31, so today must be Sept. 1, right?” “No, it’s Oct. 5.” Stunned, Dan realized he’d been in a coma for six weeks. He’d missed his birthday. He’d missed a deep-sea fishing vacation in Florida. Worse, he couldn’t move anything below his neck. He couldn’t move his toes, pick up his hands, or lift his head. And he’d lost 60 pounds. “I had to go through rehabilitation,” Dan recalls. “I had to learn to sit up in bed, how to eat again and how to walk again. Physical therapists tried to sit me up, but I was so weak I just fell over onto the bed. “It was a long, slow process, but the Lord taught me to focus on the trees outside as I struggled to lift my head. Eventually, I was able to stand and take a few steps with the walker. On Nov. 1, 2021, I was discharged with a walker. Valerie and I both needed lots of help. Nurses came to the house eight hours a day. Trauma Strikes Back “I’d developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from my experiences in the hospital. At night I’d knock over lamps in my sleep. My thrashing about caused me to fall out of bed numerous times. “Then on Dec. 3, Pastor Terri suggested to Valerie that we go see a doctor who treats patients with platelet-rich plasma. Within days of the treatment, all the symptoms of PTSD were gone. It also stopped Valerie’s COVID-related hair loss.” 20 : BVOV

• Cover