On March 27th 2025 at 4 am my Dad, Joe, a 56 year old Type 1 insulin dependent diabetic suffered a grand mal seizure in his sleep caused by hypoxia from undetected aspiration pneumonia. He was rushed to the emergency room to the critical care unit as he was post-ictal for an extended period of time. He tried to inform us that he was in pain but due to his post-ictal state and frontal-temporal dementia (diagnosed in 2021), it was difficult for him to communicate this to emergency services. The critical care unit took full body X-rays and CT scans and determined that he had pneumonia, as well as bilateral fractured hips and bilateral fractured shoulders with one shoulder dislocated. My mom was asked many times if he had fallen to sustain such injuries, yet he suffered the seizure in bed and did not fall. It was determined that the violent muscle and tendon contractions during the seizure caused these injuries. 

He had intense trouble breathing due to the pneumonia and immediately needed to be sedated and intubated. He was in the ICU for 14 days. He was on this life support for around 12 days during which time he was given many medications which caused acute kidney injury to his kidneys which already had chronic kidney disease. He had only 27% of his kidney function before hospitalization, and during this ordeal his kidney function had dropped as low as 8%. He required 3 consecutive dialysis sessions just to be stable enough to endure the mandatory bilateral partial hip surgery. These surgeries are typically done within 24-48 hours of the injury for the best recovery. But because he was medically unstable, he had the surgery 8 days later. During this surgery the surgeon attempted to perform a dislocation reduction on the dislocated shoulder by trying to essentially put the shoulder back into the correct position. However the shoulder would not budge and it will require a total replacement surgery sometime in the future. After the hip surgery he remained almost completely sedated even after coming off of anesthesia and sedation meds. This was due to his dementia, and his kidneys being unable to clear these medications from his blood, tissues, brain and organs. In addition, he was given Fentanyl for the pain which is also highly sedating. Due to the kidney injury and dysfunction, his blood sugars had elevated as high as 660. This made him become septic and caused metabolic acidosis as well as extreme anemia. His red blood counts went critically low at half of the low limit and he needed blood transfusions. He has had recurring fevers and his white blood cell count went extremely high at over 4x the high limit. They did blood cultures on him for tons of viruses and bacteria as well as meningitis. Most turned up negative and they were able so far to narrow it down to a broad spectrum gram positive bacteria. Its origin of where in the body is still unknown, other than the pneumonia and they are treating it with doses of Zosyn and Vancomycin as needed. He is given bicarbonate for the metabolic acidosis as well as EPO for the anemia and is undergoing dialysis as needed. My mom who is his wife of 27 years, misses him incredibly. My 2 siblings and I miss our dad not being home with us. 

His baseline mental status although very slowly resuming is still undetermined and he will need to be assessed by the neurology team in relation to his dementia, and from enduring the seizure and sedation. The anti-seizure meds in combination with his dementia make this unclear at this time. After his mental status has been determined, his physical ability will need to be assessed by the orthopedic team as he has not gotten out of bed since this happened on March 27th. He has been bound to his hospital bed with leg immobilizers and has not been bearing weight on his hips since before the seizure. His recovery from the hip surgeries will most likely require months of rehabilitation followed by physical therapy, all while still having the bilateral shoulder fractures and one dislocation to contend with. He will also need ongoing dialysis at an outpatient facility, as his kidneys have become severely compromised. Prior to this hospitalization, his dementia had progressed in late 2023, and he had to go on disability and my mom had to stop working to take care of him at home. The endless doctor appointments, tests, and continuous care was difficult to do alone while she also ran our household. Since October of 2024, I have become his registered caregiver to help my mom with necessary household tasks and his physical, mental, and medical needs. With him being hospitalized and thereafter needing rehab and physical therapy he is essentially in someone else’s care. When he is under the care of a clinician or medical setting, I cannot work any caregiver shifts. Therefore, all paychecks during this time are nonexistent and we essentially have no income until he can return home. It is a truly difficult time. My siblings and I do what we can to help financially, but as young adults we have our own expenses as well.

Besides the emotional and physical turmoil our family has endured, the financial strain proves to be evident.

However we are believing in and trusting God for a miracle in healing and in the provision in finances. 

*See the update section for newer information*