I don't understand why bad things always happen to good people....

I spent a good part of last night with my Aunt at the hospital.

My Uncle, went to his hospital for a very common outpatient surgical procedure on Tuesday. Instead of recovering from it - he ended up back in the hospital with a severe blood infection within 24 hours.

Yesterday - while my Aunt was visiting with him - he "crashed". Basically, his heart suddenly went into Arrythmia and he died. Right there in front of her. But the story doesn't end there.....

Fortunately, she was there in the room with him - because he wasn't being monitored for heart purposes - he's perfectly healthy, and so there was no reason to monitor him for such things. She ran out of his room, got the staff - and they quickly ushered her out of the room so they could resuscitate him. She called me - I left work, not realizing exactly what had happened at this point - and got there to be with her so she wasn't alone dealing with the doctors.

He spent 7 minutes in this "code" state. Which means 7 minutes without his heart beating on it's own. 7 minutes without oxygen flowing properly throughout his body to his brain. The good thing is - if there's any place for this type of thing to happen, a hospital is the place to be. 7 minutes of being given oxygen and being "breathed for" until stabilized is the most optimal situation, given the circumstances. His heart shows no sign of damage....his catscans at this point show no signs of brain injury. He's breathing on his own and maintaining his own blood pressure. But he is showing signs of neurological damage. To what extent....we truly don't know at this point.

When I left last evening, he was already sedated. They were inducing him to a hypothermic state, to slow his body down and allow it some time to regroup and restabilize. They were also paralyzing him, so that he would be perfectly still. The infection is so aggressive that it was difficult for him to keep still - your body naturally creates adrenalin to fight off infection, and he's too weak to handle the strength of the adrenalin, so they need to keep him perfectly still to aide in healing. And they've induced a medical coma.

As of this morning, we're hoping that they'll slowly start removing these processes over the next 24 hours....and potentially by Saturday evening, he may be awake. And only at that point, will anyone be able to determine the extent of his injuries.

My uncle is a devout Catholic...I don't think he ever misses Mass. He's one of the nicest, kindest people I know. That's not a statement made in hindsight because of the circumstances today - that's the truth. There are few people in this world like my Uncle. He's an active guy...an avid gamesman, fisherman - and a great cook. One of the best compliments he gave me without even realizing it, was calling me for my recipe on cooking goose. He makes it all the time....but I made it one year for Christmas, and he said it was so good - he said he wanted to try it that way himself. He's always funny, welcoming....and loves being around kids. He's just a good guy.

If anyone has any positive thoughts and wishes.....send them my Uncle's way. If anyone deserves them - he does.