11/12 - HOME!

Yes, that's right he is home! Long road of recovery ahead but he is home! Not much more to say, other than THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU - to all of you. It may not feel like you made a difference or anything like that, but everything helped. It's so amazing to have such loving people in our lives, we are truly grateful and blessed.The nurses and doctors all were fantastic, kind, helpful and caring and truly saved my Dad's life, and for that I will always be thankful.

I'll update the blog here and there as it goes along, so if you're still curious you can check back. But I hope it was a helpful tool for everyone to be able to check up on him and I hope I did a good enough job filing everyone in. Anyone wishing to contact him, just call us at home, email any of us, or send anything to our house.

Again, thank you all so much,

James

11/12 - Morning

Goodmorning everyone! I'm happy to say I have good news, and that is that it seems like my Dad may be coming home today. I hesitiate to get to excited because I have yet to hear it from anyone "officialy" but my Dad said that's what he was told. When I asked the lovely nurse Susan about it, she seemed like it was a definite possibility.

The pain is still up there (he says at a 5 or a 6) but he has done great without having to take the narcotics. Both Susan (the nurse) and I said we noticed that his color seems much more normal and not as pale as it had been the past few days. His spirits are up, he wanted his phone so he could see all of the things he's been missing, and we've been sure to tell him that his work is least important right now. He had a suprise visit from a great friend this morning that really seemed to put a smile on his face -Thanks Stephen. My Uncle Brad headed back to Kearney, NE today and the help and support he offered to my mom and I was amazing and so greatly appreciated. Thanks Uncle Brad.

Keep up the prayers and good vibes, hopefully the next post will be informing everyone that he is home.

Thank you and God bless,
James

11/11 - Evening

Today was lots more rest. Saw several visitors and spent a lot of time resting. They took out his "central line" so now it seems that he has one IV site and just the oxygen - so the fewer things going in to him seems to me like a good sign. He was able to laugh and talk a little today and really appreciated the response and love he got from all of you - keep it coming!

I have been reading him all of the emails and texts that I have been getting and it's great to hear all of the support. So far I have heard him in response to the many "How are you doing's?" that have come his way the common response seems to be "Okay" So that's what I'll leave you all with. He's doing okay, tired and sore, but okay.

More tomorrow.

James

11/11 - Lunch and Shower

Woke up from the nap. Now he's headed to take a shower, he seems pretty worn out but they said that's as expected. He is walking a lot better, more strides than shuffles. He said he get's an aching pain in his right arm after walking but the nurses don't seem to be too concerned with it. Pain level seems about the same, he is anxious to get all of the tubes and IV's out, and unfortunately with the Schrack Head the oxygen tubes around that big noggin is starting to get pretty annoying as well. Energy and appetite are very low, but he's doing his best.
I'll update again tonight.

James

How it all started...

As most of you may or may not know, this story, although scary, is one of miracles that all of your prayers and support and the work of God have made possible. With all that is going on, it's been hard for my mom to keep everyone up to date with my Dad's progress. I figured a blog would be a simple way to inform anyone who is curious about his status. My writing isn't great, and it's not intended to be an English paper, but I hope it is informative and helpful for all of you who are interested.

On November 8th, Brian (my Dad) woke up with a "sharp burning" pain going down from his Adam's apple down his chest to his legs and quickly yelled out for my mom (Leslie) to come help him. My Mom immediately went to see what was going on and soon discovered that she needed to call 911 and the ambulance came to my house to pick up my Dad. They rode to Parker Hospital and did a CAT scan, and discovered that he needed to have emergency open-heart surgery. They then proceeded to fly him to Porter Hospital where he was going to get the surgery.

In the middle of all of this is when my part comes in. I was riding the bus to class and happened to look down at my phone and see that my mom had called and texted me "Emergency, please call me!" That's when I was informed that something very serious had happened to my Dad and it was very urgent and that it was very life threatening. So I quickly hopped off of the bus and rushed down from Fort Collins to the hospital where I was in time to see my Dad before they took him into surgery. That was one of the scariest moments of my life and really made me realize that we can't take anything for granted, especially your loved ones - always remember that.

Dr. Gouber (yes, pronounced Goober), went on to explain to my Mom and me that what my Dad had is called an Aortic dissection. This, in layman’s terms is when the layers of your aorta start to seperate, and create a “blister” on the walls of your aorta. After several explanations, that was the simplest and easiest to understand. They told my mom and I several times that he could die, have a stroke, or be paralyzed. You never think you'd hear someone say that about your Dad, who you have admired and tried to resemble your whole life and always thought nothing could happen to.

There have been lots of happenings and things going on in the past few days, if anyone is curious they can ask me about it by sending me and email at jschrack@comcast.net. For the most part I'll now regualrly post little updates throughout the day about how he is feeling and what's going on. But overall, the most important thing is that he is alive and is recovering according to schedule. He should be out of the hospital sometime this weekend, and then a long road of recovery after that. I'll keep you updated as best as possible and once again, the support and love you all have given is amazing. We are truly blessed to have such good people in our lives.

For anyone, who wants to know where he is - He is at Porter Advenist Hospital in the ICU room 2228.


Thanks,
James