The Obituary

GROSS, Charles age 49 of Franklin passed away, Monday, May 24, 2010 at Southview Hospital. He was born December 10, 1960 in Breathit County, KY the son of Charles and Martha Gross. He is preceded in death by his father. Charles is survived by his wife, Misty; his mother; two daughters, Rachel Riggs and Ashley Gross; and two brothers, Kenneth and Richard Gross. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Lillian, Lacey, and Jordan. Funeral service will be Friday, May 28, 2010 at 10:00 am at Anderson Funeral Home (Franklin) Visitation will be Thursday evening from 5-8 at the funeral home. Burial will be in Woodhill Cemetery.

I love you..and will miss you.

No change

The journey to recovery isn't going as well as I'd expected. Dad hasn't had the strength to stand up on his own since we came home from the hospital. He has needed stimulant suppositories, stool softeners and daily Zofran for his nausea. I believe his bowels are shutting down, and there is no return to "normal" life. His appetite during the first few days post-hospital were great. Mom made him fried chicken livers and stuffed peppers, his favorite meals. He was feeling a little bloated on day three, so we thought soups and light foods would help prevent bloating. He spent a few days sitting on the back porch, and even had enough energy to ride around the yard in his power chair. He needed a lot of assistance getting in and out of his chair and the actual moving from couch to chair depleted all of his. His appetite and drive for life declined quickly over the next several days. May 20th was the last day he had been off the couch. The morning of May 23rd, I called to check on him. My Grandma was with him that day, it was Sunday and I was going to church. She said he wasn't doing well, and was vomiting again. I skipped church and went to see him. He looked worse than he did on May 5th, before his first visit to the hospital. He had a fever a few nights before of 101.6. He had been coughing up "flim" for weeks which was becoming thicker and harder to get up and I suspected pneumonia. He hadn't ate in two or three days again, but was drinking Smart Water. It's good because it has electrolytes in it to help fight dehydration. I had a horrible feeling that he wouldn't make it through the night. His temperature orally was 90.2. I blamed the thermometer for being wrong, but I knew this was another sign of impending death. The low body temperature, lack of appetite, little urine production, and his bowels shutting down were all signs. Ashley stayed with Mom and Dad Sunday night and Mom took Monday off work. Through the night, he told Mom that when I got there Monday morning we'd go back to the hospital. He wanted to go. It just wasn't like him to want to go to the hospital. We arrived at the emergency department at Southview hospital at 11am. We knew that the only IV access point was a femoral line in his right groin area. Within an hour a site was initiated, labs drawn and fluids started. We went to MRI, and it showed a small impaction in the lower part of the bowel. We were admitted and had our room, 1007 bed A by 2pm. The MRI revealed pneumonia as I had suspected, and his kidney function labs came back abnormal. He started to become tachycardic right before being admitted, yet another sign of impending death. An EKG was preformed in the room we were admitted to. His heart rate was 120-140 for the next hour. The nurse came in to hang his new antibiotic and asked him if he was having any pain. He clearly stated no. I mentioned his hip hurting and he may need a new bandage so she left the room to get one. He was having hot flashes, and was restless. His hip was hurting and he wanted to turn. He was so weak and needed a lot of assistance. My Mom and I were standing on the right side of the bed, and he wanted to turn toward us. I asked Ashley to stand on the left side and pull the pad he was laying on to turn him easier. As he turned, his breathing slowed and his eyes rolled upward. He took his last breath as we were all three touching him. I had never cried in his presence and my Mom knew that he was gone when I broke down. We cried and held him for the next 25 minutes until the nurse came back. It had taken her 35 minutes to get a 2x2 bandage and I was highly appreciative of that at that moment. We had no living will, and we hadn't yet declared him DNR status. If he passed while medical staff was present, they would have attempted a full code. We have so much to do over the next few days, and I don't even know where to begin my to-do-list.

Scleroderma Sucks

I am very grateful for the outcome of the last few days. On May 5, my Mom calls me and tells my that Dad isn't feeling well. He never feels well, so I wasn't surprised. He hadn't ate since Sunday..it was Wednesday. When I had gotten the phone call I was waiting on Ryan to come out of his interview at Siemens. He got a call from them for a new job opportunity. We went to eat lunch and then went to see my Dad. He looked worse than I'd ever seen him before. His eyes were sunken in, his skin was gray and his voice was nearly gone. The room smelled strongly of foul vomit and I was, for the first time, afraid for the outcome. I convinced him that we had to do something. I called the doctor and we were able to get an emergency visit with her in one hour. I cleaned him up, helped him dress and we went to the doctor's office. The doctor immediately suggested that we go directly to the emergency room for x-rays. She suspected a bowel obstruction, along with the obvious severe dehydration. We arrived at the emergency department and after four hours of trying to gain intervenous access, a surgeon came in to initiate a femoral line. Iv fluids were started, a 1000mL bolus and after it completed, he felt a million times better. He was able to speak more clearly, and his color was normal. Of course, he was admitted. The orders were for him to drink a 8oz bottle of Magnesium Citrate to cleanse his GI tract so a scope could explore the cause of this problem the next day. The medication smelled bad and tasted horrible and it took all night for me to convince him to drink just half of the bottle. The results of his blood work came back and surprisingly everything was within normal range. The next morning, after a sleepless night, the GI attending, Dr. Zaph came in and recommended a Colonoscopy with decompression. I wasn't able to be in the room during the colonoscopy, but he was given Versed and pain medication to sedate him. I am always concerned about someone hurting him...he is so fragile. I stood outside of the procedure room and could hear most of the conversations amongst the techs. I found it highly inappropriate that they were discussing jury duty cases while doing the procedure. After the decompression started, they were able to remove most of the impaction. His bowel habits have never been normal, and apparently h e was severely impacted, enough to cause it to come up as vomit. The procedure lasted about 1.5 hours and they left in a rectal tube to drain. I was amazed that he didn't complain about the tube at all. The rest of the day, he was comfortable, mostly sedated. Mom and Ashley went home and I sat by his side all night. He had several episodes of being incontinent of his bowels and I can't even count how many times I cleaned him up. The next morning Mom and Ashley came back and Dad was hungry. He was "npo" meaning he wasn't able to have food. He wasn't having nausea anymore, obviously he is having bowel movements and I couldn't see any reason why he couldn't eat. He weighs 83 pounds and hasn't ate in 5 days. He needs to at least make an attempt if he has the appetite. We went to the cafe and Mom got him eggs and toast. He was able to eat about half and was satisfied. He started to get some of his energy back and wanted the tube out. I called for the nurse and 5 hours later (not an exaggeration) someone came in to remove the rectal tube. I, and the nurse, expected it to be like a catheter tube, but the tube was 36 inches long! Again, not an exaggeration. Apparently, the tube proceeded though the rectum, colon and large intestine. The tube drained nothing all night, and was pretty much worthless. After that traumatic event, he felt good enough to get cleaned up and go home AMA. I know how much he hated being there, and I really should have convinced him to stay until actual discharge. We made it home around 7pm. He hadn't looked that good in a long time. His face was fuller, and his eyes were him again.
I hope and pray that he will continue on the new medication plan and recover from this.