Please say a prayer for the Howard family - with updates

[bassboy]

I talked to bill as well through via texting and on the way to church i started calling friends to put the family on prayer lists so it is out there and im going to actually talk to my wife but maybe we all can help them out by making dinners for them or picking up dinners for them.Bill and Vicki will need any kind of help and thats what we r about helping each other anyway we can so to NORM: ask bill for my number

[Norm]

Just got a text from Bill. She is doing much better. Knows what year it is, and she knew her sister as well. Said they were thinking about pulling out her breathing tube...that is really great news

[TerryW]

Wow - this is truly good news!

[Norm]

Ok, the breathing tube is out and she is talking. AND apparently she now even recognizes Bill...
Bill said she is talking, but not fully aware of what happened to her. She thinks she just had a baby God Bless this lady Bill also said they will be implanting a defibulator in a couple of days. A very simple out-patient surgery. No further surgery will be expected.

[Chief1600]

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bill and his family.

[TerryW]

She is one tough cookie!

[FrankC]

Really good news. I pray she will get through this with as little damage to her heart as possible or better yet, complete healing.

[Heywood]

First of all, I can't thank those of you here for you're prayers, thoughts and the calls to check on me and Vicki. There is no way I will ever be able to repay of all.
This is what happened: Around 9pm Vicki was cleaning one of our sliding glass doors when she let out a loud groan. I looked over and she had stumbled and fell into one of our recliners. My first thought was a siezure, but. When I grabbed her left arm I could feel how cold it was. Her breathing was very labored and I could see the color drianing from her face. I grabbed her and placed her on the floor, immediately called 911. I fell back on my air force training I guess as I checked her airway and started chest compressions. The operator answered and talked me through what I needed to do. In about 5 to 7 minutes the fire truck arrived, luckly they are just 5 blocks away. They came in and took over. Her heart stopped shortly after they had the shock pads in place. Her heart beat returned and we quickly got her in the ambulance. Arriving in the ER her heart stopped again. Stablized they wisked her to the heart cath lab where it stopped several more times. In total her heart stopped 7 times. They found her right main artery completly blocked, but in this situation you're body forms a natural bypass with the smaller viens. They were unable to open the blockage but in the docs opinion it didn't matter as she had this natural bypass already. Part of that side of her heart had already died. We got into the ICU sometime early Sat morning and I spent the night on the floor in the waiting room. She had a quite night without anuy further episodes. They placed Vicki in a state of hypothermia, which is something new to reduce the effects of lack of oxygen to the brain. For nearly 24 hours we waited. In between we saw glimpses of hope as she would open her eyes and react to the nurses. Early this morning the reversed the process and warmed her up. She woke up and was responding to questions asked of her. By this time tonight they have removed her off the ventilator and she is talking well.
She does not remember what happened and is very groggy at this time. But she has made a remarkable recovery from where she was. Tomorrow we plan on a cat scan and a defibulator to be inserted. She has a long way to go, but a major hurdle was cleared today. Its been the longest 3 days of my life. I'm not a very religous person, but everyone tells me that someone placed me at the right place at the right time. I don't know. That's not up to me to decide. Really, I want to forget it. It replays in my mind and those images are something I do not want to relive.
Vicki has a long road ahead of her, and since I have a second chance with my one true love, I will be taking a break from my second love, kayak fishing. She needs all my attention right now and in the future. I consider many of you here my second family and I wanted to give you the story straight from me.

I want to thank all of you and those of you that called, texted me and made visits to me, you will never know how you're concernlifted me up.

Please feel free to repost this on the other forums that our situation has been posted on. I thank all of them, but I simply don't have the strength at this time to answer all of them.

I will check back when I can. Again from the bottom of our hearts, my family thanks you.

[americanrobster]

Great news Bill

[Norm]

We are a brother/sisterhood here. We circle the wagons when someone needs us. Its what real friends are all about Bill. We love you and will be here for you when you need us.

[mudfish]

Godspeed & Godbless.

[BlueTuna]

AWESOME!!

[AnglerDrew]

THANKS EVERYONE FOR BEING THERE AT A TIME LIKE THIS....... I GOT TO SEE MY MOTHER TODAY AND GOT TO TALK TO HER...... SHE IS DOING SO MUCH BETTER NOW.....

[ratherbefishin]

This is great news. Karma coming back to Bill and his family for his Paddle Around the Bay for the Heart Association.

[BryanS]

So glad to hear the good news! Prayers from my family to yours.

[Norm]

More good news Vicky went through catheterization this morning and came out just fine. She is finally coming around mentally and seems to be finally getting a handle on things and was able to convince Bill he needed to get his butt home and get some rest
I'm so proud of this group and how it has rallied around one of its own. Just another reason why I love the people here...Thank you, thank you, thank you