Doctors Say It’s Only A Matter Of Days For My Brother Kevin

It’s not unexpected, but my brother Kevin is rapidly declining in health

It was just three months ago when I blogged about going to Pensacola, Florida to see my brother Kevin whose trips to the hospital about his heart health have been becoming more and more frequent which led his doctors to share with the family in June that he had less than a year to live. Hospice was called in to administer oxygen and drugs to help Kevin deal with what was to come at some unknown point in the near future. We knew during the summer that Kevin’s time with us here is probably coming to an end soon and now it seems that time has arrived.

This morning I received a telephone call from my dad in Tennessee who was passing on the message to me from my mom who lives in Florida about Kevin. Mom was so shaken up by this news she couldn’t bear to call me directly about it. It turns out Kevin went to the hospital on Friday evening because his difibrulator went off twice last week. The doctors were keeping him overnight for observation and early on Saturday morning he had a heart incident that did not trigger the difibrulator to go off. They had to shock his heart 10 times to revive him and he severely bloodied his lip and tongue from biting them as they were doing this. Major damage was done to his already weakened heart and now he’s in a “coma” state in intensive care for a variety of reasons.

He’s hooked up to a ventilator and is heavily sedated with seven medicines being pumped into his body so he cannot be awake. His body would start gagging if he were conscious with all the tubes running down his throat. Plus, they had to go in and do a heart cath after administering plasma to thicken up his blood and doctors found that there’s really not much they can do for him with virtually every single artery completely blocked. Additionally, the pressure on his heart is supposed to be 15, but his is 40 right now. It’s as if his heart is about to explode and the doctors are helpless to do anything about it. They’re trying to wait it out for a few days to see if his condition improves on its own.

As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for my family and I did get to speak with my mom this evening…she was obviously very shaken up by this. Yes, we’ve known this day would come for a while, but now that it’s here it’s so much more real to all of us. I cannot imagine what both my mom and dad are thinking about this seeing their just-turned-40 year old son on the verge of taking his final breath. Never in a million years did either one of them expect to outlive any of their children. But their worst-case scenario nightmare is happening right before their eyes.

Although Mom told me to stay home in South Carolina until something “worse” happens to Kevin, I just feel like I need to be with my family right now. No, there’s nothing I can do for Kevin to make his situation better and they say he probably isn’t even aware that people are in the room with him since he’s unconscious from the medications. But Mom told me she sat with Kevin holding his hand and telling him “I love you” during visiting hours today. I ache for her because I know she’s taking this very hard. That’s one reason I want to be there to let her know her other son is there to share in the grief of this situation. I’m very grateful to have had the chance to spend some quality time with Kevin in July and those are memories I’ll cherish forever (playing Texas Hold ‘Em, watching DVDs, and singing karaoke together was the most fun we’ve had together in years!).

So, although we just returned from our trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina last week on Friday for Christine’s chelation appointment, now we are headed right back on the road again on Sunday morning for Pensacola to be there with my family. If my gut instinct about this is correct, then I think Kevin is only looking at a few more hours of life on Earth before the good Lord takes him home to be with Him. And thankfully Kevin is a believer and has Jesus in his heart. We can rest assured that the perfect healing will happen for him soon and that he will be in a place where there’s no more suffering, no more pain, and no more crying. Knowing this gives me a peace in my heart about what is very possibly going to happen in the next few days.

It goes without saying that I may not be able to do much if any blogging while I am in Pensacola, although I may have some time when we are not with Kevin. There are limited visitation hours, so I’ll try to check in whenever I can at my forum and anywhere else I have time for. We certainly covet your thoughts and prayers as we go through this inevitable day that seems to be upon us now. God bless you and THANK YOU for all of your support for Kevin and my family over the years. I love you guys and will talk to you again soon.

10-13-08 UPDATE: We’ve been here a couple of days now and have seen Kevin in a comatose state several times during visiting hours. He can’t respond and may not even know we are there, but I’m glad we’re here. My dad drove down from Tennessee to be here this week, too, so the whole family is here together for Kevin. What’s the prognosis? Hurry up and wait right now. The doctors have him in this drug-induced coma to keep his blood pressure low so he can recover from the trauma of the incident on Saturday morning. They had to shock his heart 10 times to get it beating again then and had he not been in the hospital at the time he would have died. In the next couple of days, they will try to wean Kevin off of the ventilator and a whole slew of drugs…including insulin. His fasting blood sugar reached a high of 350, so they were pumping insulin into him along with antibiotics, pain meds, and other IV fluids. I’ve never seen so many things going into one person at one time. Plus, the crash cart is still connected to Kevin in case he has another incident and his room is right by the nurse’s desk since he’s in critical, but stable condition. The moment of truth will come on Wednesday or Thursday when they take Kevin off of the tubes. If he survives that, then they will try a procedure called an ablation to help slow down his rapid heart rate and better manage it. THANK YOU on behalf of Kevin and all of the family for your outpouring of love, prayers and support. We genuinely appreciate it so much!

10-14-08 UPDATE: Since so many of you have been thinking and praying for my family concerning my brother Kevin, I wanted to give you the latest update…and it’s not good. This morning the pulmonary doctor gave us the grim truth of the situation–Kevin’s kidneys are shutting down from the efforts to keep his blood pressure and heart rate down since he suffered cardiac arrest on Saturday morning. They were hoping keeping him in a drug-induced coma would help his heart heal, but now his other organs are unable to stay strong in his weakened state. So, this afternoon they turned off his difibrulator and on Wednesday morning they will be taking him off of the ventilator since they expect more organ failure and increased pressure in the heart. My mom asked if we could take him out of the coma so we can say our goodbyes. The doctors say he could live as little as a few minutes or up to a few days when they do this. At this news, I saw something I’ve never seen before in my entire life–my dad sobbed uncontrollably. I mean I’ve never even seen him cry before and there he was crying his eyes out. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close to console him. It was something I NEVER want to see again. Pray for us as we spend these last few moments with Kevin tomorrow.

10-15-08 UPDATE: Today was the day of reckoning for our family and your prayers and thoughts have been genuinely appreciated and strongly felt. THANK YOU so much for all of your care and concern. This morning they shut off Kevin’s difibrulator, then took him off of all his medications, and finally they took his ventilator out. For the first few hours Kevin was in and out of consciousness, but breathing on his own and somewhat alert. They told us that when they shocked his heart back on Saturday that he sustained some brain damage. It’s probably only minor, but it could impact his ability to talk. But as the day progressed, Kevin’s ability to communicate improved quite dramatically right before our eyes. Despite having no medications dripping into his body, no nourishment for his body since Friday, taking him off of all blood pressure and heart rate machines, and keeping him on a morphine drip and oxygen alone, Kevin did something that was a pleasant surprise to all of us–he smiled. It happened kinda by accident when I got locked inside of the bathroom adjacent to the new room they put him in this afternoon. When I finally got out, my sister Beverly said, “Hey Kevin, Jimmy got locked in the bathroom!” Hearing this, the biggest, most beautiful smile bloomed on his face and it was a joyful time for the family to know he’s still with us for however much longer God allows. We got Kevin to laugh a few more times, especially when my mom accidentally introduced me as Kevin’s “sister” to a visitor–Kevin couldn’t stop grinning because I know he was laughing his butt off on that one. LOL! As I’m typing this, my mom is still sitting with Kevin tonight, my dad will be with Kevin overnight, and Christine and I will be going back up there early in the morning. We’re all taking shifts to be with Kevin so we don’t all get worn out right now for as long as Kevin is still with us. For now I’m gonna get some rest and look forward to being with my brother for as long as we have him. THANK YOU again for all of your positive thoughts and prayers. You are truly an amazing group of people and I’m honored to know you all.

10-16-08 UPDATE: R.I.P. Kevin Lee Moore (1967-2008)