Many have asked about when a memorial service for Scott might be, so they could make plans to come. Mount Hermon has been so wonderful in allowing our family to use their facilities to remember him.

We will celebrate Scott’s life on what would have been his 51st birthday, Sunday, May 17th, here at Mount Hermon at 4pm. There will be a light supper reception afterwards. There needs to be some kind of count for meal preparation purposes, so if you plan on staying for the supper after the service, please either call Cindy Ritchie at (831) 430-1230, or e-mail her at cindy.ritchie@mounthermon.org.

Thanks so very, very much for the love, prayers, and encouragement all of you have given via this blog. We feel very loved and upheld.

God bless you all,

Lynne, for our family

As many of you already know, Scott went home to be with his Lord a little after 6 this morning.

I was able to be with him most of the night he was readmitted to the ICU on Tuesday night, and all day Wednesday. By 7pm, he was a little more stable, but his BP had been needing increasing pressors to maintain. The ICU medical staff felt he was stable enough for me to go back to the cottage to get some sleep.

Got a call about 11:45pm saying he had coded a couple of times, and that I should come in soon. By the time I arrived, he was more or less stabilized, but non-responsive, and the ventilator and pressors were pretty much maxed out and all that were keeping him going. The ICU staff were wonderful, and gave me a few hours to cry, talk to him, touch him, and decide what to do.

I made the decision to not pursue any escalation of treatment, since he was pretty much not able to respond any more anyway. I called our friends Ken and Mari Harrower, who were able to come up and be with me through to the end. I am so grateful for their presence, love, and encouragement, as well as friends Susan (Anastasia) Schaaf, and Conrad and Kimberly Podsada who were all willing to be wakened in the middle of the night for comfort and counsel.

I watched his BP, oxygen level, and heart rate all spiral down during the early morning hours, until by about 6am, all the values were incompatible with life, and asked them to turn everything off. His deeply depleted systems just could not overcome the massive assault of the sepsis infection and pneumonia.

After a second night of only 1 1/2 hours of sleep, I wasn’t safe to drive home, but really wanted to be with Daniel and Becky, so they could learn from me what had happened. Mari drove me home, while Ken followed in our car. I was able to communicate what they needed to know of their dad’s death, and we had a very painful but precious time of all three of us holding each other and crying for a while.

Thanks so much to all who have expressed their sorrow, love, and comfort as we figure out what life looks like now. We couldn’t have gotten through all of this up till now without the many prayers and support of all of you. The road now looks different, but no less difficult for a while. I am so thankful that Scott is now whole, healed, and in a place of great joy, and I know that I will see him again.

God bless you all,

Lynne, for Scott, Daniel, and Becky

It’s been a day of ups and downs, balances and imbalances, but he’s hanging in there. Pneumonia is now on the list along with the sepsis, so he’s running a fairly high temp at this point (between 102-103F). The heavy duty antibiotics need 24-48 hrs to work before they’ll know how he’s going to come through this. His BP has been very dependent and sensitive to the IV pressor meds, and his O2/CO2 balances have been up and down. One side effect of the BP pressors is the potential of eventual failure of other vital organs, especially the kidneys. This morning they were talking about the possibility of his needing continuous dialysis, but so far, his kidneys are doing more or less ok. 

This morning, Scott and I had a “conversation” where he was mouthing questions such as “what happened,” “why did it all happen,” “what’s the plan,” and “let’s get going!” I was able to explain all I was aware of, and basically told him that all the “plan” was going, and that his job was to keep breathing, and rest so his body could fight the infections.

He is far from out of the woods, but every 12 hrs he keeps holding his own, the more likely he could pull through this infection onslaught when he has so little reserve at the start of the episode. I’m really hoping he might be stable enough that I could go back to the cottage here in S.F. tonight so I can catch up on some sleep. Please continue praying that he can be balanced enough during the night that I can feel comfortable enough to be gone.

Many thanks, many blessings on you all, and much love from all of us.

Lynne

Scott is fighting a massive system-wide infection called sepsis (old term is “blood-poisoning”), and has been trying to pull out of septic shock all night. It’s taking 2 IV pressor infusions to keep his blood pressure up, and he’s been really struggling to maintain an appropriate  O2/CO2 balance with his respirations, needing many adjustments all night long to the ventilator settings to keep him from going deeper into shock. They had to give him meds to paralyze him for a few hours so the ventilator alone would do his breathing to try to correct the acid/base imbalances. He’s on 3 big gun antibiotics to combat the infection, but his anti-coagulation therapy (Coumadin) is very tricky to balance, so he is also at high risk for bleeding right now. 

I’ve been here at the hospital since about 12:30am, got about 1 1/2 hours of sleep in a chair in the waiting room, but when I had to leave the Unit at 7am for them to give report, they thought he seemed to be turning the corner. The ICU doc described him as “critically ill,” and his survival will still be uncertain for some time to come.

Amazingly, his mentation is intact when he is awake. In spite of all the infection and chemical imbalances his body is fighting, he still nods appropriately to my questions, and it bugs the heck out of him that he can’t talk since he is back on the ventilator. They can see he is a fighter, and that is much of the reason he is still alive.

Thank you all, SO MUCH, for you prayers. God’s peace has definitely been there through all of this uncertain night. Life is hard, but God is good.

Love from all the Halversons

Talked with one of the Nurse Practitioners at the ICU who said Scott had coded not 5 minutes after he got to the Unit. I asked her if I should come back up tonight. She said he’s doing ok right now, but he’s still really struggling to breathe and would be back on the ventilator soon. She thought it would be good for me to come up tonight.

I’ll be leaving soon (around10:45 or so) to return to UCSF. Please pray. . .

Well, not only did Scott not come home as scheduled today, but as of 9:15 this evening, he’s had to be readmitted to the ICU for respiratory distress.

I came up to S.F. this morning, after being delayed here at home all day yesterday waiting for the hospital bed, oxygen set up, etc to arrive. He was beginning to have a little trouble breathing and needing more frequent suctioning, but some frequent respiratory therapy treatments seemed to help, and a chest x-ray showed no extra fluid in his lungs. The decision was made to keep him overnight, watch him, and discharge him in the morning. 

Since I was expecting him to come home, I didn’t come prepared to stay overnight  in the city, so around 6:30, since he seemed to be doing a little better, I headed for home. Hadn’t arrived at home for more than 10-15 minutes or so, and got a call saying he had gotten worse very quickly during the evening, and was being sent to the 13th floor Moffitt ICU. They didn’t feel I needed to turn around and return tonight, but I’m expecting a call from the ICU medical team sometime tonight with an update and a hopeful cause of the problem.

Please pray for a quick diagnosis and resolution of the respiratory problem, and for peace and comfort for Scott, as his road home just got who knows how much longer.

Thanks so much for all your prayers, love, support and encouragement.

In hope, Lynne for the Halversons

Just wanted to put out a quick update, as well as start trying to line up help for the many things necessary as Scott come home.

We’ve been told they expect him to be discharged to home on Tuesday, but knowing how many things still need to fall into place, it could be 24-48 hrs later. A few medical issues, as well as transportation and equipment issues have to be resolved and in place just to get him home.

This afternoon, three friends – Dale and Joanna Pollock, and Clarke Hall – all came over to help me move unnecessary furniture out and rearrange our bedroom so that all the big medical equipment being delivered tomorrow morning will now fit. Thank you, all 3 of you, for the much needed help!

A big need will be for help in maybe a couple of 2-4 hr chunks each day for people who can just be with Scott and take care of some basic comfort needs – no medical care, in order to ease up my burden to attend to the multitudes of other details that need attention. If you are able and willing to help with any of this, please call Cindy Ritchie at 430-1230 to leave your name and number, and she’ll get back to you about scheduling some times. We’ll start by only scheduling a few days at a time so we can evaluate how it’s going as we figure out what life at home is going to look like with Scott at home.

God has been answering so many prayers re: our finanial needs (and how!), but we’re still waiting to hear officially that the transition from the old to the new insurance has taken place and gone smoothly.

Please pray for wisdom in being able to have everything that will be needed in place before he leaves the hospital.

God bless you all, and thank you so much for the prayers, the encouragement, and so much help.

Lynne, for Scott, Daniel, and Becky

Hello to all our faithful friends and family who continue to support us spiritually, financially, emotionally, and practically in so many, many ways. Scott is making amazing progress after 2 weeks out of the ICU, and the case worker and medical staff are deep in the process of making all necessary preparations for him to be discharged to home soon – possibly within the next few days to a week if all details come together.

He’s been 2 days now without the feeding tube, and has been able to take in enough oral nutrition (with the help of high calorie and protein drinks) to keep the tube out. PT is working hard at increasing his mobility and endurance, and today he was able to sit up high in the neuro chair for over 2 hours – longest time up since before he went into the ICU. His room is up on the 14th floor of UCSF and at the end of the hall facing towards the Golden Gate Bridge and Park. We rolled him in the chair out to the wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling picture window where he had an incredible view and ate lunch. No fainting or dizzyness – yay! So this is another huge step in getting him mobilized and upright.

There was some discussion of possibly closing up his trach before he went home to let him breathe through normal channels, but the ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) docs feel he is not yet able to handle the respiratory secretions adequately to prevent pneumonia from occuring. Evidently, respiratory sequellae and problems can occur for up to a year after a patient having pulmonary clots of the magnitude and seriousness that Scott had. Hopefully, as secretions do continue to decrease (which they definitely are), he’ll be able to have the trach closed at some time in the not too distant future.

Within a few days we’ll be getting several items of medical equipment delivered to our home, including a hospital bed, oxygen tanks, and much more. We’re hoping Scott will be ready for a reclining wheelchair before he leaves the hospital, because if he’s not, there will be no way to get him out of the bed and bedroom for a change of scenery. Please pray that he’ll be strong enough in time, otherwise it could be weeks at home before there’s enough documentation to justify ordering it (and insurance paying for it!).

Speaking of insurance, there are still a lot of things that need to fall into place in the right order and right timing in the transition between the old and the new insurances. We are trusting that God in His sovereign power will pull all things together at just the right time to provide for our needs, as He already has so many, many times through all of this.

Another prayer request would be for the whole issue of help for me at home with caring for Scott’s many needs – that it will all be figured out in the right timing. There are several possibilities being looked at, but no certainty or definite decisions available yet.

Enough for this blog note, but hopefully, if he has adequate energy and time, the next blog might even be written by Scott himself!

God bless you all, and our deepest gratitude to all of you.

Much love, from Lynne for the Halversons

It’s Thursday morning, April 9, and 17 years ago today, our daughter, Becky, was born at 7:30 in the morning. Happy Birthday, Becky!

Sorry to have taken so long to update the blog, but I’ve been so busy that I just haven’t had the chance. Scott has been out of the ICU now for 1 week as of today, and he is doing really well. Secretions in his lungs continue to be a problem (and will be for some time to come with the pulmonary clots), but the staff are doing an excellent job of giving him regular breathing treatments and suctioning. Thankfully there’s no sign of infection (pneumonia) so far, so hopefully we can keep him free of respiratory illness.

The other issue of the open area at his tailbone is resolving wonderfully. With the new bed, consistent nutrition, and regular bandage changes, it’s healing and closing in beautifully. At this point, he is probably able to take in somewhere around 30-50% of his needed nutrition by eating, and the rest has to be by tube feedings, mostly at night. The main problem is just that it takes so long and requires so much energy to carefully chew and swallow around his trach, that just getting through half of a meal easily can take 1-2 hours.

One of the biggest goals is for Scott to be strong enough so he can come home, and to that end, Physical Therapy is working with him daily. He has been horizontal for so long, that even just sitting upright would cause him to essentially faint and lose consciousness. We’ve been getting him accustomed to being upright by raising the head of his bed up more often for more time. Tuesday, he was actually able to sit up on the edge of the bed (dangling) for 2 1/2 minutes, (without passing out) and then Wednesday, he dangled for a whole 8 minutes! The Physical Therapist, who is pretty non-demonstrative, was practically skipping out of the room because she was so thrilled with what Scott was strong enough to do. She shares a love of bicycling with Scott, and her mental pictures of how this feat is equivalent to Scott climbing a long, steep hill on his bike, were really helpful for him to picture as it takes absolutely every ounce of strength and energy he can muster right now just to sit on the edge of the bed.

Please continue to pray for all the financial/insurance/MediCal issues that we’re attempting to resolve. Unfortunately, it takes up a lot of Scott’s and my time together and much of his available energy trying to get it figured out.

Scott has been part of a four-some group of friends that have known each other since Jr. Hi. school, and have kept in close touch in spite of being spread out all up and down the West Coast – from the Seattle area to down below the Los Angeles area. The other 3 guys all flew or drove in today to be with Scott for a couple of days, so he’s been really excitedly anticipating their visit. Thank you, to Dan, Clint, and Marty for being such great, loyal friends, and to Amy and Shelly for letting your husbands come.

Thank you for all the continued care, love, comfort, prayers, and support from so many who are continuing down this path with us. When Scott is ready to come home, we will need even more helping hands to give him the care he will need.

With much love, Lynne, Scott, Daniel, and Becky

Scott was finally able to be moved out of the ICU this morning about 10:30am. The ICU medical team had started discussing the possibility last Thursday or Friday, so I hoped and expected it to happen one of the days earlier this week while I could be there. But, of course, it happened today when I had to be at home to take care of several things. Still, God provided friends who could be with him during this transition when I couldn’t. Thank you so much to Bill Fernald and Rene Gabriel for being willing to give him some company and comfort today.

The big goal now is for him to gain upper extremity strength and increased torso balance so I can manage him with transfers, and then he can come home! As of dinner yesterday, he was able to eat soft/pureed real food, and he was doing well with his intake, as long as he ate slowly and well so as not to choke. He will still need tube feedings for a while, since he literally just doesn’t have the energy to spend the time it would take to slowly eat all the nutrition he needs. Nausea, as one of the side effects still ligering from the chemo, is still often a problem, too. We don’t know yet how long until he will be ready to come home, but I can pretty much guarantee I will need a lot of help when that time comes.

Becky and I will be heading back up to S.F. tomorrow morning. It will be a little easier for her to handle now that he is out of the ICU. All the machines, monitors, and tubings can be pretty scary and overwhelming for anyone, especially if it’s your dad in the middle of all the above.

I haven’t actually seen the open wound area at his tailbone for a few days now, but the nurses reassure me they feel it is healing in a little better now with his new bed.

Would continue to appreciate prayers for all the headaches, pressures, documentation, and paperwork that go along with all the application/approval processess for the new insurance and for MediCal. Phone calls and searching for necessary documents and information seem to take up the vast majority of my time when I am home. As you can imagine, life over the past almost year and a half has been a little less than organized for us, so it’s often a great victory when I can find something I’m looking for.

Thanks from both Scott and myself, as well as Daniel and Becky for all the continued prayers and practical support. We truly feel that if we had to go through something as difficult as this, God could not have put us in a better place with better help and support than right where we are. All of you have been the hands and feet of Jesus helping us survive in all the necessary practical needs as they have arisen. We could not ask for more of an outpouring of love than we have experienced so continually from all of you through all of this.

God bless you all,

Lynne, for the Halversons