Dr. Roy King – Intensive Care & Rehab Medical Experience
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What happened to Roy?
Friday, November 4, 2011, I got up a little before 5:00 a.m. to get ready for the second day of Homecoming. I took my morning medications and then, as I walked backed to the bedroom with my cup of coffee, I began to feel very strange. (Most likely I developed an allergic reaction to the blood pressure medicine Benicar.) My tongue began swelling. Since I have an allergy to bee stings I recognized this as an allergic reaction – Finding no Benadryl on hand, I ran out to the drugstore but it would not open until 8:00 a.m. I knew I could not wait, so I returned home, quickly dressed and told my wife Pandora that I was going to drive to the Emergency Room at the nearby Providence Hospital Northeast. I anticipated being treated and returning that morning to work.
Right away, the doctors saw that my situation was serious. They immediately started me on medications but my tongue and entire gastro-intestinal tract continued to swell. My body was not responding. I signed for treatment of being put on a ventilator if necessary. They gave me more drugs and at higher levels. But even that failed to reduce the swelling. By the time Pandora arrived at the hospital I was on the ventilator and was then moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Providence Hospital downtown location.
I woke up on Thursday, November 10, to discover that I had been on the ventilator for almost a week! While I have no memory of that time, I later learned that it took a whole group of doctors from a range of specialties to finally get the swelling inside my whole upper body to subside.
I started taking liquids and going through the process of steps to get out of Intensive Care but on Friday night, November 11, I suffered a severe setback with extreme nausea and vomiting, which did not stop until they inserted a nasogastric (NG) tube to suction my stomach. Saturday and Sunday, November 11-12, they researched my whole body for causes for the nausea and vomiting. I was conscious for most of those x-rays, CT scans, and ultra sounds. Doctors administered very aggressive drug therapy for bronchial infections and blood thinners to address blood clots and perhaps possible stroke — all resulting from being on the ventilator for so many days.
No underlying medical cause for the vomiting could be found. In the end, they decided that I had been awakened too fast from a week of sedation. I left the ICU on Sunday, November 13, with the NG tube keeping vomiting at bay while my systems were brought along much more slowly. On Wednesday, November 16, I left the hospital to enter a rehab facility – from which I am writing this on November 20.
2. What is the “Patient Recovery Process” in rehabilitation (Rehab)?
For at least several weeks I will be taking intensive Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Respiratory Therapy, and Speech Therapy. It takes all of my focus and effort. I am taking it one day at a time with my body “waking up” and seeking to rebuild physically in four main areas: balance, strength, endurance and flexibility. I can tell you that the time invested in therapy these last few days is already producing results — that I can type this on my Netbook – feels like real progress!
3. How can we help?
To express your care and support until further notice, please send cards or notes to:
Roy & Pandora King, 317 South Shields Road, Columbia, SC 29923
Please NO phone messages, text messages, e-mails, or pop-in visits.
VISITS - Please let me control the number of people we keep in the inner loop which changes daily sometimes. Once you converse there is pressure to keep giving more information. Please let me contact you to have a good phone or visit or if there might be a gift you could offer of driving me to rehab, or financial advice. I have been humbled and will make some asks — have already made two in last two days that have been great gifts.
FUTURE UPDATES: Watch www.royking.org or for CIU employees we will use CIUOnline for updates.
4. How can we get update or assistance on the work you were handling?
1. A WORK FLOW PLAN FOR CIU, COACHING, CONSULTING AND WRITING PROJECTS
For now follow these guidelines carefully to protect Morgan Jones, Alumni Associate Director.
1) Email to mjones@ciu.edu. DO NOT COPY ME AT THIS TIME.
2) State the project or need clearly in the subject line.
3) DO NOT SEND ENCOURAGEMENT BY EMAIL. – (SEE NOTE ABOVE.)
4) In a clear summary or bullet list tell us exactly what information, problem or question you have.
5) Allow 7 to 10 working days for a working response. NOTE: Morgan will acknowledge of your e-mail in the first 2 or so business days – acknowledging receipt and asking any clarifying information he may need.
6) Morgan will prepare a report of items received (grouped by categories and with any support documents he knows we may need). I will need a few days to process and then will knock out several items with Morgan at one time. NOTE: Only contact me if Morgan asks you to. I may look at the request and know that a 2-minute call with me could complete the request and take it off Morgan’s plate.
7) This work flow plan will be updated as my therapy progresses. I have been told that most of 2012 will be impacted in some ways because I went into this medical experience at 234 lbs and now I am at 220 lbs. Most of the loss is muscle, which rebuilds slowly. And what about speech and executive functions? No one knows how fast these will take to be back to normal. All indication is that I will fully recover but no one knows the mind except the One who created it and He has just told me to take it one day at a time. He is with me every moment.
OUTLOOK: The next six weeks of very intense therapy should get be close on many levels to my pre-event status. Join us in prayer for that restoration.
–
Roy King
www.royking.org
