Brian...

I know I have not posted in a few months (again)..things have been a bit crazy & life just got more crazy starting this past Wednesday.

My cousin Karen's husband, Brian Bjortomt, was on his way to work Wed. morning and felt his throat tighten up and felt the tightness move throughout his entire body, ending with his legs and butt going numb. He called Karen, Karen called the doctor, and he told them to rush to the ER.

Got to the ER and they did some tests and sent him up to Cardiology. He was in horrible pain and had a lot of pressure on his chest. His blood pressure was extremely low and his heart rate was only 40. He still was not a priority at this time, being that they ruled out a heart-attack.

Thursday afternoon the nurse had Brian sit up and in doing so he flat-lined. They had to revive him and gave him a shot to get his heart rate up. (finally they started paying attention to him). Rushed him down to ICU and they took a ultra-sound of his heart. They found he had a tare in his aorta and damaged one of his arteries. The instantly prepped him for emergency surgery.

The doctors said the surgery would be between 8-12 hours. During this time about 20+ people, family, friends, church family, gathered together to support Karen and Ali. Praying, crying, and just trying to show comfort and make sense of this tragic event. About 2 1/2 hrs. into the surgery a nurse came in who was helping work on Brian. She did not have a good look on her face and we could tell something was wrong. She let us know that Brian's aorta had ruptured during surgery and they were going to have to replace it with a polyester/mechanical one. They had to place him on a lung and heart machine. She wanted us to know this was very serious and he was very sick. As you can imagine this was not the news we were hoping or praying for. However, we joined together and kept praying, while comforting and encouraging Karen and Ali.

The surgery only lasted about 5-6 hours, much faster than anticipated. They were able to replace the aorta successfully and B was able to come off the lung/heart machine quickly and smoothly. The next 12-18 hrs. were crucial for bleeding. He made it through the night and those hrs. just fine and with no complications.

The plan was to wake him up slowly yesterday morning, but he was not ready to wake up. They took him off the anesthesia, but had to put him back under because he was not waking up. (which is normal for some patients) They are going to try to wake him up again this morning. He has shown some movement as of late: squeezing hands, yawning, coughing, etc. He has a lot of liquid in his lungs (which is normal after surgery), but it seems he may be developing slight phenomena. He spiked a fever of 102 because of an infection, but has sense gone down due to the antibiotics working. He is now at 100.8.

I posted this to ask for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Brian, for a continued miraculous recovery and for God's hand of comfort and strength for our family, especially Ali and Karen.