Getting Settled In Santa Clara

Before leaving the Morse Avenue Kaiser Hospital in Sacramento, CA in the early hours of May 22nd, Brian underwent a medical procedure that allows a machine to perform Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). It is a device that temporarily draws blood from the body to allow artificial oxygenation of the red blood cells and removal of carbon dioxide. Santa Clara was the closest available hospital with the highly trained staff and equipment to monitor and rehabilitate Brian in this process. Medical doctors in Sacramento were concerned that everything they could do for him in their facility with a ventilator was being done and if he got to a point of needing any extra assistance, there wouldn't be time to get him the life-saving support he could potentially require. Many factors were taken into consideration by the team in Santa Clara as to Brian's candidacy for ECMO. His young age (46), his strong heart, and healthy lungs (pre-Covid). Studies have shown that the sooner critical patients get ECMO treatment, the better chance they have at recovery. Right now Brian needs time to recover. We are prayerful that this machine will give him the gift of time his lungs need to recover. According to Brian's physician, this is more than likely going to be a long process. Currently, the Covid ECMO patients that are at this hospital are averaging three months before being weaned off of ECMO with lungs healthy enough to support their bodies. The best-case scenario is that Brian will be weaned off, require little to potentially no further rehabilitation and come home ready to put this ugly chapter behind him. This is the focus of our prayers! Brian is a strong and determined man. Lord willing, if anyone can overcome this, it's him! 

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