This is going to be a very long post to catch up for the few months. You will understand why it has been so long since I have posted and the most I have posted has been my Facebook page. I am functional but not yet 100%, not even sure I will be whole again. Let me begin.
Nov 16th our garage was burgled, and my husband Mike’s skateboard and some tools got stolen, his tools had been returned by our local police the next day but not his skate deck, it was never returned. Why that matters,
Nov 17th, 2017 at 1:54am my husband skated down our hill on a borrowed skate deck and fell at the bottom and got knocked out. His friend called 911 and shortly after 2am I was woken up by the police. Officer Lopez, who I know from my involvement with my city, told me that Mike had an accident at the bottom of the hill and that he was unresponsive, and they are transporting him, he then said bring your keys. I walked down the hill, with TheTwins behind me, to see the EMS trying to get my husband on the gurney. When I say trying, I mean my husband was out and unresponsive, but he was fighting them, swing his massive arms. They had to strap him down to transport.
We arrived at the ER and had to wait till he was transported to the ICU to see him. The first couple of days Mike seemed to hear us, at least he seemed to squirm and make faces when I was talking to others by his bedside and talking to him. The staff at the ICU told me it took 6 people to hold him down when they intubated him, they kept telling me he was young and strong. The ICU had him on Propofol and Fentanyl both scary, he had fractured his skull. In massive head trauma the brain swells, there is a danger point before the swelling causes the brain to push against the skull cutting off the blood supply. intracranial pressure ICP. For Mike the danger zone was 21 and up and if it lasts more than 30 minutes at that level. At that time your risking severe brain damage and death.
On the 3rd day his ICP stayed above the danger threshold and I was told that surgery would resolve this, they would take a small piece of his skull off and tuck it away in his belly. The side effects could be loss of language, infection, loss of cognitive function, etc I had to sign the form to allow them to perform this procedure all the while reading but then not thinking about all the possible side effects as my husband would never want me to put that out into the universe. I knew in my heart, I was strong enough to help him get thru this and my only concern was that he would could still paint and create art even if he could no longer speak. After the surgery they added Phenobarbital and he was in a deep deep medically induced coma. He no longer moved, squirmed or reacted to our presence.
The “ICP” pressure did not come down as a matter of fact it was in the 60’s and 70’s. The ICU Drs tried to keep Mike stable enough for a 2nd surgery, those Drs advised that there would be zero chance of survival without the 2nd surgery, the neurosurgeons wanted to open the other side, by the time I arrived the last morning 5 days after he fell, the neurosurgeon took us into the private room and told me that the pressure is so great, that if he cuts the skull open on the other side, it will mushroom out and that the Dr would not be able to even hold it back with his hands and wont be able to close him up, they would have to cut away brain. He continued, even if my husband survived the surgery, he would be on feeding tubes and living basically like a vegetable. The Dr stated that Mike had already lost his personality from the area of the brain that was damaged by the impact.
The decision was then left up to me to make 1 of 2 choices with my husband. 1. Let nature take its course and they will keep him “comfortable” and in about 3 days the brain will swell to the point it will find the only path out which is down the spinal cord and at that point they are considered dead or 2. Take him off everything that day and allow his body to shut down which would be quick as he was already on life support included dialysis. We all knew what Mike would want, of course my son and Mike’s best friend both wanted to wait it out hoping for the miracle, which part of me today wishes this could be one of those tales of miracles. Unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending.
The night before I went in, on November 21st a very old friend of mine from Jr High called me at 11:54PM in hysterics this is when I believe my husband passed, this is when his energy left she saw it and she was sent to me to tell me. The next day when I saw him before they took me in to the private room, I could tell he was gone. He just looked different, I don’t know how to explain but I knew. At 6:15pm on November 22nd, 2017 surrounded by loved ones, his body passed, his heart stopped Michael Patrick Fischer only made it to 38 years old, I can tell you his last 8 years where what fairy tales are made of. He leaves behind his parents, his sister, me, his daughter, my son our daughter in law and our 2 gran babies plus his very special fur baby.
This has been the most heartbreaking time of my life. This is enough writing for today, reliving the story is difficult and emotional. Subscribe to our blog to stay up to date with our journey.
