Anyone who knows my brother, knows what a kind, loving, compassionate person he is. Anyone who doesn't know him is missing out. He is the kind of person who can bring a smile to your heart no matter how down you are feeling. Now he is down and I want to bring a smile to him.
Five years ago Wayne was working for the State of Texas. While he was on top of the truck tarping the load, a sudden gust of wind came up and caused the tarp to knock him off, sending him falling 15'. The outcome didn't look good. He broke his back and had several internal injuries, among which were severely bruised lungs. He was in the hospital for weeks. After being released he still had many follow up visits to doctors. His wonderfully dedicated wife, Kyle, and Wayne decided it was best for her to take early retirement because she was having to miss so much work.
Wayne could still walk, but not well. He has what is called drop foot. He has such bad circulation that he must sit with his feet propped up or they swell extremely large. He retains fluids and has to stay on water pills, all of which has pretty much led him to making it difficult to leave the house. And yet, whenever I went see him, he was cracking jokes and making me smile.
Last year Wayne started having a hard time breathing and was retaining to much fluid. He was hospitalized. The Doctors said he was septic and wasn't given a good prognosis. They kept him sedated and on a ventilator for weeks. They finally put in a tube to drain fluid from around his lungs and put in a tracheotomy. He was then sent over to a long term hospital to help deal with the therapy. He did great with the trach. He took to eating and talking fairly quickly. God answered our prayers again. After a few weeks at that hospital the doctor that was there said Wayne didn't need the trach any more and removed it and sent him home.
All went well for the next year. Then back in September 2014, he wasn't feeling well and they decided not to put off getting him to the doctor. The local doctor sent him to Amarillo so that they could do a CAT scan on him and as soon as they got to the hospital in Amarillo, Wayne sad that he couldn't breathe. He was instantly put on a ventilator. This time the doctors diagnosed Wayne with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). Something I had never heard of before, so of course I googled it. 85% fatality rate, if you are healthy going into it. The ventilator was doing all of his breathing for him. Then his kidneys started shutting down. They put him on dialysis. On two different days his heart went into AFib and they had to shock him, 3 times both days. It seemed like every time they got something doing better then something else went wrong. The doctors decided that the regular dialysis was too hard on his heart so they put him on a continuous dialysis and he stayed hooked up to the machine for a week. They slowly weened him off the ventilator enough that they could put in another tracheotomy and put in a tube to drain the fluid from around the lungs. Now they were worried about brain damage from being sedated too long.
I don't know if it is an insurance thing or what, but after being in the hospital ICU for 7 weeks, Wayne was moved over to a long term hospital. I wish that Wayne had the same doctors there. The Doctors and Nurses at Northwest were so kind and caring. The first day we went to see Wayne at the long term hospital, the doctor very rudely informed us that Wayne would never go home again, because he would never be able to walk again due to his muscles deteriorating due to laying in bed for so long. He was stuck there for 4 weeks until he was completely off the ventilator.
He is now in a rehab and although he isn't able to walk for long distances without sitting down, he is walking. He is having difficulty with eating and talking and they are still working on his throat muscles to help with that. He has lost his hearing, the doctors think this is a side effect from the antibiotics he was on. They are trying to get a hearing specialist to come see him. The times that I go see him and he tells (writes) me he wants to go home breaks my heart, but I also know that one day he will. His kidneys are doing great and he no longer has to have dialysis.
With all the worries that Wayne and Kyle have been going through, now the financial ones have begun. The cost of Kyle traveling to Amarillo, staying and eating there are starting to take their toll on them. They have received some donations, which they are very grateful for. I know that money is tight, especially this time of year, but if you could spare even $10 to help pay for one meal or help with gas we would appreciate it. If you can't afford even that I understand and just ask you to keep Wayne and his family in your prayers.
Mostly I would love to flood him with cards. I want to put a smile back on his face! So if you could please take the time to send him one I would so appreciate it. I miss his smile. You can send it to:
Hillside Heights
c/o Wayne Ringo Room 102
6650 S. Soncy
Amarillo, Tx 79119
Thank you very much and may God bless you as much as he has us.
