Real Miracles, Healing Stories
Gerardo Reyna —The Goal is Life
TEAMWORK
is defined as a task performed by several associates, each doing a part to
achieve a common goal, forgoing any personal prominence. Nowhere is teamwork
more essential than in healthcare, and no one is more grateful for the team
approach than Gerardo Reyna - it saved his life.
Gerardo (Gerry) was driving his brother back home to Reno after his visit in Boise. A tire blew and the truck left the road, rolling five or six times before coming to rest in the dirt and the dark. Gerry was conscious, stunned and frightened. Next to him his brother sat unconscious, but woke a few minutes later. The brothers were shaken, but neither felt seriously injured. They hitched a ride with a trucker and as morning broke they arrived back in Reno. It was Wednesday afternoon before Gerry made it back home to Boise.
REMEMBER, I LOVE YOU
As the resident
grounds keeper for a local manufacturer, Gerry had daily chores needing attention.
So, he set off to work, ignoring the headache that had been bothering him most
of the day. The headache was still there the following morning. By late morning
Gerry’s headache was joined by weakness and nausea. He broke for lunch
earlier than normal hoping the feeling would go away; it didn’t.
While standing in his kitchen, Gerry’s legs gave out and down he went. Now lying on the floor dazed and confused, he was conscious, but unable to move his legs. He crawled to the phone and was able to reach and grab it. He started to call 911, but in his disoriented state he changed his mind and called Juana at work. Gerry’s slow, rambling dialog convinced Juana the situation was serious. The nearly incoherent conversation ended abruptly with Gerry stating, “…and remember I love you.” The finality of his words frightened Juana. As she headed for her car she asked a coworker to call 911.
A TEAM MYSTERY
Juana
arrived home as Gerry was being loaded into the ambulance. Gerry’s auto
crash two days earlier was suspected as the cause of his problem, so Gerry
was rushed to Saint Alphonsus Trauma Center where a trauma team of doctors
and nurses prepared for his arrival. With no apparent external injuries, and
Gerry unable to communicate, a CT scan was performed to identify the injury,
but the images showed no injury. Gerry was still on the CT table when his body
began to show involuntary muscle contractions. This posturing often indicates
damage to the nervous system or a brain injury, but the scans showed nothing
abnormal.
One of the most experienced trauma teams in the Northwest faced an emergency medical mystery. To solve this, all team members had to draw from their decades of combined trauma experience. A team nurse then recalled that posturing can also be a sign of stroke and shared his thoughts with the team. They now had a new course of action, and the stroke team was activated.
A CT angiogram explored the possibility that Gerry was having a stroke. The evaluation of his blood vessels revealed a vertebral artery dissection. This flap-like tear in an artery leading to Gerardo’s brain was caused by a vertebra fracture behind Gerry’s skull. The torn artery tried to heal itself by blood clotting. The clot ultimately cut off blood flow to his brain. Gerry was suffering from a stroke. His brain was starving for blood and the clot had to be removed - immediately.
Juana watched as the stroke team worked on her husband. A doctor approached her and explained that they needed her approval for what they were about to do. She was taken to meet Neuroradiologist Dr. Anthony Giauque. Juana recalls some of the conversation, “The doctor was explaining what he needed to do, but when I heard him say ‘if we don’t do this he’s going to die,’ I didn’t hear another word.”
SKILL and TECHNOLOGY TEAM
Dr. Giauque used the time-saving
neuro-interventional bi-plane angiography suite. With this advanced, three-dimensional
imaging technology, he could locate the clot and monitor blood flow while
he attacked the obstruction with the Merci Retrieval System. The tiny corkscrew-like
device, attached to a long thin wire, was inserted into Gerry’s artery. It had only been
two hours since the on-set of Gerry’s symptoms, but the clot was now
gone and blood flow restored.
“When I woke up I thought I was going to be crippled,” Gerry recalls. “I remembered losing the feeling in my legs and losing my ability to speak. I thought it would be permanent.” But soon after the procedure Gerry realized his legs could move again. An oxygen tube in this throat kept him from testing his speech, that would have to wait, but now he believed he would be okay. When Juana came into the room their eyes met, and they both began to cry. It was then that Juana knew that she had her husband back.
SHARING THE CREDIT
When the breathing tube was removed
and Gerry could speak, he looked at Juana and said, “We’re going to make
it. Let’s go home.” Juana laughed at Gerry’s eagerness, but
there would be no ride home for now. Remarkably, Gerry had survived a near
fatal stroke with almost no lingering symptoms. Gerry’s strength was
returning to him so quickly he needed reminding that he had nearly died a few
days earlier - recovery time was necessary. Physical therapists came around
to help get Gerry moving, but to their surprise, the challenge was slowing
him down.
Five days after his arrival, Gerry headed home. After the wheelchair ride to the hospital exit, Gerry got up and walked to the car as is if nothing had happened. If it wasn’t for the neck brace, there would have been no indication that anything had happened. Back at home it took constant convincing to keep Gerry from returning to work immediately, but that only worked for a few weeks.
Gerry credits his mother’s blessing for his survival and rapid recovery. Juana credits his amazing survival to the team at Saint Alphonsus…and her time in the Saint Alphonsus chapel. But as long as the goal is reached, a good team doesn’t care who gets the credit.