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Help Sam as he is about to undergo emergency open heart surgery

  • The last update

      4 September 2024

    Hey everyone! Sam is now discharged from hospital and recovering in Invercargill, here is the last update from Diane Scott last week:

    From Diane Scott (changing of the guard today):

    So huge corner turned today, Sam is finally unplugged from everything and able to get up and walk around. Elliot definitely had the rougher shift and I've walked in for the smoother ride. Tomorrow the doctors have endorsed me taking him out of the hospital for a trip to a Cafe and some outside air. He needs to practice walking over the weekend and if he passes the physio test on Monday they will release him to the care of his mum for the 6 week recovery. Excitingly, the hospital lab have managed to grow a sample of the infectious bacteria removed from Sam’s heart valve and so they are able to treat with the right antibiotic.

    He's feeling a lot better and he's back on comms if anyone would like to get in touch with him directly 🙂

    A huge thank you to all of the support, I'm so stoked we raised $18,000 between us all, you're all amazing!!

    Thanks again everyone!! Xx

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  • Sam's progress so far

      22 August 2024

    Hello everyone, sorry for the late night update! Here's Sams progress today. Sam has been eased off the sedatives today to help get his lungs work on their own.

    After getting a bit distressed and trying to rip out the ventilator, they’ve taken it off him!

    He’s doing great, getting some oxygen but breathing under his own steam. He’s sleeping and a bit restless, a bit uncomfortable as they ease off the sedative (as expected) but continue to manage his pain.

    I’m sure the next few days will be a bit vague for him as he adjusts to all that he’s been through. They’ve found a couple of small blood clots in his legs and they're keeping an eye on them - he had to lie flat for so long with all the gear on him, they are to be expected. He’s on blood thinners for a bit to get rid of them.

    Sam's progress is really heartening and we're looking forward to him coming around!

    We miss his chats!

    I'll update everyone again tomorrow xx

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  • Sam's on the up! Woohoo!

      21 August 2024

    Hey everyone,

    Sam is continuing to improve. Today the ECMO machine was taken off him. He is still on a ventilator and heavily sedated but they are starting to wind back the sedation levels to get him breathing more and needing the ventilator less. They hope to remove the ventilator tomorrow! Then he can start to wake up but will need a few more days before he will be very aware of much. He will need to continue receiving strong pain relief which will alter his alertness.

    He still has a really long way to go but is trending in the right direction.

    We are so relieved! He clearly didn’t want to go to Auckland 😂

    We'll update you all again tomorrow!!

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  • The latest update on Sam

      20 August 2024

    From Sarah: Hi everyone,

    Thanks for all the love and support for Sam, he’s fighting his best fight!

    It’s super early days but they’ve switched off the gas exchanger (oxygen for co2) on the Ecmo!!!

    He’s still totally hooked up and can turn it back on any second. He’s got the ventilator on too but yesterday that wasn’t enough for him. It’s only been an hour but he’s so far so good. Suuuuper early days, he needs to hold his own for 24 hrs before they would take it off him. This determines if he stays or goes to Auckland.

    They only usually use Ecmo once or twice a year here and usually the Auckland Ecmo team come down and put it in and take it off so huge deal that they put it all on him in theatre in emergency circumstances. It’s a hugely complicated bit of equipment. His colour is better. They need to try lighten sedation this avo too to see if he can manage to hold his own while conscious without the Ecmo. Like raising an arm or something, could tip him over to not maintaining oxygenation.

    His condition seems to be changing hour by hour, he’s getting the very best of care.

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  • Sam's op was today, he's not out of the woods unfortunately.

      19 August 2024

    Hey everyone!

    Thank you for the amazing support during this difficult time for Sam and his fam! His operation was today, and here's the latest update for you all.

    It’s a bit complicated, just talked to the surgeons, he’s not out of the woods yet. They found a massive infected abscess where the valve was, they had to use heaps of calf tissue to repair the damage, it was some of the aorta as well and a big deal but they did a good job though there's risk of reinfection.

    After that they found his oxygen levels couldn’t stay maintained, so after a few trials they hooked him up to an ECMO machine. It takes the oxygenated blood from his heart and pumps it into a tube in his neck. His heart loves it, it’s under much less pressure and stabilised nicely.

    The ECMO somehow pushes air through the lungs too so they are lightly working and hopefully draining and drying out but they are possibly infected.

    He’s staying under heavy sedation tonight and they'll slowly reduce sedation a fraction later tomorrow - they won’t risk him ripping out the Acmo cords in his neck keeping him alive. They will start to try dial down the Acmo machine on Wednesday and if he can’t start maintaining oxygen without the ECMO later on Wednesday, then on Thursday they’ll fly him to Auckland where there are better resources for the ECMO and lungs.

    We'll update everyone again on Thursday.

    - what is ECMO? It's a fancy way of saying life support. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

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  • We can do this!!

      18 August 2024

    Let's help Sam cover his expenses, we can get to 15k, I know it! 💪

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