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| Doyle's 18th b'day party - left to right - Doyle Dikes, Gary "Red" Wolfenbarger, my brother - Lyle Logsdon, and Pat Manning |
Clinton Carlisle Logsdon Jr.
Born February 18, 1952, in Denver, Colorado.
Passed away August 16, 2017, in Pueblo, Colorado.
The unsurvivable event was a cerebral hemorrhage that caused bleeding into the brain. Late Tuesday evening Lyle was transferred from the Minnequa Medi-center to the Parkview Hospital emergency room following a fall. He was confused and agitated. He was admitted to the Neuro-trama ICU. Brain scans showed that his brain was deformed, the left side had sunk, and the right side moved into the gap between the halves of the brain. He was on a breather tube and sedated so that he could tolerate having a tube stuck down his mouth. His eyes were closed and he was breathing rapidly, appearing to struggle for breath with deep high belly movements.
Lyle's serious health issues began about a year and a-half ago. They began with a droopy left eye. The eyelid wouldn't open all the way and the eye was teary. The cause was a cyst in the sinus cavity behind the eye. The cyst was surgically removed by going in through the inside corner of the eye by an operation performed at the Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver.
He seemed to be okay for a while, about six months. Then he started having intense intestinal pain and additional cysts were discovered throughout his body; in his liver, kidneys, gallbladder, and head. The cysts were not considered cancer. An operation in late May removed his gallbladder. This was not the original intention, Lyle was surprised that his gallbladder had been removed. Perhaps the surgery was exploratory. When he was discharged, he appeared normal. But, he really never recovered from this operation. He was not pain-free and was taking heavy doses of painkillers including morphine. He became confused in his routine, had difficulty keeping up with the meds schedule. At his apartment in the Vail Hotel in Pueblo, there was friction with the other residents. He said a cliche of ladies were out to get him evicted and he could be on the street in 24 hours. He had asked other residents for help in setting his alarm clock and that somehow irritated them.
He had a doctor's appointment on June 30th that he thought was on the 15th. When he showed up on the 15th at the Pueblo County Health Clinic, he was told the appointment was on the 30th and sent back home. He called me and asked if he could move in with me in light of the problems he was having. I did not readily say yes. His smoking immediately came to my mind. I said he needed care I couldn't give. The logistics of the move. Assisted Living might be a better choice. I told him he needed to contact Housing. Finally, he just said you don't want me and hung up. After thinking about this overnight, I called him and only got the answering machine. I called a few more times and then called Parkview Hosptial and asking if Clinton Logsdon was there. He was, I found him in the ICU unit practically unconscious, barely able to communicate with the two nurses who were assigned to work with him on the current shift regarding bathroom matters. He didn't know I was there. He was hooked up to two LCD displays and intravenous drips in both arms. He was receiving an antibiotic drip for a blood infection. Blood infection is sometimes called Sepsis. However, the hospital staff did not use the word Sepsis, it has a bad connotation. And no wonder. It is devastating on one's body and mind. The survival rate is 50 percent.
The other drip was Heperine. It was an attempt to dissolve a clot in the vein at the top of his liver, the main vein that leads into the liver. This was the source of his intestinal pain. Blood infection affects the whole body including the brain which leads to confusion and erratic behavior, just what he had been experiencing.
He had gone to the Pueblo County Health Clinic the next day seeking some sort of help and ended up being sent to Parkview Hospital emergency room. When I returned two days later he was able to recognize me and talk with me and had been moved to a less intensive level of ICU. This was over the Fourth of July. He was still in ICU but not with two dedicated nurses. Instead, an intern sat on a couch in the room and filled out an activity sheet for the patient indicating the care they were receiving. From here, he was discharged to the Minnequa Medi-center for rehab. On his first night of rehab there, he fell and was returned to Parkview. After the fall, he vomited blood. He got a black eye when he fell and now that eye was bigger than the other. After a few days, he went back to Minnequa Medi-center for more rehab. I was gone for a week. I returned and went along on the home walk through performed by a physical therapist in a wheelchair. Lyle passed all the check off items on the walk-through successfully. It seemed that discharge back to independent living was likely even if Lyle didn't really seem able to handle the situation. He talked softly, he knew his voice was quiet. He had lost a lot of weight, now done to 155, he lost six inches in his waist. Were his reactions quick enough to drive? Was he really able to shop, cook, take medicine, bathe, dress, and clean his apartment even with two days of in-home help? We went to El Nopal for lunch after the home walk through.
I gave him the keys to his van in the event he got discharged in the coming week. I planned to be out of town on a yoga retreat and go a road trip through south-west Colorado until the following Friday.
When I returned the following Friday, he was still at Minnequa Medi-center. I signed him out and we went to the Klamm Shell for lunch. We had chicken fried steaks that included two eggs, hash brown potatoes and toast.
He lost the car keys in the intervening week as well as his wallet. Replacing his driver license and keys now became priorities. At a nursing home meeting with the business manager, the social worker, the physical therapist, Lyle and me, we discussed Long-Term Care and Hospice at Minnequa Midi-center. Returning to his apartment was not recommended by the social worker, Tamara. It was decided to try two more weeks of rehab and then make a decision on Long Term Care or Hospice if he was unable to return to his apartment. The staff had locked up his wallet for safekeeping and returned it to me. The keys were still missing. We went to his apartment and the maintenance men let us into his apartment so we could get his spare keys. They also made another set of inside and outside door keys and a mailbox key.
We went shopping on Friday to J. C. Pennys for some new pants that fit since he lost six inches of waist line. He bought blue Levi 505s, Arizona Flex Denims, and Arizona Blue Chinos plus two belts.
We then went to Black Eyed Pea for steak dinners. He said his rib eye was a lot of gristle. Next, we went to his apartment where he lay down on the bed and napped while I sat in the recliner and napped. He took several shirts, two pairs of shoes, and his cane with him when we returned to Minnequa Medi-Center. Along the way, we stopped at the Dairy Queen on Lake Avenue for Blizzards, he had the Triple Truffle. I had the Oreo Cookie variation.
He was using a wheelchair in the facility although he did not absolutely need one. Early on, he wore a band stating "Fall Risk." He could walk okay, more or less. He turned his right toe under when he walked. This was being worked on in physical therapy. For a long time, he had habitually drug his heels when he walked. He was no longer doing that, physical therapy had focused on correcting that aspect of his walk. Now he turned his toe under in an odd way when he finished a step. He was also receiving speech therapy.
On Wednesday morning of the following week, I received a call from Parkview Hospital at 8:30 in the morning from the attending nurse, Shana. He had been admitted overnight from Minnequa Medi-center as he had fallen again. He was in the neuro-trauma ICU unit. He was unconscious and using a breathing machine. He was diagnosed with bleeding in the brain. There was another scan scheduled soon that would reveal more information. A call came within 15 minutes with additional information. The palliative care nurse, Sandy, recommended that I come down right away. He was not expected to survive another night.
I arrived at Parkview at about 10:30 a.m. and found Lyle in the neuro-trauma ICU, unconscious, eyes closed, sitting angled upwards on the hospital bed, dressed in blue flannel pajamas with small decorations, injection ports in his arms, a breathing tube in the corner of his mouth.
