One Year Ago Today…

Rhonda on her way for the first of four surgeries

One year ago, today, the life and story of the Brandenburg family were turned upside-down. It has been a year of great physical challenges for Rhonda, ministry challenges and disappointments, and tremendous financial difficulties, and of course…COVID-19. We are amazed at how the Lord has protected and provided for us.

I had been preaching in Ontonagon for the weekend of September 22 and had arrived home from the 12-hour drive late in the evening. When I arrived I found that she was struggling physically. She was very weak, fatigued, and had retained a lot of fluid. The fluid was a by-product of her chronic lymphedema. She did not sleep well during the night and was somewhat confused. By 3:00 am on September 24 we realized that she was in serious distress and had to call for an ambulance. When we arrived at the hospital, she had extremely low blood pressure, very low oxygen levels, and was even more confused. Raising her blood pressure was the primary goal at that time. Normally, they use some specific medications to “push” the blood pressure, but they were not able to do that due to Rhonda being on blood thinners. They pushed LOTS of fluids to bring the BP up as well as three units of plasma to bring down the INR level (amount of blood thinners) so they could use the “presser meds.” She ended up in MICU (medical intensive care unit) for seven days. She began to show improvement and they moved her out of MICU to a stepdown unit and started some physical therapy. The medical staff began to discuss sending her to a rehab hospital.

Praying with Rhonda before the major, emergency surgery

On Sunday, October 6, Rhonda began to complain of severe back pain. They thought that it was due to all of the PT from the day before. They gave her strong pain meds (Norco), but it did nothing. They gave her a second dose of the pain meds, but nothing changed. Her blood pressure began dropping very quickly. The BP numbers became so low that a Rapid Response Team was called in and they began doing many different tests. By late that night they began to give her units of blood to get her BP up. She developed a large “bulge” on her stomach which grew to the size of a volleyball. The doctors determined that she had a major bleed in her abdomen. She was moved back to Medical ICU so that she could be monitored more closely and was put back on a ventilator. Early on the morning of Monday, October 7 they took her to the operating room to stop a spontaneous bleed in her abdomen. Following the procedure, they did a CT Scan to see if there was anything else going on. She had had a major bleed and there was a significant amount of blood collected in her abdomen. The blood was creating tremendous pressure on her organs. It was causing low blood pressure and difficulty breathing. The pressure did damage to her kidneys and liver and also caused a spike in her INR level. They gave her over 13 units of blood products. By that afternoon the trauma surgeon determined that it was too dangerous to allow the pressures to remain that high in her abdomen. If they did not relieve the pressure she would not survive, yet the surgery was risky in itself. When relieving the pressure, it could cause an “explosive” event, which would damage her organs. They would not give us a percentage of a chance for her survival from surgery, only that she would not live if they did not do the surgery. We elected to proceed with the surgery. They were not able to move her to the OR, so they brought the OR to her MICU room. The surgery went better than they had expected, and it immediately reduced the pressure in her abdomen. They left the incision open and placed a wound vacuum in the opening to continue to drain the blood from the area. During the surgery, they removed 10 liters of blood from her abdomen. She had another procedure on Wednesday, October 9 to examine the area to check for additional bleeds. On Friday, October 11 they closed the incision and placed two drains in the area. During this week she was on and off the ventilator several times, had many breathing issues. She even had one lung collapse.

For the next several weeks Rhonda went through many ups and downs. She continued to struggle with her breathing, blood pressure, and mobility. The medical staff called in many specialists and they tested for more conditions than I can explain. Many things were ruled out and eventually, they were able to identify several underlying conditions that they believe have been the source of many of her health struggles for many years. Some of these issues are with her adrenal glands and her thyroid. As they treated these issues Rhonda responded well and began making good progress.

On November 12 she was transferred to Regency at Shelby Village Rehabilitation Center. While at Regency Rhonda was able to begin to walk and worked with the OT and PT therapists to regain her mobility and strength. She was able to begin to walk with a walker and began exercises to strengthen her legs and arms. She began working with weights, leg, and arm machines. While at the rehabilitation hospital she was also able to get back to eating normal food.

In the middle of all of Rhonda’s health issues, I had Ligament Reconstruction and Tendon Interposition surgery on December 5 to deal with arthritis in the joint of my right thumb and to repair damage from when I severely dislocated it many years ago. I have had worsening issues with pain, lack of strength, and mobility in my hand. It has been a slow process of recovery. I have more mobility and much less pain than before but still, deal with some pain. Full recovery usually takes at least a year. I have found that gripping a pulpit or pounding on a pulpit, tends to aggravate the condition. (Will have to work on that! I am stomping my foot more when I preach now.)

After seven weeks in the hospital and four more in the rehabilitation care center, Rhonda was able to come home on December 11. She had four surgeries, multiple times being in MICU, Surgical ICU, on a ventilator, and many other issues, but God was faithful through all of that!. Rhonda had home care for several weeks to continue physical and occupational therapy. During these many months, I was not able to travel very much or very far in meetings. My first ministry is to my family and I spent every day at the hospital with her and to monitor her care. When I did travel for meetings our children were able to stay with Rhonda.

As the first part of the year progressed Rhonda made great improvements and continued to get stronger. She began physical therapy for her lymphedema and responded very well. She was just getting ready to get back to doing “normal” things and even going to church for a service or two a week. I was able to begin traveling more in meetings. It looked like we were going to have a good year of ministry, and then…COVID hit!

Because of Rhonda’s weakened condition she was at very high risk should she contract COVID-19 and was again not able to leave the house, nor were we able to have people over. Due to the quarantine restrictions, Rhonda’s physical therapy for her lymphedema was also canceled. Even with all of that, she continued to improve and even began to take walks, eventually walk around the block! That was not something she had been able to do in a very long time. In June Rhonda was able to accompany me to a nearby preaching meeting for the first time since September 2019.

On June 25, while sitting in a church service, Rhonda experienced a seizure that lasted about ten seconds. She recovered from it pretty quickly, but we were concerned. This was something very new to use. She has never had a seizure before. I rushed her to the ER for evaluation. Later that night she had another seizure. This one was in the presence of the specialists and lasted about three minutes. They began to do many tests. The discovered that she had very high blood pressure and very low potassium and magnesium levels. The MRIs revealed that she may be prone to seizures. That, along with the low potassium & magnesium levels along with medicine she was on combined for the "perfect storm" and caused the seizure. They took her off of some medicines and added others. She had no other symptoms or seizures. On July 1 she was able to come home and has been improving every day. She is getting stronger and even doing things that she was not able to do for many years. She has had no more seizures or even any underlying symptoms. It appears that the issue has been resolved.

It has been a very long year. One filled with the unknown, health issues, interrupted schedules, and financial challenges. Through it all…(sounds like a song, doesn’t it?)…God has been very faithful to us. He provided the right medical personnel at the right time. He gave them unusual wisdom to diagnose and treat Rhonda. Today, she is healthier than she was a year ago, before all of these events. She still has a long way to go, but it is obvious that the Lord is not finished with us. We are very thankful for His Providence, Protection, and Provision. We look forward to another year of serving Him. Please pray for continued health and ministry opportunities.