I have just shared one of the most shocking, tiring, and sad week in Jerry and Janice’s life. I was with Jerry at the hospital, September 8 for support during Janice’s hip replacement.

Monday…..The hip replacement was a success per the doctor. She would be in the hospital approximately four days with rehab following. Jerry and I saw Janice shortly after the surgery. She was responding to nurse’s questions and asking questions of her own and knew Jerry and I were there. Of course she was not completely out of the anesthesia. We left Janice resting for the rest of the night.

Tuesday…..In the morning Jerry went to the hospital and called me in the afternoon with an update on Janice. She was not coming out of the anesthesia as fast as she should. We reported at the local club meeting that evening that she was in a recovery mode.

Wednesday…..I met Jerry at 8am at the hospital in the waiting room to learn Janice had suffered a mild heart attack. We were unable to see her because they were working on her most of the day. At 4pm a Cardiologist
told us she had suffered a second attack that was massive. They had her sedated, on a ventilator, and resting.
We were told to go home and get some rest. Jerry called me at 6pm saying the hospital had called and reported that Janice had taken a turn for the worse. The Cardiologist was called back and he would meet us at 7pm. Per Doctor “P”, they need to do a heart cauterization to see what is going on inside. The heart is weakening/deteriorating. During the procedure, if the heart needs help, they will be implanting a heart pump. Worse scenario, they may be looking at an open-heart surgery. The Doctor left to get started only to find out that the cauterization lab machine was inoperable due to a bad part. (Needed a pc board replaced) The hospital had ordered the part on Tuesday but did not know for sure when it would be delivered. (UNACCEPATBLE per the Doctor) Hospital Administrators were called in, phone calls were made only to find that brand of lab machine was the only one in the country, no service tech had a replacement part, and that the part had to be shipped from Europe, a 22-hour flight. Janice’s condition, per the Doctor, is not stable enough that she could even be moved to another hospital. We had frequent visits from the Administrators during the evening and the Chaplain was called in at 10:30pm. We could have lost Janice at any time. Our reports during the night were that she was sedated and resting, and we are still waiting on the machine part.

Thursday…..MACHINE FIXED at 9:30am. Doctor was going to start the procedure ASAP but still very risky. The cauterization showed a condition of hardening of the arteries and lots of heart muscle deterioration. The heart pump had been installed to aid the heart in pumping blood. Doctor H and Doctor W reported to us that an open-heart procedure is necessary and they started preparing Janice right away. Janice has been fighting all along and they felt that they could do this to help her. She is a VERY sick person and per the Doctors, the “sickest person in the hospital”. Normally an open-heart procedure is scheduled for two to three days after a person has a heart attack, but in this case they felt they had to do it immediately. Surgery started at about 3:30pm and lasted until 10:00pm. They ended up doing a quad bypass. She would be kept on the ventilator for at least three days and will be in the hospital for probably a month or more with much rehabilitation afterwards.

She is not out of the woods; she is very sick and needs to be a constant fighter with a will to live. Any number of things can still go wrong at any time.

Friday…….Janice is holding her own. She is heavily sedated to get as much rest over the weekend as possible. Two nurses on duty at all times. On Monday the Doctors will reevaluate her condition and decide on the next step. There is nothing more we can do at this time and both of us will be checking in on her over the weekend.

Saturday…….Jerry called to report that everything is still the same and Janice is resting, as the Doctors wanted her to do. At this time Jerry needs to get some rest also. Please don’t call him at home. E-mails are great and welcome. Janice will not be allowed any visitors for some time. Let’s all pray for Janice.

BUT THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE WE CAN ALL DO FOR HER NOW……..

As Janice is taken off the machines and starts her rehabilitation, she is going to need LOTS of encouragement. Jerry and I will be with her of course, but she needs YOUR encouragement also. Jim and I will be putting together a book with all the e-mails and responses that have been posted to date. Send an email of encouragement to Janice at my email address ssteffner@cox.net Don’t stop at just one, but maybe send something each week. These will be added to the book and can be read to Janice during her recovery. The book will be a wonderful record of what she had to go thru and responses form all her friends that she will be able to read later. I know she would like to hear from each of you and your support is VERY important to her. Keep her up to date on casino news, new chip and slot card issues. She will have a lot of catching up to do.

If you want to send a card, address is Janice O’Neal, 8122 West Flamingo, #66, Las Vegas NV 89147.

Thank you for all your support, help, and for caring about a great friend, a fellow chipper, and my playing card buddy.

Thanks,
Sandi