I want this here because my dad was a part of all of this.
Dad was airlifted this morning to Austin Texas because he has taken a turn for the worse. He evacuated for the storm with some dear friends of ours and they called the EMS this morning because he wouldn't wake up. I don't have a real good grasp on whats up right now but he has been put on the ventilator before he even got in the helicopter. I am waiting to hear from the hospital before getting on the road. It does look like my brother or I or both will be in Austin as soon as tomorrow.
I'm so tired. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Tom, you and your family will be in our prayers. Please keep us informed and we'll hope for the best.

Prayers coming. My best to you and your family.

Tom, you know you and your Dad have my prayers & my ear as well. Please don't hesitate if you need anything. I'll let Michelle know as well so she can send her prayers as well. Take care and keep in touch.

Oh Tom.....this makes me heartsick to read. All my prayers and good wishes to you, your family and your Father. Great man.....just get there and make him wake up to argue with you. He lives for that. Call if you need anything.....or just want to say hey. Too bad Darin is in Vegas....I'm sure he'd be there to make sure you eat properly. So...don't let yourself get rundown......alright?

Love you guys!!

Crapalmighty.

Many prayers to you and your family. I'll be thinking about you and your dad.

Hey guys.....besides Darin (who is in Vegas then scheduled to be in Cal next week)....who else is in Austin?

Anyone you think could help out? Maybe a bed/couch for a few nights? Or just make sure Tom gets a little dinner one night?

I am leaving in the morning for Austin.
Short and sweet of it is this...... He required almost 5 1/2 mins of CPR to bring him back. They are now doing a procedure where they cool the body to 92 degrees as they have found that this gives him the best chance of having brain activity when they wake him. He is in an induced coma and they will start to try to bring him out of that tomorrow late at night. I will be there for that.
Right now I am trying to prep for Ike's potential visit to New Orleans. I am taking my bosses car to Austin so I can leave my truck for Leah to evacuate if need be.
Thank You again for being incredible friends! I will keep you posted as best I can.

My best for your Dad Tom.

You take care getting there!

Prayers for your dad and for you and your family ...especially for strength at this difficult time

Best wishes to your Dad and your family.

Really sorry to hear about your dad. If there's anything I can help with, you just let me know.

Dr's meeting went as well as expected. Brain activity is normal. Serious concerns on whether his lungs are going to be able to maintain without the ventilator which is a problem. They can't even address the heart concern until he gets off the vent. This is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Way too many things going on at one time and money is starting to run really short.
I will update again tonight as there is a puter in the lobby in this hotel.
I am heading back to the hospital in a few mins and should have a bit more info then.

Thank you all for the well wishes.

Tom....you and your Dad are certainly first and foremost in our prayers.

You know....the "normal brain activity" is a great diagnosis! I was afraid it wouldn't be that good in regards to the length of CPR needed.
One thing at a time....I really wish you had someone there with you. Call if you need to!

Really no change again today. I am waiting to here from the lung doctor as to what the next steps are.
My timing appears to be good as while typing this I overheard the desk clerk say that they only had 3 rooms available here for fri and sat night. Apparently there is a football game in Austin this weekend. Had to hold my room just in case so I at least have somewhere to stay. Had I not been down here on the computer I would have been screwed.

I expect to know by tomorrow if I will have to be here through the weekend. If so as much as I hate to ask I think I am going to need help from the league on this one. God it's hard to ask for that but the reality is I am running out of money. The last 3 months have been very expensive with dads bills and my daughters college. The evacuation of dad and supplies for myself and my gf through the storm took another chunk out of my savings. This has wiped it out. I also have not worked now for almost 2 weeks do to the storm and then this visit to Austin.

I got some real good advice from Swammi on ways to find a cheaper price on a room but the game really threw a wrench in those tactics. What a mess!

I will check back in tonight after the evening visit with pops.

Hey Tom, like I said in our phone conversations, I wish I was in town this week... what a time to be slammed with travel. Hope swammi's advice got you some better rates.

I PMed ABWF and he's also out of town, returning on Friday. Maybe you can PM him then - or the weekend - to see a friendly face. If nothing else, we will definitely see you on Monday night. We can go see MNF somewhere if you're up to it.

Prayin' for you and your pops, bud...

Hey Tbimm...I know I am not in the league but I happened to see the title of this thread in the forums home page and felt compelled to respond. You and your dad are in my family's preyers. Please stay positive and strong and know we are all pulling for you and your dad. Hang in there, buddy.

Yes you are a league member, as you sent payment as a non-playing member.

Tom, stay strong in these trying times.

Thoughts, Prayers and good vibes sent for you and your dad.

Tom...I pray that everything will go fine. I just got to read this thread. My heart goes out to you. You have my cell number...call me if you'd like to talk bro. Take care...

Not sure if Tom will be able to post today, but he will be in Austin at least thru next week. We got him moved to a extended-stay suite hotel, which will allow him to get some supplies/food and live out of, basically, a small studio apartment...were able to save him a few dollars in the process, so hopefully, he'll be a tad more comfortable.

I'll let him fill you in on the details of how his dad is doing....I'd just like to leave my thoughts and prayers, as you good people have already done.

Nice job Swammi...

First of all.......... Everyone needs to give some major props to swammi! This man took a lot of time out of his busy work day to put this together.
A problem arose in the location of the extended stay. There was a mix up somewhere along the lines on which St Davids hospital my dad is at. We are on the far south side of Austin and the Hotel was on the far north side. With the happenings last night I had to make a split second decision on what to do. Between evacuees from Ike and the Texas football game this weekend hotel availability is at a serious premium.
I have worked a deal with the Indians who run this place to save us close to as much money and be able to avoid a 19 mile drive back and forth through the heart of Austin during football weekend.
When all is said and done I will write up a complete account of everything that has happened. If we have any authors in the house you may want to pay attention because I think we have a book here.
What a long strange trip it's been!

Last.... I just can't say it enough...... swammi you are awesome for what you did.


Going to see dad and the lung doctor now so I will update tonight when I get back. A little positive change today so it seems each day is getting better.

Dude, I feel terrible the hotel didn't work out...I mapquested it, and it looked like just a few miles further than you were already traveling. Are you still at the hotel you were already at? I'll make a couple more calls tomorrow, and see what I can do...I was psyched you were getting a suite, to at least make things quasi-bearable. I feel lousy that I probably added an extra headache to your day!

I'll be in touch...and most importantly, great news on your pop!

Swammi,
No need to feel bad. They have a St Davids north and south. We are south. I finally broke the Indians down and they gave me the room for the next week for 10 bucks more. We have a small fridge and stocked up on sandwich stuff and the like. We have found the hot meals in the hospital cafeteria to be bearable and also cheap.
You and darin are awesome. MSHB is helping us out with the costs and we are hoping to be heading back home with both the gimps sometime next week.
I would have taken the extended stay if it were just me and dealt with the traffic situation. Kristina is not nearly as adept at dealing with traffic and she is driving my dads van so I just couldn't take the chance on that. We drive together most of the time but not all of the time.

Update on dad....
Each day is better. They are actually starting some limited physical therapy with him to try to get him ready for the trip home. We still have to wait on the heart tests which we are trying to push to tomorrow. Annie's surgery was bumped up to tomorrow and what we are trying to accomplish is all of us being able to leave together. Not sure we can pull that off but if we can get there release days close enough together then whomever gets out first will be joining us in the hotel for a night or so.

What fun .


Last I have to say. Thank You everyone!

You have to fill the board in on Annie.

Sometimes, when a story gets so incredibly tragic, you can almost laugh about it.

Annie will be fine, and most importantly, it sounds like your dad will too

For those that don't already know....
Annie is my dad's roomate and also his best friend. They evacuated from Gustav together to Tx. After dad fell ill it got to a point where Annie and her daughter Kristina had to go back to New Orleans. Problem was that they came to Tx. in dads van. I needed dads oxygen equiptment to get him home if that was what was possible. They came to Austin and we went to see dad in the hospital. All was going well until we went for dinner at the IHOP 2 doors down from the hotel I am holed up in. On the way out after dinner Annie mis-stepped and broke her leg clean through just below the knee. She is under going surgery tomorrow morning and staying in the same hospital as my dad. Tonight we found out from the surgeon that she will probably be a resident of Austin for the next 2 to 3 weeks.
Dad is undergoing an angiogram(sp) to find out what damge was done to his heart. That will also be done tomorrow. His procedure will be performed at 130pm.
This has been the biggest test of my mental capacity of my entire life. I am holding it together but it is a serious challenge to say the least.
As I said in a previous post if you are an author I really think I have a book here!

Dad has been transferred to a regular room and is now coming to grips with the fact that he is going to have a different life when we get home. The heart coming into play is the natural progression of his illness.

My dad wanted me to pass along his appreciation for what you have done for me. He had tears in his eyes when I told him you were helping me be here! I have tears in my eyes as I type this. Thank You so much my friends!

Balla is the man as well. There where issues with the western union transfer and he stepped up big time. I will be getting your generous gift tomorrow morning and I can't possibly express how grateful I am for that.
Big John,
Thank you for handling all the finances here. You are so important in all of this and we couldn't do this without you!
I feel like I should thank each of you individualy. I have always been ok with offering. I have never been very good at asking. You have all made it so much easier for me in my time of need.

Keyword here Tom...friendship.

Just a real quick update. All is going very well. It appears we will be bringing both Dad and Annie home to New Orleans on Tues or Wed. Kristina and I are very tired and ready for this nightmare to be over.
I feel so very lucky to be saying that I am bringing dad home at all so no matter how tired I am it is all worth it.
I will update again as neccesary. Otherwise my next post on this will be from the comfort of my own home. We are so close now I can almost feel my bed!

Awesome news

+1,000,000

great to hear it, Tom!

We got the news today that we have been hoping for. After many calls back and forth from New Orleans to Austin all the doctors are on the same page. Both Dad and Annie are being released tomorrow afternoon. We will stay here at the hotel for one more night and all of us are going home Wednesday morning!
A little more than a week ago my Dad was dead for more than 5 minutes and I get to bring him home alive! I am still pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming. I can't begin to tell you all how much you have meant to me through all of this. I just don't have the words. I am looking forward to getting back to my life, my work, and of course my fantasy teams!

Thank You all once again!

It is about time we have had some good news here

Hey bimmer just catching up on everything here in addition to our phone call last night. Give me a call today if you have time. And definitely chat with TxDOT about the road conditions.

Prayers still being sent.

We are home at last! I am exhausted but still have a bunch of running around to do for dad. I will catch up on everything in the next few days and am looking forward to just getting back to my life!

Welcome back bro, crack a beer, watch some football, and relax.

Update.
Well I am back to life as I knew it. Dad is doing very well. Apparently cardiac arrest agrees with him. He actually went grocery shopping on his own this past week. His spirits are as good as I have seen them in a couple of years. The doctors in Austin were able to convince him that, while he will eventually die from this disease, he doesn't have to die now from it. That has really given him a desire to get off his butt and exercise. He has lost 65 pounds from evacuation to now. He wants to lose another 60 pounds within the next year. That would bring him to his original playing weight of 185. I just keep telling him not to get discouraged and keep his eye on the prize! Life!
Annie is doing as well as can be expected. She really busted her leg up bad. She did a Joe Theisman on it. They are really unsure with the hip already being broken and now this whether she will ever walk again unassisted. She is such a trooper though and really motivational with her attitude. Every time I see her she has a smile on her face and that is refreshing. Seems to be rubbing off on my pops as well.
I will occasionally shoot you all an update on the condition of the 2 gimps but for now all is way better than I could ever have hoped for considering.
Thank You all again for all the support, both financial and emotional. You all really helped me keep my crap together through a very trying time!

Great news buddy