CORNWALL Ontario – A Cornwall man fighting for his life in an Ottawa hospital has finally come out of a medically-induced coma – and wants to know what the TV options are in his room.
Mike Scott finally emerged from the coma Tuesday morning, his wife Tia said in a social media post.
“The hospital just called and Mike woke up this morning fully alert,” she said on Facebook. “He pulled out his breathing tube and spoke to the doctor. Mike has a flat screen TV on the wall and he asked the doctor if they had Cogeco or Bell because he wanted to watch Sportsnet.”
But the Cornwall man who needs a new heart is far from out of the woods.
Now that he has emerged from the coma he can likely go back on a transplant list for a new heart.
Just over a week ago Mike was enjoying his family, job and life in general.
Today he continues to reel from a massive heart attack that has confounded doctors and had at one point put him near the top of the list for a transplant.
Mike has already undergone a pair of surgeries and now his doctors are trying to pinpoint the source of an infection that has led to a spiked fever.
“It’s been traumatic,” said his wife Tia. “Sometimes I am pretty good, and other times not so much.”
Last Sunday Scott had just returned from an early-morning walk with his dog when his wife could hear him vomiting repeatedly in the bathroom.
“It sounded horrible,” said Tia. “I heard him call my name and I heard him hit the floor.”
She was able to get Mike roused, and called 911. Doctors performed an EKG at the hospital and immediately had him transported to Ottawa.
The diagnosis? A heart, just 37 years old, that is almost completely blocked.
Tia said her husband is typically the picture of health. He works out regularly and eats right, she said.
“Two-thirds of his heart is now dead,” she said.
Mike, who is a custodian at Central Public School in Cornwall, was placed in a medically-induced coma to give his body and chance to heal.
A pre-existing condition that causes his esophagus to bleed, has led to massive bleeding as blood thinners used by doctors following open-heart surgery last week are creating a side effects that have kept those monitoring his condition on their toes.
And with an infection that now appears to have set in, the hill Mike must climb has gotten steeper.
“I’m not even sure they would be able to do a transplant now, if a heart becomes available,” said Tia. “The infection and fever might prevent that.”
Friends and family are rallying around the Scott family.
An online fundraising campaign has been created to help offset the costs associated with driving to Ottawa daily, not to mention covering parking fees and the like.
A link to the fundraising pages can be found here and here.
In the meantime Tia is counting the minutes.
“If they don’t have a new heart for him in another two or three weeks they will have to come up with a new plan,” she said. “Right now there is a temporary device in him.”
Tia is still unsure what the “temporary device” is – but one thing is clear, it is helping keep her husband alive.
But the device can only remain in Mike for as long as three weeks. After that doctors have to go back in and replace the device with a so-called “heartmate.”
Heartmates are pumps that dramatically improve survival and quality of life, for patients like Mike. But if such a device is installed, Mike’s place at the top of the transplant list will drop, so timing is important.
“We don’t know what is going to happen to him,” said Tia, adding her husband could be in the hospital for as long as eight months. “Right now we have no idea what to think.”
Check back often for updates on Mike’s condition.
