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Thursday, May 19th Our deepest apologies for the delay in updating you what's going on with the Coach and the Bladt family. Things have been a whirlwind since the illness, etc. While significant progress toward recovery has been made, there is still a long ways to go! But the good news is, the Coach has recovered to the point where HE is putting together an update and we hope to have it posted very soon! Stay tuned and thanks so very much for your continued support and prayers. Shilo Bladt
Tuesday, March 15th Curt and Jill stopped over last night to play with the kiddos and he is just doing fantastically and he looks great too! His Physical Therapy is complete and he is attending the Fitness Center three days a week while Jill is at work to keep up with his rehab. He will continue with speech therapy for another month. He has hit major milestones every time we see him! He can smile now and he can wink and its great to see him doing both! As you all know his smile is quite contagious. These accomplishments are huge when you haven't been able to do them for a while! Curt has also been going to school for and hour and a half every day to work with shot and discus track participants and he and Jill have been attending basketball games, wrestling meets, and even the state wrestling tournament in Des Moines as well as doing a bit of babysitting for the grandbabies! He is also looking quite trim having lost and kept off 50 pounds! His vision is also improving and he can even read a little for short amounts of time. So please keep posting to the site because he really enjoys hearing from everyone! He still isn't able to drive and so he can use a ride every now and then when Jill is working. The family as a whole continues to feel incredibly blessed that things have worked out the way that they did and that Curt continues to improve every day. We are so very grateful! Shilo Bladt
Monday, February 7th On Saturday night, we had all of the Bladts over to our house to celebrate our Christmas since Curt was in the hospital over the holidays. It was very nice. There was of course way too much food and a lot of good conversation and a whole bunch of babies! Curt and Jill worked the wrestling meet that day, so he was kinda pooped out by the end of the evening, but a good time was had by all. He is just improving so much every time I see him. He now walks unassisted - no more walker and his speech is so much better. Therapy is going very well and he continues to go three times per week. He also had a very good report from the doctor at Immanuel last week. I really think that he is just enjoying getting out and about these days. -Shilo Bladt
Monday, January 17th Curt was ready to get out of the house so they came over for meatloaf - his favorite!. A fourth grade student (Tyler Johannsen) stopped by our house last night to interview Curt for a school project and Curt told him about the website and showed him the stats page for his report. He (Curt) is pretty darn tickled with the response. Curt looked really good last night and said that he felt pretty good too. He played with the kiddos and watched some football with Jeff. He said that therapy is going well, but that it definitely wears him out. He will continue to go three times per week until his docs at Immanuel say otherwise. -Shilo Bladt
It's good to have him home and he is so glad to be there! He loves his big comfy chair and appreciates all of the visits from folks since he has been home. FMCTC brought the laptop by the house and set him up with the best screen for him (with the impaired vision, the bigger, the better) and all of the instruction that he will need to keep in contact with well-wishers so please keep the messages acoming! Curt attends a rigorous therapy session three mornings per week for about 4 hours at a time. He has PT, OT, and Speech and any lab work that is necessary at that time as well. He really likes the therapy staff at MMH. He then is pretty exhausted and rests in the afternoon. Thank you so much to all who have assisted and continue to volunteer in giving him a lift to and from the hospital. You are very much appreciated and he appreciates the company. Jill took him for a little jaunt around town after therapy on Monday and he enjoyed being out and about. You lose touch so easily when you are away from home as long as he was. -Shilo Bladt
Shilo just called (8:15 Friday evening) and Coach Bladt arrived home this evening. She said he hasn't been this comfortable in the last 5 weeks. Tom Conroy at FMCTC has graciously offered Curt the use of a laptop computer and FMCTC is donating Internet services to Curt & Jill throughout the duration of his convalescence at home (which we hope is a very short time). The Bladts thank Tom & FMCTC for their generosity and helping Coach keep in touch with the hundreds of people who have corresponded with him these past weeks.
Coach will have his own email at home starting probably Tuesday. The address will be CoachBladt@fmctc.com (BUT IT WON"T WORK UNTIL TUESDAY). -Ruthanne Grimsley for Shilo Bladt
Thursday, January 6th Good afternoon. I talked to Greg and Todd today and it sounds like Curt is continuing to show improvement. He has been feeling better and was able to be up quite a bit more the last couple of days which means that he has been working quite a bit on his OT and PT so that he can come home. Doctors continue to be optimistic that it will be soon. Jill has been staying with him through the wintry weather so she has not been out on the roads and the rest of us are just hunkering down and waiting on updates - but we will be ready to go just as soon as the doctors say come and get him! It appears that winter is finally here. We have been very fortunate up until this week regarding the weather. It has made it much easier for Jill and the boys to be down there as much as possible.
Thank you so much to whomever cleared all of our driveways today - it is very much appreciated! -Shilo Bladt
Tuesday, January 4th Good Morning! Curt and Jill were out all of yesterday afternoon for tests and I didn't want to update you until I knew for sure what was going on with Curt's leg - it has been hurting him the last two days. We got a hold of Jill last night and it turns out that there is not infection in his leg (thank goodness), but that it is still the blood clot that is paining him. Doctors will continue to monitor him but it will delay his return home. Jill also thinks that Curt had a touch of the flu over the weekend because he just wasn't feeling very well. As a result, he hasn't been able to be up and working on physical therapy much the last couple of days. Jill said that he was feeling a bit better last night and hoped to be up more today. He gets kinda bummed when he isn't able to do as much. Medically, his cumaden levels are balancing out and his liver enzymes are closer to where the docs want them to be.
He still presents with some paralysis in his face and isn't yet able to move his eyes. But he can see and his appetite is increasing a little every day. Ice cream always sounds good! He's been watching the games this week and due to the weather, we weren't able to watch the Hawkeyes with him on Saturday, but I'm willing to bet that his whole wing of the hospital heard him during the last minute of the game! Needless to say, he was quite pleased with the outcome.
His doctors continue to be optimistic that he will be able to come home soon. -Shilo Bladt
Thursday, December 30th As for Coach, he is hanging in there. Christmas was tough. Not so much fun being in the hospital over the holidays, but we all took turns Christmas eve and Christmas day so that family would be around the whole time, but he was still pretty worn out (from the procedure to halt the blood clot) and bummed out (about the set-back). He just really wants to come home. On a positive note, he is recovering well from the clot, and did not have to be on bed rest nearly as long as they projected. He has been up in a wheelchair the past three days, down to the cafeteria for ice cream and was able to sit in on a TEAM meeting on Tuesday. He has also been walking with a walker around the unit. His appetite is also improving. Curt's physiatrist (specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation) is very optimistic that he will be coming home soon. He will require quite a bit of physical and occupational therapy to regain his strength and motor skills and should be able to do that here at MMH on an outpatient basis. It also helps that Curt and Jill's house is a ranch style layout with all the essentials on one floor. Physically, in order for him to come home, he needs a bit higher of a score on the OT/PT assessment that they conduct on him daily. An example is that for walking, he needs to be able to walk with a walker (unassisted) for 15 feet. Yesterday he was up to 75 feet. He continues to improve more and more every day, he just wears out easily right now. It's been hard on him to lay in bed for weeks when he is used to being so active. According to his doctor, you don't really get "cured" of Guillian's Barre Sydrome your recovery is gauged more on how much you are able to bounce back from the disease. They are very happy with Curt's progress in this department. Medically, his liver enzymes continue to be higher than the docs are happy with. The internal specialists are working to correct this before he comes home. This is just one of the side effects of his treatment. Also, because of the possibility of future blood clots, Curt will need to be on a blood thinner (Cumaden) for some time. Doctors need to make sure that he has the correct level of this drug in his system before they send him home. Too little of the drug and he develops clots, too much of the drug and he is unable to clot at all. Once they get him leveled off, and he is able to return home, he will require weekly blood draws to monitor the drug. We are very happy with the direction that things are taking. A few weeks ago, things were so very bad - it is just so awesome to have things improving at the rate that they are. Curt's a tough cookie and he's not letting this thing get him down! Thanks again everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement. Please keep them coming. You gotta have faith! -Shilo Bladt
Thursday, December 23rd Curt has changed rooms again, but this time to a private one #851. Hopefully he will be able to sleep a bit better now. Curt was transferred to Immanuel Medical Center in order to begin rehabilitation therapy and was very excited to get a jump on his recovery, however, yesterday doctors discovered a blood clot in his leg. They did an ultrasound for more information and found it to be much bigger than they thought. He had surgery this morning to put in a filter which will hopefully deter any pieces that may break off of the clot from finding their way to his heart or brain. As a result, therapy is on the backburner for now as he is on bed rest for seven to ten days. Curt is pretty bummed out about the setback. Being hospitalized over the holidays was bearable when he thought he was ready for rehab, but now it is pretty depressing for him.
On a positive note, Curt's coordination and nervous system seem to be improving and he continues to be very thankful for all of the tremendous support he has received from all over the country. The cards and emails mean so much to him and he and Jill continue to read them between visits from friends and family.
On behalf of the Bladt family, thank you so much for thinking of us and sending your thoughts and prayers our way. Thank you also to the Harlan School System, community volunteers, Booster Club, and football boys for all of your fundraising efforts, Ruthanne for your terrific work on the website, and also to the pom pom girls for the babysitting - it is much appreciated!
Everyone please
have a safe, happy, and healthy Curt and Jill Greg, Tammy, Drew, Haley, and Alex Jeff, Shilo, Hannah, and Samuel Todd and Angela Palma
Wednesday, December 22nd Not a lot of change on Curt since Thursday, some very gradual improvement but enough that they transferred him to Immanuel Medical Center to begin rehabilitation therapy late yesterday afternoon. He is still quite weak, still has the double vision, and gets pretty dizzy when he is up, even for a little while. But, that the doctors feel he is ready for rehab is a gigantic step forward and we are very grateful for this. We have not heard yet how long he will need to stay at Immanuel but I think he will be there through the New Year. Curt's new address is:
Curt Bladt -Shilo Bladt
Thursday, December 16th Curt was looking a little better last night. He was sitting up in a bed that basically turns into a recliner chair. He frequently sat forward on his own though. He still seems sleepy. He had another spinal tap done this afternoon. Guess this one went better than the first. I know the web sites I checked for GBS say the protein levels can be elevated later rather than initially. Guess he can open his eyelids a slit. He is suppose to encourage himself to open them manually to "train the brain that they still work" as Jill says.
His speech is still garbled, difficult to understand at times. Seems like he only talks when he really has something to say. Tom Paulson is going down in the morning (Thursday) so Jill can come home for some things. She said that Todd is going to spend some time down there this weekend so that she can get some of her Christmas shopping done. She plans on staying all the nights. -Tammy Bladt
Wednesday, December 15th Jeff and I saw Curt last night. He had just been moved out of ICU and into his own room - with a nice, big, comfy bed-I might add! He had just received his 3rd treatment and was pretty tired, but is still responding very well. Curt was in good spirits, laughing, and telling jokes. We brought with us all of the emails and postings from the guestbook - all 225 of them - and Jill read them to him after we left. He and Jill are just so touched by all of the nice thoughts and prayers and good carma that people are sending their way. We also gave Curt the wrestling stats that John M. dropped off so that he would be up to date on what's going on there. He likes to be kept in the loop, thanks John!
Curts new address: -Shilo Bladt
December 15th from
the
Omaha World Herald BY KEVIN WHITE, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER If Curt Bladt ever questioned his impact on Harlan Community High School, it was answered in one day. About 24 hours after a Web site, CoachBladt.com, was established to update the ailing football coach's condition, more than 200 messages had been posted. They'd come from alumni in Arizona, North Carolina, New York and even Mongolia. They'd come from former classmates, football officials and coaches in every corner of the state. They'd come from people Bladt has never met. "Some," said Curt's son, Jeff, "say, 'We've never met you, but we know who you are and we want you to get well.' " The well-wishers received good news Tuesday. Bladt, the most successful prep football coach in Iowa history, was upgraded from serious to fair condition at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He has been hospitalized with a rare neurological disease. One of his physicians, Dr. Pierre Fayad, said Bladt likely would be leaving the intensive care unit for the neurological ward either Tuesday or today. "He's a tough guy, but it's a situation that needs a lot of patience," Fayad said. "He's getting better, but it's a slow process - we're talking about weeks and months. But he's heading in the right direction." Bladt, 60, has been diagnosed with Miller-Fisher syndrome, a variant of Guillain-Barré (Ghee-YAN Bah-RAY) syndrome. It's a disease that causes the immune system to attack the nerves, resulting in a loss of muscle function. With Guillain-Barré, the disease starts in the feet and works its way up the body. Miller-Fisher syndrome begins in the nerves of the face and moves down. Fayad said the chief concern is when the disease passes through the breathing muscles and chest area. Patients have to be monitored carefully during the process. He said Bladt's breathing is becoming less problematic, but that complications such as infections, high blood pressure and blood clots are a concern. Bladt is undergoing an extensive blood-cleansing treatment that attempts to prevent the loss of nerve function. Jeff Bladt said the most difficult things for his father are the discomfort in his neck and head area, and not being able to go to wrestling meets. Curt Bladt is an assistant wrestling coach at the school. Harlan hosted the Cyclone Invitational on Dec. 4, and that's where Jeff Bladt said his father realized he was suffering from more than a cold. "He went to yell something at one of the guys," Jeff said, "and he couldn't get it out." In 27 years as the head football coach at Harlan, Bladt has a mark of 288-31, including 17 championship game appearances and nine titles. He was an assistant on the first of Harlan's state-record 10 championship teams. He's also made an impression as a teacher. One of the messages posted on his Web site Tuesday came from Tyler Gubbels of Earling, a student in Bladt's first-hour biology class: "We need you back in school. It is not the same without you. Hope it is not long before you can teach your next biology class. Hopefully you are feeling better. I will keep you in my prayers." Another, from 11-year-old Brandon Weis of Earling: "I hope you beat the disease so that one day I could play for you." Before Bladt's illness, many had wondered how long he would continue to teach and coach. In an interview last spring, Bladt said he didn't have any immediate plans to walk away from any of his duties. Joe Lauterbach, a Harlan attorney who has had sons go through the Cyclone program, said Bladt's short absence has left a void in the entire school system. "He's more than just a football coach," he said. "He's like everybody's favorite uncle. The kids miss him at school, his wit, his sense of humor. He's irreplaceable." Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
A note of clarification. GBS is actually pretty common. It is the particular strain that Curt has that is so rare. It is called the Miller Fischer varient of GBS. Click here or on the FAQ page for more information on the specific type of GBS Curt suffers with. -Shilo Bladt
Monday, December 13, 2004, PM I just spoke to Jeff, Curt is much the same as yesterday which is a good thing as yesterday was a very good day. He is a bit tired today, but still reacting well to treatment. He is very grateful for all of the cards, thoughts, and prayers people are sending his way. I have printed everything I have received from email and via the Contact form and GuestBook on this web site and I will take them to Curt today - he will enjoy all of the email so much. The interviews with Jeff, Todd and the doctor should be on Channel 6 today at 5 or 10 maybe both. -Shilo Bladt
Monday, December 13, 2004 Saw Curt/Jill yesterday morning and he was doing considerably better. Friday afternoon he wasn't so good and it seems now he is more comfortable and his breathing is more steady. Basically I told him we swept Kuemper in wrestling and boys/girls basketball and he gave me the thumbs up. Told him we have LC this week in BB and dual Clarinda in wrestling.He seems to like to know what's going on all the time at HCHS so we are all keeping him posted. Hopefully he will get out of IC this week and doing better.This is serious and I think this will take some time. Will keep you posted. -Tony Hough
Sunday, December 12, 2004 Thank you everyone for sending your thoughts and prayers to Curt and our family. He is hanging in there although not thrilled to be so far from home and all his grandbabies! Curt's condition has progressed to an autoimmune disease called Guillain's Barré Syndrome. Whether this stemmed from the encephalitis or whether it has been there all along, we are not sure. The Channel 6 news will be interviewing Dr. Fayed (Curt's doctor, head of Neurology) today for information on Curt's condition. I look for it on today/tonight's news. He will be able to explain it much better than I will but I understand it to be that Curt's antibodies are at war with his body. This condition basically tricks your defense system into believing that the body and it's tissues are bad and so it turns against itself, attacking it's own tissue. GBS is quite rare. The doctors have only seen one other case in Omaha and Curt is only the 66th known case ever in Omaha. The symptoms are very stroke-like. His vision and speech are impaired, motor skills have decreased, breathing quite labored, and in a lot of pain in his head and neck. He is in serious condition but stable. The treatment is called plasmapheresis. This process removes your blood and spins it out to separate the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma (which houses the antibodies) is then discarded and the red blood cells are put back in along with saline to replace the fluids and a "super-plasma" to hopefully re-direct his system. In order to maintain a controlled (disease-free) environment, they will be keeping him at UNMC until they feel he is completely treated. This will likely take quite a while as they expect 10-14 treatments and he is to have one every other day. We hope to have him home by Christmas but if not, we'll just keep the tree up until he is home! We know that he is in the best possible place that he can be and being cared for by the best possible neurological staff in the area. Curt's first treatment was Friday and it went well. Jeff was down yesterday and said that he seemed to be a little better, joking with with the hospital staff in true Coach Bladt spirit. We are so thankful. -Shilo Bladt
Last Updated: 04/07/2007 |
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