TJ Collins, NIBGA Director, to have surgery

From his wife Barb:

Hi everyone;

Before I leave for Ft. Wayne to go to Lutheran Hospital I want to let you know, TJ has been there since yesterday about 11:00 a.m. You all know he hasn’t been feeling well. Well we finally know what the problem is.

We went to the family Dr. on Wednesday afternoon. He got down to business immediately. We went to the lab and then to X-ray. I believe I heard the nurses discussing yesterday that he has a upper repertory infection. That is what the cough is about.

On Thursday (yesterday) we went back to DeKalb Hosp. for a CT scan. When that was done they rolled him down the hall to our Dr.’s office (long walk). Our Dr. said there was some fluid on the left side of the brain and it is pushing his brain to the right. He told us as soon as the Neurologist called back, we would be going to Lutheran Hospital. (They discontinued the Plavix & aspirin).

So off we went with our granddaughter Brandy (20 yrs. old) diving my car. We got him admitted at Lutheran and they put him to bed in the ICU area of the Neurology section. The rest of the day was spent getting him settled and trying to make him comfortable. When the Dr. came in about 4:30 he took us to a room to show us the DVD on the computer that they had sent from DeKalb. It wasn’t showing up (they couldn’t get a contrast) so he took us for a VERY LONG walk and elevator ride down to the basement. In that room the only lighting is many computers of all sizes. On one of the computers we could see where the problem is.

Today at about 3:00 or 3:30 they will be taking TJ to surgery. They will remove a portion of his skull and go in and try to remove the massive blood that has settled along the left side of the brain. They said it looks like something caused from a hard fall. Some old bleeding and some recent bleeding. The Dr. is Rudy Kachman. Those of you in the Ft. Wayne area will recognize that name. He is famous. They say the best but a bit Exocentric. We hit it off good. He said, “Sweet heart, we are going to get along good. I see you have a good sense of humor.” Now did he read me right? LOL

So our granddaughter Brook (17 ) spent the night with me and we are getting ready to head back to the hospital. (About a 40 mile drive). The other kids were there all afternoon and evening along with some other relatives. It was so hard to leave him there but decided I better get home to rest and get some supplies. I plan to stay tonight.

All I can say for now is please say a prayer for TJ. They do millions of this kind of surgeries but there is some risk. Will let you know how it goes.