Unfortunately while playing tennis that morning Merritt was serving when he noticed something pull below his right shoulder. He played the next point and then started to fill uncomfortable, unable to take a deep breath, pain below his right shoulder blade, pressure in his sternum. These were all the same signs he experienced back in February when he collapsed his right lung. So instead of posting some nice photos from Tara National park. Which looks like this:
We will be posting lots of hospital photos. After Merritt got home we decided that since we knew it was not a heart attack that we would drive the hour to Belgrade where he could be treated at the very nice BelMedic clinic. We got an appointment with the thoracic surgeon for 8 p.m that evening and Elder Hoisington and Port drove us there. First, they checked Merritt to make sure his heart was OK and then they took a chest X-ray which confirmed the collapsed lung. During the next hour, a chest tube was put in and he was put into a semi-private room and started to feel better as his lung re-expanded.
Here they are doing checks on his heart.
The next several days Heather came for visits and we had plenty of opportunity for playing cards.
After three days in the hospital and after making some phone calls to get someone to take our place to drive the youth to Germany and canceling all our reservations at Tara National Park they let Merritt go home.
Unfortunately, the evening after we had gotten back to Sremska he started to fill it was hard to breathe. He decided to sleep on it and see how he felt in the morning. In the morning it was even harder to breathe and so we went back to BelMedic Clinic where they took another X-ray and determined his lung was again collapsed.
The doctor told us he thought it was leaking at a new site but we think it was from the same tennis injury that never completely sealed. Normally before they release someone with a collapsed lung they do a test where they clamp off the chest tube and then wait over 12 hours after which they take another X-ray to make sure that no leak is present. In Merritt's case, this pressure test was omitted for some reason. It was a bit discouraging to learn that a new chest tube had to be put back in but even more discouraging when they didn't even use the same hole from one day ago. Instead, the made a brand new hole (who knows why?).
Here Dr. Stanic has just put in the tube and is suturing it to my skin so it doesn't move.
Chest tube back in and Merritt getting acclimating to that old feeling again.
After some pain killers and getting situated in his new home away from home. He was actually put right back into the same bed he had been in 24 hours previously.
Doctor Stanic didn't speak much English so our anesthesiologist Suzana stepped in to help translate. Doctor Stanic was dead set on doing a thoracotomy on Merritt. He believed he had an additional collapsed lung event (not just the same one that leaked) and predicted that a CT scan would show he had blebs (small bubbles/blisters on the lung that can cause repeated lung collapses) and that by doing a thoracotomy they would be able to remove all the blebs. We let him know very politely through Suzana that we would like to get a second opinion.
Just a photo from the morning rounds, Dr. Krstic (Suzana) and the hospital director and nurses.
While I was in treatment Heather had a chance to explore Belgrade a bit. The couple that we found to drive the youth to Germany live in Belgrade so while they were gone Heather was able to stay in their place. Here is a London phone booth that is a landmark in Belgrade.
Nice photo of a church, one of many in Belgrade
Nice doorway. Heather loves to take photos of doors.
The food at BelMedic was amazing. Just an example is shown below.
Second opinion with Dr. Maric, a thoracic surgeon with good English skills. By the time we talked with him, we had the results of the CT scan which showed no blebs present (good news). He started out by saying he was in complete agreement with Dr. Stanic that surgery was needed to fix whatever was wrong but that VATS (an endoscopic type of surgery) would be the first step. He also allowed that the reason I needed to return could have been that the lung was not sealed especially since no blebs were found. I explained about the trauma-induced collapse back in December and that I thought this damaged a small area of my lung which failed to heal completely. He hadn't ever seen a case exactly like mine but had seen some cases that were a bit similar. We explained that we would pursue VATS surgery but since our insurance gave us the option to have it done at a hospital in Germany that specialized in lungs that we would pursue that. He was very supportive and said he would be willing to consult with the doctors in Germany if needed.
There was a college student from Jordan in the room next to ours. He had some problems with deep vein thrombosis and couldn't get out of bed. His family and friends were coming quite regularly. Heather had a chance to talk to his mother and sister. Since we had been to Jordan before and since we were also foreigners going through medic problems in Serbia they struck up a friendship. If we ever go to Aman, Jordan they have invited us to stay at their families Hotel. They were very nice people. We left them our table fan that Heather had brought from home.
Finally, 9 days after the initial event while playing tennis Merritt was released and able to come home to recuperate. He sleeps on his side which is pretty hard to do when you have a chest tube in so he really enjoyed getting sleep in his preferred position.
VATS vs Thoracotomy in one easy picture. VATS (video-assisted thoracic surgery) uses a camera inserted in the lower back region between the ribs and then two access ports are created for operating on the lung. The lung is deflated to create space for the surgeon to work.
Merritt is pretty convinced that they will find that the lung was damaged from the December fall and they will be able to trim off the damaged piece and then reinforce the area with micro staples as shown in this drawing circled in red. Doctors use a linear cutter stapler tool to do this type of surgery, the cutting and stapling are done by the tool after the surgeon has clamped it down on the area of interest. The tool can also be used to remove much larger portions of the lung as shown in the sketch below for people suffering from operable lung cancer. It's a pretty ingenious design so there is almost no blood loss and a complete seal is made.
After we got home Elder Port and Hoisington came over and Elder Port made us New Zealand banana pancakes. (kind of like popovers with bananas inside)
Some of our members wanted to learn to make soap so we had a soap making class for them. Here Ada and Ljubica mix the Sodium Hydroxide (lye) in water.
Mixing the olive, palm and coconut oils together and heating to 50 C.
After filling the molds two thirds full Duska mixes in the lavender color to the remaining oil mixture after which the molds were filled to the top.
Two days later Ada and Radomir removed the soap from the mold and then cut it into 20, 125-gram bars of soap.
Meanwhile, we were working with the insurance company to get an appointment for the VATS surgery in Germany. Finally, on Aug 29th they called and said we had an appointment set for September 10th. With Merritt's condition, his doctors recommended against flying (which is why we didn't return immediately for this surgery in the United States where we would have family close by for support) so we arranged bus tickets to Vienna where we plan to stay overnight and then train tickets to Frankfurt.
With the travel arrangement, it meant that our last Sunday in Sremska Mitrovica would be on Sunday, September 1st. Since this was the first Sunday of the month we both had an opportunity to share our testimonies with the branch. Coincidently Merritt's cousin Heidi Petersen and her husband Gary and former mission president Mark Grant and his wife Judy were planning to be visiting Sremska Mitrovica on that day. Since we had a dinner planned for their visit we also used that dinner as our going away party. Also coincidently (notice a pattern here?) Pres. Melonakos and his wife Becky were in town to interview our missionaries so they were able to attend as well.
Here we are with the Petersens and the Melonakoses.
We couldn't have had a better send-off from Sremska Mitrovica. Dragan made is famous Goulash which Merritt loves.
Also, it just so happened (I don't think so) that on Tuesday, September 3rd we were able to attend our last zone conference and share our testimonies with the wonderful missionaries of the Serbia Zone of the Adriatic North Mission.
Here President Melonakos gives us a presentation on how to better prepare investigators for baptism.
Sister Melonakos was able to share with us the advice they received from general authorities of our church during their mission presidency training.
Here is our final photo with them. They have been amazing examples to us and we count ourselves lucky to be able to call them friends.
On our last day in Sremska Merritt got to have one final lunch at Pizza XL with our good friend Rocky (Dragan Rosic). If it couldn't be a last day of tennis then eating some good Serbian food together is the next best thing.
On our last night in Sremska Mitrovica, the Vucenovic family stopped by to give us some cookies for our trip and to say good-bye.
Afterward, we went with Elder Port and Elder Hoisington for one last Sremska Mitrovica Gelato! We really appreciated all the help Elder Hoisington and Port gave us during our time together with them and especially during this past month of medical issues.
The next morning on September 6th (Heather's birthday) the Elders took us to the main bus station in Belgrade and helped us get our bus to start the last leg of our mission: a mission to get Merritt's lung fixed after which we can fly home and start the next phase of our life.
Hopefully, our next update will include photos of us at an airport somewhere.
