Rex P. LaRotonda

Rex P LaRotonda

Age 49

10/29/1964 – 06/01/2014

Waco, TX

Rex and I were in GA in about mid-March 2014 to spend some time with his mother who was dying of COPD. We lost her on March 27, 2014. Rex and his sister had stayed with her at the hospital and then at hospice day and night for the last 6 days of her life. Knowing she would be gone soon and we had stayed as long as we could, we made plans to fly home to Waco, TX on March 29.

The night Rex’s mom passed away, he said he didn’t feel well. He had flu-like symptoms: fever, chills, sweats, headache, nausea. He was a person who never got sick, so we both thought some rest would take care of it, but he was worse by the time we flew home on Saturday March 29. His fever was so high we went straight from the airport to the hospital in Waco.

The ER doctor told us, “It’s not life threatening, but we need to admit him because he is too sick to go home.” They admitted him, and kept running tests, but the only thing they could find was the herpes simplex virus (same virus that gives you a cold sore). By Monday his stomach was swelling and he couldn’t eat, and the doctors started talking about his liver enzymes being elevated.

By Wednesday he did not know who I was. By Thursday he could no longer care for himself. By Friday he was in ICU because his liver and kidneys had failed. And on Saturday, exactly one week after his admission, he had a seizure. His lungs failed and he was placed on a ventilator. Rex stayed in ICU in Waco for another week because his blood pressure kept dropping and he was not stable enough to move, but the following Saturday (April 12), he had stabilized a little and he was moved to a hospital center in Dallas, as they have much better resources than the hospital in Waco.

When he got to the other hospital was when I first began to get the explanation of sepsis, and what it was and how it affected his body, although it still remained a mystery as to what caused the sepsis. The doctors said it is just about unheard of that herpes simplex in a person with a normal immune system could get so bad that it would cause sepsis; but that was still the only thing they could find.

The team began to treat him and it started to seem as if he would recover. After a couple of weeks, he woke up, he knew who I was, he could answer yes and so questions, and he began to move his arms, legs and shoulders. The medical team and I were all thrilled with his progress, although we knew he was still very critically ill. But, even though he seemed to be getting better overall, he would still spike a fever about every other day.

I was spending most of my time in the ICU with Rex, but I went home on Monday, May 26, to try to get some rest. I got a call on Wednesday, May 28, from the ICU doctor telling me Rex’s fever had spiked at about 103 again, and that his white blood cell count was “very elevated.” I asked him if that meant he had sepsis again and he said he was afraid so. I got to Dallas a few hours later and the doctor immediately sat me down and told me my husband had pancreatitis which had caused him to develop sepsis again, he was dying, and that there was nothing else they could do for him. But he thought it was important that I be there for him. He said his only hope was an emergency surgery for the pancreatitis, which they did not believe he could survive because he was too weak. But then, the surgeon said they would try because Rex had proven himself to be so strong, and such a fighter over the last 7 weeks in ICU.

They performed the surgery on May 28th and he survived this and 2 other emergency surgeries the same night to stop excessive bleeding. He had another surgery on May 30 to re-drain his abdomen from the pancreatitis.

But, on Sunday, June 1st he suffered a heart attack and after all he had been through, the doctors said that he was “beyond being able to come back to any type of life he would want or appreciate.” So I asked them to withdraw care from him and just keep him comfortable. He died less than 10 minutes after all of the support equipment and medications were stopped.

Rex was a wonderful man, and the strongest person I have ever known- both physically and in his Spirit. He fought very hard in his battle against sepsis, and almost won. But, in the end this illness was too strong even for him. If his story can help even one person, I know he would be pleased.

Source: by Barbara Larotonda (Rex's wife)