Dennis Adams Sr

Dennis had been feeling bad for a few weeks but attributed it to a cold or virus and continued to work. He was one of those guys who rarely ever missed work and worked for General Motors his entire life. Finally one day while working he felt pretty bad and decided to come home early. His wife Debbie finally said he was going to the doctor and took him to a local small ER and they gave him fluids and told him he had a virus and sent him home.

4 days later he started feeling worse and went to another urgent care that did labs and determined that he had an infection. They sent him to the local hospital ER for treatment. They did labs as well and gave him intravenous antibiotics and sent him home with more prescribed antibiotics.

Less than 24 hours later my wife (who was 25 weeks pregnant with his first grandson) were headed home from dinner. We received a call from Debbie and immediately I knew something was wrong from my wife’s voice. All we were told was that he had fell and something was wrong with him.

We hurried over to their house and I went in to take over and make sure the ambulance was on the way. I’m a police officer so I tend to handle these stressful situations better than the rest of them. I walked in and saw Dennis lying in the bed and he looked very sick and seemed confused. His color was even off as he looked a pale grey.

He was transported by ambulance to the same hospital that sent him home less than 24 hours before. They immediately started a protocol for infection after they requested the labs from the day prior. I talked to the nurse and she advised me that Dennis was septic and it was bad. They thought that the antibiotics he had been given the day before had not helped at all as his labs had more than doubled in 24 hours. They also saw some concerns with his heart and wanted to look further into that.

The next week Dennis would change hospitals and his condition was an emotional roller coaster for everyone. They determined that the infection likely started in his teeth and made it to his heart and the endocarditis went septic. (Sepsis and Dental Health) All that caused him to go into heart failure and eventually the surgeon decided that they could not wait any longer and had to open him up to try and clean the infection and repair damage.

The day of the surgery we were all worried as we were told that it was very risky. We went in early to see him before the surgery and wish him well. He was himself all the way telling the surgeon that he “wasn’t a chicken” and ready to get it done.

We waited in the family area patiently for a call (they give you a cellphone for updates). Everyone around us were getting calls and we hadn’t received one. I was being optimistic but my wife was freaking out. A short time later we received a call that the surgeon wanted to speak with us. One of the surgical team actually met with us and told us that when Dennis was given anesthesia his heart stopped but they were already prepared and got him opened and on bypass. They said the only concern was whether his heart was healthy enough to restart. I knew he wouldn’t give up so I stayed optimistic.

Less than 20 minutes later the surgeon wanted to meet with us himself. A feeling I never want to have to feel again would follow. The surgeon said that the infection was worse than expected and it had actually eaten a large section of the left side of his heart and was irreparable. The level of sadness that would follow would be unlike anything I had ever experienced.

Dennis was one of the greatest men I ever had the privilege to know and it saddens me that his grandson will not meet him. One thing we did before he passed was ask him to pick his grandson’s name so Greyson will know that and many other great things about his Pop Pop.

I never expected that in such a short time we would have laid him to rest but eventually the pain will dull although never completely heal. We love and miss you Dennis…

Source: Brandon Mills (Dennis's son-in-law)