Mark Theisen

In 2005, my dad underwent a heart valve replacement surgery, from which he recovered fully from, and as my dad was a big man, he lost a lot of weight as well. In 2010, he had his left knee replaced. It should have been another good recovery, but Daddy crashed and had to be resuscitated and was transferred to a long-term rehab facility. Daddy did recover, and went back to his life.

In January of 2012, his left knee began hurting pretty bad, and was told he had overstretched his ligaments. The last week of January, he began acting off and Mom called an ambulance. Daddy was diagnosed with MSSA (Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus). He was transferred to a rehab facility to eradicate the infection.

I drove down and visited Daddy every day, once bringing his two Shih-Tzus, Foxy and Lady, for a visit, as the rehab was very pet friendly and encourage vaccinated pets to come visit their ill owners. After a few weeks Daddy was given a clean bill of health and I took him home. In home physical therapy and occupational therapy visits began and Daddy truly seemed on the mend. Exactly one week to the day after daddy came home, his behavior became erratic again. His OT couldn’t get any good vitals, and she called 911. Daddy went back to the hospital and was transferred to the Heart Hospital. Mom and I told Daddy we’d see him in the morning and left. At 2 am Mom got a call that Daddy had flat lined, was revived, and being intubated.

Over the next few days, daily hospital visits and eating out became or normal day. We learned that the staph had attached itself to Daddy’s replaced left knee and moved to his artificial heart valve, destroying his other natural valves causing Daddy to need a triple valve replacement. Late Friday night, early Saturday morning before the scheduled valve replacement, Daddy either had a mild heart attack or stroke that caused him to go brain dead. He had been responding to stimuli. On March 12, 2012, a small group of family members gathered and we took Daddy off of life support, 15 minutes later he passed away. He was 64 years old and my parents were celebrating their 40 year anniversary that June. Daddy’s replaced left knee had given him pain ever since the replacement, and was discovered, after he passed, that the staph infection started then and was never eradicated fully.

Source: Aimee Theisen-Corn, daughter