RICHARD (RICKY) GEORGE HENDRICKSON

Richard (Ricky) George Hendrickson of Rancho Mirage CA passed away on January 23, 2009 in SanBernardino CA at the age of 24 after a heroic battle with Adult Pulmonary Distress Syndrome. He was born January 14, 1985 in Mission Viejo CA to Blaine E and Sharon S. Hendrickson. He attended school in Laguna Hills CA and Cathedral City CA, graduating from Cathedral City High School. He also attended College of the Desert. Ricky was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints and served a two year Service Mission. Ricky struggled throughout his life with physical ailments, but had a quick mind and an engaging personality the endeared him to everyone that he met. He will be remembered most for his passionate desire to be of service to others and his refusal to let his handicaps get in the way of leading a full and productive life.
Ricky is survived by his father Blaine E Hendrickson of Rancho Mirage CA, 3 brothers, Jeffery (Jennifer) of San Clemente CA, Gregory (Becky) of Kealakekua HI, Jonathan (Lou Ann) of Laguna Beach CA; 2 sisters, Stephanie (Eric) McClellan of Redlands CA, Shalaine (Cort) Green of Rancho Mirage CA. He also leaves behind 14 wonderful nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother Sharon.
Services will be held on Friday January 30, 2009 at 11:00 AM at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Chapel Located at 72-960 Park View Drive Palm Desert CA. There will be a viewing on January 29th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM and on the 30th from 9:30 to 10:30 AM at the same location. Dedication of the grave will take place at Desert Memorial Park at 2:00PM 21705 Da Vall Dr., Cathedral City CA. In lieu of flowers the family has requested donations be made to the Orange County/Inland Empire Chapter of the Make a Wish Foundation.

We Love You, Ricky!

Last night at 11:45 PM, our brother, son, and friend passed away. His pneumonia had been getting rapidly worse and his oxygen levels had dropped significantly. Doctors and nurses did all they could, but Ricky's time had come. He passed away quickly and peacefully with his father, his sister Stephanie, his nurse Monica, and Cort and myself by his side. Though we are all greatly saddened by the loss of our dear Ricky, we know this is also a joyous time as he returns to his Heavenly Father freed from the body that so tried him. We knew as soon as his spirit left that he ran straight for his mother's arms.

Ricky was the heartbeat of the Hendrickson family. He was the glue that often held us together. How grateful I am for all the things that he taught me by his words, example, and love. There is no doubt in my mind that he is one of Heavenly Father's choicest spirits and the light he brought daily to us all will be greatly missed. Thank you for all of your kind words, your thoughts and many prayers throughout this past year and a half. They have been a strength to us all.

Sharon loved the Make a Wish Foundation because of all they did for Ricky and the experiences they worked to provide for him and the joy they brought when his "wish" came true. So, as with Sharon, we ask that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to this special charity. You can visit their site and make a donation at http://www.wishoc.org/. If you do chose to donate we ask that donations be made to the Orange County Inland Empire Chapter. Information and details of Ricky's funeral will be forthcoming.

THE RIDE CONTINUES

This has been a really interesting and challenging few days. After Monday's drama things settled down somewhat. We have not been able to resolve the Pneumo Thorax, but they were able to wein him off pressure support on the vent and back to volume control. This is good because it takes pressure off the lungs so that we don't get a collapse on the other side. We made good progress on Tuesday and Wedensday getting him down to 65% O2 and a peep rate of 5. He continued to have some periods of difficulty with pain but we were able to stay on top of it. This morning at 5:00 AM his stats began to drop dramatically and his O2 levels dropped into the 60's. They put him back on pressure support and the levels recovered. In order to keep him sedated they had to increase his Dilatin to 4 mg per hour. He is managing OK at the moment but O2 levels remain marginal. He is fighting hard. We again thank you for your faith and prayers, and we continue "TO MOVE FORWARD WITH FAITH."

RICKY BEING RICKY

Prosperity is evidently not a place that Ricky wants to be and so in true form yesterday's good news was a short phenomenon. On Sunday morning his x-rays showed that he had developed a Pneumo Thorax (that's code for the lung sprung a leak.) That resulted in minor surgery to have chest tube installed which will pull off fluid and air so that the lung won't collapse. While they were at it they decided to put in an arterial line so that they won't have to keep sticking him to draw blood for labs and to do blood gases. If that wasn't enough this morning about 7 AM his body decided to reject all sedation and pain medication. They tried new meds, increasing the amount of old meds all to no avail. His heart rate went up to the high 140's, his blood pressure was 170/115, his respirations were all over the map and his O2 level dropped into the 80's. This was the case all day until around 4:00 when they increased his Dilatin to 2mg per hour and the same with his Ativan. By 5:30 all of his stats had dropped back into the normal range and he was again under sedation.
His principal diagnosis is Adult Pulmonary Distress Syndrome which has a mortality rate of 60%, you add to that the pneumo thorax, the Pneumonia, and the infections, you can see the uphill battle he faces. He is a fighter though and continues to do battle. We appreciate all of your faith and prayers and continue to "MOVE FORWARD WITH FAITH."

THE COMEBACK KID

I wanted to give everybody a quick update on Ricky and his progress. He continues to amaze us all, in fact he gives 9 lives a new meaning. Over the last couple of days there has been some turnaround in his condition. Although he still remains critical there has been some improvement in his lungs and they have been able to reduce the O2 saturation level from 100 to 80%. His white count has trended down slightly and the x-rays show some opening back up of the lungs. He still remains fully sedated as he has no capacity to breathe in his own. He remains on TPN for feeding. They were forced to switch drugs for sedation because the original drug Propofol was beginning to affect his liver functions and so he is now on a Versed drip. Yesterday a new organism showed up in his lungs and so they are growing a culture to find out how to treat it. As Shalaine stated in her post, he is in the hands of the Lord. We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers and continue "TO MOVE FORWARD WITH FAITH."

Update on Ricky

Although we didn't plan on posting again on the blog, and especially not for this reason, we felt we should give an update to anyone who might be following the Hendrickson clan. 

Two weeks ago Ricky went into the hospital with severe pneumonia. He started off at Legacy Post Acute and Rehabilitation Center in San Bernardino. But after coding while in the nursing home and reports from the doctors that his lungs were getting steadily worse, they felt he needed to be moved to the ICU at St. Bernadines Hospital where he could be under constant care.  He has been there now for a week. 

Unfortunately, his condition is not getting any better. The doctors have found MRSA all over his body and the pneumonia is very severe. He is on as much oxygen as they can give him and on a ventilator 24 hours a day but is still struggling to keep his oxygen levels up. Meanwhile his pulse is constantly racing, staying around 130-170 beats per minute. He is on many antibiotics and TPN to try and get his nutrition better. The doctors also have him heavily sedated so that he doesn't have to work much and his body can try and fight off the infection. However his white blood count continues to rise and is currently at about 50 (we know way more about WBC than anyone should have to!). 

For the most part, it is very "touch and go" at this point. We are preparing for what may come but continue to hope and pray for the best. He has had excellent care and doctors and nurses are doing all they can. We realize it is now in God's hands. Please keep Ricky in  your thoughts and prayers.