Group effort saves Amy

Nov. 29 began like most Monday mornings in the Downing household in Kearney. Sisters Hadlea and Harper left for school. Parents Amy and Jason were enjoying coffee while their son, Hudson, got ready to begin his school day.

The routine changed rapidly as a jolt of severe pain suddenly spread across Amy’s upper abdomen. After 22 years as a nurse, her medical training instinctively kicked in, and she began assessing her symptoms.

Was she having a heart attack at age 45?

Amy managed to tell Hudson to get his father. As Jason drove Amy to the emergency department at Kearney Regional Medical Center, she slipped in and out of consciousness.

This Labor and Delivery nurse had cared for hundreds of babies and families during her five years in the hospital’s Maternity Care Center, but now she was about to become the patient and experience the care and support of friends and medical co-workers herself.

“The care was outstanding,” Amy recalls, “But it’s hard to put into words what it was like to go from being a nurse to switching gears to become the patient.”

Need to act quickly

There wasn’t much time to make that transition.

Soon after Amy arrived at the ED, general surgeon Melissa Stade, MD, received an urgent call about her. Diagnostic tests were not revealing the cause of Amy’s symptoms, and she was becoming unstable.

The last thing Amy would remember that day would be the voice of anesthesiologist Merlin Wehling, MD. “He kept me aware of all that was happening. It’s blurry but I remember him by the head of the bed, letting me know we were going to surgery.”

Dr. Melissa Stade (left) performed life-saving surgery on Amy Downing, RN-C. Amy is thankful for support from Dr. Merlin Wehling (left) and co-workers like Maternity Care Center nursing manager Dani Peisiger.

Thanks to the care she received, Amy is back to doing what she enjoys most — caring for newborns in the Maternity Care Center.

When Dr. Stade got her first look into Amy’s abdomen, she knew immediately that Amy could bleed to death if the medical team did not find the source of the bleeding right away. First, the blood flow to Amy’s abdomen was clamped; then, with the bleeding under control, Dr. Stade was able to locate a splenic artery aneurysm. She quickly tied off the ruptured artery and restored Amy’s blood flow.

Amy and Jason Downing’s family includes Hadlea, Harper and Hudson and their puppy Luna.

Rare condition

“It was an amazing team effort from everyone in the OR that day — the nurses, operating room techs and the anesthesiologists — everyone worked together to save her life,” Dr. Stade says. Splenic artery aneurysm is a rare condition that happens in only one percent of the population, Dr. Stade points out — and if the artery ruptures, the mortality rate is 25-70 percent. Amy found out later about the severity of her medical event and the outpouring of concern coming from all corners of the medical center. Co-workers formed a prayer vigil outside of the maternity area during her surgery. “The support still overwhelms me. When things were unstable, so many people were there for me. It gives me goosebumps to think about the power of prayer and the higher power that came over the operating room,” she notes.

That support continued through a second surgery, 12 days in the hospital and three months of recovery and rehabilitation at home. As Amy worked with doctors, staff and therapists, she began to realize how many people she had impacted through her roles teaching childbirth classes and in Labor and Delivery.

“It was scary and amazing at the same time, knowing how many knew me and told me they were pulling for me in those critical days,” Amy reflects. She also is grateful that Dr. Stade was her surgeon that fateful day.

Amy says, “She was able to keep a calm, steady and skilled hand during a traumatic surgery. She saved my life, and I will forever be grateful for her.”

Her thanks extend to the Nebraska State Patrol officers who retrieved 18 units of blood from other hospitals and rushed them to Kearney Regional during her surgery. She was also touched by the American Red Cross blood drive held in her honor in late December. The drive collected 31 units of blood at the medical center and more than 200 units locally and nationally through a “Sleeves Up” account.

“I have so many people to thank, and I want to pay this forward,” says Amy.

Sometimes, she has to remind herself of Dr. Stade’s advice. “Give yourself grace, Amy,” the surgeon told her early in the recovery phase.

Amy’s spleen and a portion of her pancreas were removed due to the aneurysm, but Dr. Stade points out, “Her body was able to recover in a miraculous way. She really didn’t have any complications from the hemorrhage or the surgery.”

Triumph of teamwork

The rarity of the surgery, the medical teamwork and the positive outcome mark this special case as “One that will impact my career in a good way for the rest of my life,” Dr. Stade says.

Though Amy and Dr. Stade did not know each other before, the event led to a strong friendship.

“It brought us close together. She’s such a good person; thoughtful and kind. I was amazed by the outpouring of love she received from the entire Kearney community,” Dr. Stade says.

She considers Amy’s case a good example of the quality of the hospital’s emergency care. “Amy would not have survived transport to a larger facility. Thankfully, we have very capable surgeons at Kearney Regional who can perform lifesaving operations,” she concludes. n