To say it’s been a difficult and stressful past six months for the Bruce and Lynn Dunsbergen family of Sully would be an understatement. The family of four could easily have lost 53-year-old Bruce to a construction accident in April and 20-year-old Shannon to a life-threatening lung infection in August.
Thankfully – and perhaps miraculously – the two are on the mend. The family can look back and see that through more than a month’s worth of hospital stays, their faith was strengthened in part from the love, support, and prayers sent their way.
In the midst of the stress, Lynn said, “We have become closer to our family and friends, and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has grown much deeper.”
To help the family with medical costs, the Sully Lions Club is hosting a benefit at Sully First Reformed Church on Saturday, Oct. 14, at 5:30 p.m. The evening will include a meal and entertainment by Gospel Truth, Denise Horman, and Jad Van Der Zyl and Lenis De Cook. On the menu will be beef brisket, pulled pork, and hot dog sandwiches; potato salad; baked beans; coffee; and cold drink, all by freewill donation.
THE FALL THAT STARTED IT ALL
Apr. 10 was the fateful day for Bruce as he suffered multiple injuries after falling from the top of a steel frame building near Monroe.
The owner of his own business, Bruce Dunsbergen Builders, Bruce was taking a bolt out of a steel purlin when his drill slipped off the bolt, and he lost his balance and couldn’t recover. Bruce fell head first through an opening and grabbed a steel brace with his right arm. Though the brace didn’t hold him, it did cause him to spin around so he went legs first instead of head first to the cement floor 17 feet below.
Shannon, who was working with his dad, called 911, and Bruce was taken by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, where he learned he had shattered his left ankle into six pieces, dislocated his right knee, and tore his meniscus in the right knee. Bruce also tore three of the four muscles in his right rotator cuff and had a gash in his forehead that required six stitches.
Bruce Dunsbergen recovers at Mercy Medical Center following an April construction accident.
Bruce stayed in the hospital for 11 days, undergoing two surgeries: One put an external fixator on his left leg to help hold things in place and reduce swelling, the second surgery repaired the shattered ankle with two plates and 27 screws.
Once released from the hospital, Bruce was in a wheelchair for two months with instructions to not put weight on either leg.
At the end of June, Bruce had surgery on his right knee to put it back in place and repair the injuries.
Later this summer, Bruce’s left foot was red and swollen and had drainage. Doctors discovered an infection in the bone where the hardware was placed. To fight that, he is currently on his fourth of six weeks of IV antibiotics, which he gets two times a day.
One more surgery is still in the future to fix Bruce’s rotator cuff, but he will have to wait until probably after the first of the year once the infection is gone.
“Bruce is doing well, except for the infection,” Lynn said. “He is now walking with only one crutch, and his recovery will be well into next year.”
Bruce has weekly home health visits and does physical therapy twice a week with Total Rehab in Sully.
SHANNON’S STORY
Shannon Dunsbergen holds a get well card from the L-S football team on his discharge from the hospital, Sept. 11.
In the midst of Bruce’s recovery, Shannon unexpectedly found himself in a serious medical trial. It started on Wednesday, Aug. 16, when the 2016 Lynnville-Sully grad came home from work at Sully Truck Wash with a 104-degree temperature. His temp improved some over the next couple of days but returned over the weekend, his mom recalled.
“On Sunday, Aug. 20, after I came home from church, Shannon still had a fever and was having a bloody nose. I said, ‘That’s it, we are going to the emergency department to get this figured out,’” Lynn said.
A chest x-ray and CT scan revealed a mass in the middle of his chest on his bronchial tubes, and Shannon was taken by ambulance to Mercy West Lakes in West Des Moines for further testing. The next day, he was put on oxygen because he was having trouble breathing. The next days were an “emotional roller coaster,” as Lynn described it. Shannon met with many different doctors as they tried to determine what was going on. Finally, the infectious disease doctor came in and said Shannon had a fungal infection called histoplasmosis.
A type of lung infection, histoplasmosis is caused by inhaling a certain kind of fungal spore. These spores are found in the soil and in the droppings of bats and birds. This fungus is very common in the Midwest. It can spread to other organs outside the lungs; in Shannon’s case, it attacked his kidneys and liver and affected his heart. To treat Shannon, doctors put him on an antifungal medication. He underwent more tests – some very painful.
The Friday after going to the hospital, Shannon started to go down hill quickly. A pulmonologist discovered Shannon’s right lung was filling with fluid, so he was transferred to Mercy Main, where they did surgery to put chest tubes in to drain the fluid. Post-surgery, Shannon still wasn’t in stable condition and was admitted to the CCICU (Cardiac Care Intensive Care Unit). Shannon’s family was told he was probably going to get worse before he got better.
“He had a pretty good night, but still had a hard time breathing and a high fever,” Lynn said. “They started putting bags of ice around him to help cool him down.”
By Sunday, Shannon’s temperature was still high and his chest cavity was starting to fill with fluid. Doctors decided go in and scrape and do a bronchial thoracotomy to gather some tissue from the mass and do further testing on it. In the middle of the procedure, Shannon’s heart went into a V-tach (ventricular tachycardia) rhythm. Doctors were not able to scrape as much as they would have liked and didn’t complete the procedure.
Shannon was placed on a ventilator and admitted to Neuro/Trauma ICU. That night, they did kidney dialysis because he had 20 pounds of fluid built up, and they were able to remove four liters.
While in the hospital, Shannon aspirated bacteria from his mouth into his lungs, which is why his lungs started filling up with fluids. He also got a staph infection and sepsis. Doctors started Shannon on antibiotics and kept up with the antifungal medication.
“Shannon was one sick person, and the doctors didn’t know if he was even going to pull through,” Lynn said. “They said he had his age and [previous good health] going for him. We kept reaching out for prayers and asking everyone in our community and on Facebook to be a prayer warrior.”
Shannon’s temp finally went back to normal, but he was still on the ventilator. The doctors would pause his sedation medicine every four hours so they could wake him up and ask him to follow simple commands. Family and friends came to visit Shannon, and they knew Shannon could hear them because his heart rate and blood pressure would go up.
On Monday, Sept. 4, nurses came in and told Bruce they were going to pause the vent to see if Shannon would breathe on his own. Doctors had even warned Bruce and Lynn that Shannon could have brain damage if he wasn’t breathing on his own.
Thankfully, Shannon was able to breathe on his own, and nurses removed his breathing tube 30 minutes later. That day happened to be Bruce and Lynn’s 30th anniversary.
“We received the BEST gift anyone could ever receive, by having that tube out and talking to Shannon,” Lynn said.
Shannon stayed in Neuro/Trauma ICU until Friday, Sept. 8. Then he moved to the fifth floor and was there until Sept. 11, when he was finally discharged from the hospital.
At home recovering, Shannon did well and got stronger every day. He was, however, hospitalized again Sept. 28-30 after a CT scan found a pocket of fluid. Chest tubes were placed back in to drain the fluid. He was released after a two-night stay.
Overall, Shannon is doing well, though he tires easily and has his incision packed every other day. He will be off work for sure until Jan. 1, and will be on the very expensive histoplasmosis meds for six months to a year.
The entire experience, including the 24 days in the hospital, was life-changing for Shannon.
“When you have something like this happen to you, it makes you put things into perspective and what is really important in your life – family, faith, and God,” he said.
THANKFUL HEARTS
Both Bruce and Shannon will be at the benefit on Saturday. The whole family expresses their thanks to all who have supported them the past six months.
“We just want to say thank you to all our family, friends, and community who have prayed us through this journey so far, and for all the cards, food, gifts, visits, phone calls, and those who helped by mowing our lawn,” Lynn said. “This is very overwhelming, and it is so nice to live in a community that if you have a need, they care so much to do whatever needs to done to help out. God is good!”
