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Contreras recovering after brush with death
Published November 1, 2009
MARION — A few weeks ago, Marion Independent School District board president Victor Contreras felt a little ill on his way back from making a presentation at a Houston conference.
Days later, he was fighting for his life in Guadalupe Regional Medical Center’s intensive care unit in a drug-induced coma necessary to keep him from pulling out his breathing and feeding tubes.
Friday, Contreras was able to return home to continue his recovery from a flu-like illness and the double pneumonia it caused.
He still has a long recovery ahead, Contreras said Friday morning while awaiting discharge from his room in Guadalupe Valley Nursing Center.
“I remember my wife helping me into the truck to go to the emergency room,” Contreras said. “After that, I don’t remember anything. “I was intubated, and out of it while the doctors and nursing staff worked to get me stabilized.”
Contreras had gone to Houston the first weekend in October to make a presentation to a group of school board members as part of a leadership course provided by the Texas Association of School Boards.
About halfway back, he stopped because he felt ill. The following day he visited his doctor, but was unsure what was wrong.
Toward the end of the week, his situation degenerated into one that threatened his life.
He was tested for strep and tested for influenza, but both tests were negative, Contreras says.
At least one physician doubted the veracity of the tests.
“One doctor said he couldn’t be sure it was H1N1, but he said it sure acted like it,” Contreras said. “Whatever it was, it triggered a bronchial attack and went into double pneumonia. At one point they told my wife I had a 50/50 chance.”
It was a scary experience and one that forces a person to confront his own mortality, Contreras said.
“People came up to me after I’d regained consciousness, and they said, ‘Vic, you didn’t look so good there.’”
Once Contreras had turned the corner, he was transferred to Guadalupe Valley Nursing Center’s recovery unit, where respiratory and physical therapists have worked to improve his strength and deal with other medical issues.
Since taking ill, Contreras has lost more than 40 pounds, and says he’ll work harder to take care of himself in the future.
The experience has been a harrowing one — and a humbling one, said Contreras, who missed his first school board meeting in 11 years while he was in the hospital.
What was most humbling, he said, was the concern shown by local residents, church groups, his colleagues on the school board, by the district faculty and staff — and even its students.
He pointed to a wall filled with “get well” cards — many created by hand by elementary school kids and many others sent by teachers.
“That probably means the most to me,” Contreras said, pointing to the cards the kids had created.
He has a long list of people he wants to thank, beginning with his wife of 32, years, Maryjo.
“She’s always stood by me and taken care of me,” Contreras said. “I would like to thank her first of all for being there for me.”
He thanked his kids who rushed to his side when they heard the news as well as his parents and the rest of his family.
Then there was a long list of people in the medical community — the emergency department staff who quickly recognized he was in serious trouble and got him admitted, he says, about 15 minutes after his arrival.
“The doctors, the nurses, the physical therapists — everybody in the ICU and on the hospital staff and over here at the nursing center,” Contreras said. “All my friends in the community — even some who don’t agree with my politics — showed their concern for myself and my family. The district staff, the school board, (Superintendent) James (Hartman), (school board vice president) Jeff (Bryant) for doing a great job standing in for me.”
Hartman, Contreras said, kept him up on issues at the district and sought his opinions, when he was able to offer them. Contreras said he also appreciated visits from retired superintendents Dennis Dreyer and Tom DeKunder.
The experience caused Contreras to miss his first school board meeting in 11 years — although he did get hauled out of one once by EMS when his diabetes acted up.
Contreras knows he’s going to have to dial things back a little bit to fully recover, but he intends to be at the next school board meeting on Nov. 18.
“I’m going to work hard to be there,” Contreras said. “I may be on air and in a wheelchair, but I’m hoping to be there.”
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