Awake and talking
DiMaggio greatly improved, sitting up in bed after coma
Posted: Saturday December 12, 1998 11:05 AM
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Doctors are considering upgrading DiMaggio's condition from critical to serious AP |
HOLLYWOOD, Florida (AP) -- Joe DiMaggio's condition improved
dramatically Saturday after doctors changed the way they administered an
antibiotic, allowing the baseball great to sit up in bed a day after
slipping into a coma. "It's an unbelievable improvement," Dr.
Earl Barron said this morning. "He was awake and he was talking to us. ...
He is back to where he was on Thanksgiving Day." The improvement
was credited to a decision to give him the medication Rifampin -- an
antibiotic that fights lung infections -- intravenously instead of
orally. Barron said doctors are considering upgrading DiMaggio's
condition from critical to serious. The decision to administer
the antibiotic through an IV came when doctors realized that the medicine
was not being absorbed into the bloodstream. "If this discovery
had not been made we would not be talking about a live person," Barron
said. The improvement was dramatic with DiMaggio's temperature
and white blood cells -- indicators of infection -- dropping.
"He said `hello,'" said an exuberant Barron, who told one doctor passing by
at Memorial Regional Hospital. "You have to go up there and see that he is
doing so well." DiMaggio's recovery began Friday when he surprised
physicians by awakening from a coma. DiMaggio's family --
including his brother, Dom; grandchildren Kathy and Paula; and longtime
friend and lawyer Morris Engelberg -- had been spending time at his
bedside. "We're near the end," Engelberg said when conditions
looked bleak. "It's a question of hours, perhaps days." The
family signed a "do not resuscitate" order, which Barron said would allow
the 84-year-old baseball great to die with a "measure of dignity."
The order would mean that should his heart stop, no measures would be
taken to restart it, Barron said. Fluid was drained from his
lungs several times and his blood pressure dropped so rapidly on Nov. 16
that a Catholic priest was summoned to administer last rites.
Since then DiMaggio's blood pressure and heart and kidney functions have
remained good, but pneumonia persisted. Saturday, Barron said the most
recent lung scan showed improvement by 50 percent. DiMaggio
entered the hospital October 12. Since the surgery, he has had serious
setbacks and stunning improvements -- his doctor characterized them last
week as "two steps forward and one back." On December 3, when
Earl Barron temporarily adjusted the breathing tube in DiMaggio's throat,
DiMaggio said, "I want to get the hell out of here and go home."
As the lung infection has taken a firmer hold, hundreds of cards and
letters for DiMaggio have arrived at Engelberg's office, including
greetings from current and former Yankee players and New York Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani, the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale reported.
DiMaggio was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1955, four years after his
retirement, and in 1969 was chosen as the greatest living baseball
player. His last public appearance was September 27, when he was
honored at Yankee Stadium and received replicas of nine championship rings
that were stolen from his hotel room three decades ago. The Yankees had
wanted him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the World Series, but
by then, he was in the hospital just north of Miami. Barron
cautioned that despite the improvement, DiMaggio was far from cured.
"If we can stay on top of it and keep on top of it, I think he will
survive," Barron said. "We have to temper that with a man who is 84 years
old and has had several serious infections."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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