Surgeon Gets A Hearty Thank-You Family Expresses Gratitude In A Big Way For Saving Man’s Life

His 40th birthday party was supposed to be a blowout, a 1950s-themed party featuring poodle skirts and pompadours.

Instead, Doug Tapscott’s main artery blew out, ending the festivities and starting a medical odyssey into a coma, hallucinations and temporary blindness.

Three months later, the north Spokane man is home from the hospital, walking and talking.

“I guess I died three times,” said the Spokane School District 81 tutor. “My organs started shutting down because there was no blood going to them.”

His family has given doctors and the hospital staff the biggest thank-you card possible - written on a yellow billboard across the street from Sacred Heart Medical Center behind the Park Inn.

Bonnie Tapscott, Doug Tapscott’s wife and a senior account executive for Pridemark Outdoor Advertising, had the message put up Jan. 28. It will stay there for two more weeks.

“What a successful operation,” the billboard poster proclaims, next to a cartoon of the patient in the board game “Operation” with a glowing heart. “Thanks Dr. Icenogle and CICU North!”

Dr. Timothy Icenogle has lots of thankful patients. Icenogle, known primarily for performing heart transplants, has been led to patients’ favorite fishing holes and hunting spots. One man gave him a shark on a stick - supposedly a new tool for performing biopsies. A Montana woman gave him a wooden buzzard because he had stopped the buzzards from circling her.

But Icenogle never before had received such a large thank-you card. Although slightly embarrassed, he said he is grateful and honored.

“I’ve gotten some good-natured ribbing from the guys in the surgeons lounge,” Icenogle said. “They asked me how much money I paid for the billboard.”

Many people at Sacred Heart worked to put Doug Tapscott back together, including doctors, nurses, therapists, family and friends.

Before he collapsed, Tapscott was healthy, running at least 4 miles a day.

His birthday party Nov. 9 was supposed to be a ‘50s celebration. Tapscott dressed in a denim vest, cut-off T-shirt and jeans. His wife dressed as a Rydell High School cheerleader. His mother wore a poodle skirt, bobby socks and saddle shoes.

With 25 guests milling around, Tapscott walked into the bathroom feeling slightly sick and thinking he had food poisoning. Once there, he collapsed, knocking the toilet off its bolts on his way to the ground. Water started pouring out of the pipes, leaking through the floor to the garage below.

Tapscott’s 9-year-old son, Nick, was watching “Toy Story” downstairs with a friend. Nick went to the garage to grab two cans of Mountain Dew. Seeing water pouring through the ceiling, he alerted his aunt, who found Tapscott sprawled in the bathroom.

Friends and relatives helped move a gray, cold Tapscott to the bedroom. An ambulance first raced him to Holy Family Hospital, leading a caravan of costumed party-goers.

Diagnosed with a ruptured aorta, Tapscott was rushed to Sacred Heart Medical Center. His operation started just after midnight. His family didn’t see him for 17 hours.

Doctors determined that Tapscott’s aorta ruptured because he has Marfan syndrome, a rare hereditary disease that weakens connective tissue. People with Marfan syndrome can suffer everything from minor skin problems to life-threatening heart problems.

The disorder occasionally causes sudden death in adults unaware they had it, such as American volleyball star Flo Hyman. Tapscott also didn’t know he had Marfan syndrome.

After his lengthy surgery, he spent six weeks in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Sacred Heart. While there, Tapscott slipped into a coma. He temporarily went blind. He suffered hallucinations and infections.

He also kept fighting. His mother kept lugging bags of M&M’s from Costco to two large bowls outside Tapscott’s hospital room, feeding doctors, patients and staff. His wife kept talking to him, even when he couldn’t respond.

Tapscott was sent home on Christmas Day.

“How do you thank somebody for saving your husband’s life - especially your young husband’s life?” Bonnie Tapscott asked. “We owe them more than thanks on a billboard.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo