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If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.
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If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace your call.
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If you have low self-esteem, please hang up. Our operators are too busy to talk with you.
If you are menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. You won't be crazy forever.
If you are blonde, don't press any buttons. You'll just mess it up.
This coming week is National Mental Health Care week. You can do your part by remembering to contact at least one unstable person to show you care. (Well, my job is done . Your turn)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The rest of the story
Perhaps I finally have time to write about how I came to be sitting in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) for a week. You are not obliged to read this, but since this is my journal, I am writing this more for me than all of you.
Three weeks ago Jared went to scout camp and had a great time. He came home tired, but that seemed normal. That week after camp June 22 -27th, he seemed fine, although one day he went to work with me and complained that his knees were hurting. I wondered if he was faking at the time, but it seemed unusual for him. He still continued to go ice skating the rest of the week, which is his latest obsession.
Saturday, June 28th, he went skating at noon and came home at 3:00. He seemed a bit tired that afternoon. That night when it was time for the evening session, he said that he was too tired and wasn't going to go. That was my first clue that something was wrong. I figured that he must be sick because he had never missed a skate before.
Sunday, June 29th, he woke up and said that his throat hurt. I wasn't totally convinced he was sick, since sometimes lately he has been sick on Sunday. But I let him stay home from church. Later that afternoon he started complaining that his right leg hurt. So I just let him rest.
Monday, June 30th, he still didn't feel any better and was complaining more and more about his leg. I gave him some Tylenol and went to work at my job with Diana for 4 hours. I still had no idea it was anything serious. During the night he would text me once or twice to come and help him. I was not impressed.
Tuesday, July 1, was more of the same. Jared was suppose to go out and help hand out fliers for the scout fund raiser. He was too sick and said there was no way he could walk that far. That night was a joint activity at the church. I couldn't believe it, but Jared said he wanted to go. I thought this was a sign that he was getting better. They were playing dodge ball and backwards soccer. Jared came, but he was mostly just lying on the ground. About half way through, he said he hurt too much and would I take him home. So I did. Later that night he threw up. I think all that movement was too much for him. Tuesday night was another hard night. I started giving him loritab that was left over from his wisdom teeth extraction. I would only let him have one at night hoping that it would help him sleep.
Wednesday, July 2, I took Diana to choir in the morning and got back at 10:30. At this point Jared was just writhing in pain. I had already made an appointment with the pediatrician for 3:00 but I didn't think we should wait that long. So I decided to take him to urgent care. It was really hard to get him down the stairs and into the car, since he could barely walk. While he was waiting for me to pull the car out of the garage, he threw up again. We got to Urgent care and I got a wheel chair for him. They took us right back to triage at 11:00. I can't even remember what any of his stats were. He did have a fever of about 101. I wish I could remember what his blood pressure was, but I don't.
They got him into a bed and after his urine and blood test, they decided that he was extremely dehydrated. So they gave him two liters of saline. They did an x-ray which looked good. They did all kinds of tests to his blood. And we waited for 3 hours for an ultrasound to make sure that he did not have a blood clot. The ultrasound looked normal. So after being there for 7 hours, they said that he had a pulled muscle and the flu. They sent us home with crutches and ibuprofen.
On Thursday and Friday he continued to get worse. He pretty much refused to get up at all. The crutches they sent home did not help him at all. It was strange because his fever broke on Friday and so we really thought he was on the mend. Sadly there was talk of Suck it up" and "push through the pain". Boy is he going to say "I told you so", when he wakes up. Friday night Marion did help him to the car and we went over to the neighbors to watch some fireworks. I think he wished he hadn't gone. He was still in a lot of pain. It was so bad that he would ask for a bag to pee in so he didn't have to walk to the bathroom. Not a Fourth of July he will ever want to repeat. It was so sad because there was a fun skating party that he had to miss, but he felt so badly that he didn't even care or complain. Not a good sign.
Saturday, July 5th, he just laid on the couch all day complaining. Marion showed him some way to try and stretch out the muscle. At this point we were still telling him that he needed to push through the pain of the pulled muscle. Also that morning I had the thought to put some heat on the sore spot and that seemed to help. The poor kid suffered all day long. At one point he told me that it hurt so bad that he wanted to die. I feel horribly guilty that I didn't take him back in that day.
Sunday, July 7th, of course he stayed home from church. My brother, who is the head trainer at UVSU was on his way home from California to Utah. I had been talking to him all week about Jared and he said he would stop and see if he could tell anything.
He put Jared through some tests and felt around his leg. Andrew called the doctor that he works with and told her what was going on. The doctor said you need to take him back in. Marion and Andrew gave Jared a blessing of healing before I took him in. There was a good peaceful feeling that things would be OK. Also Marion blessed that the doctors would be able to find out what was wrong.
Andrew and Marion helped Jared get to the car. The trip back to urgent care was the longest 30 minutes of my life. He was hurting so badly and complained about each bump in the road. He kept saying that he was going to pass out. It was so hard to try and hurry, yet drive carefully. I was on my way to the same place we went to earlier that week, when I called and found out they were closed. This was a blessing because I don't think those people could have helped him. Instead we went to the urgent care that is just a block from the hospital.
We got to urgent care at 6 pm. Once I got there I got another wheelchair for him. I think getting him out of the car almost killed both of us. He is so heavy and really had no strength to help me at all. Of course there was a security guard sitting right there, but he did not help me. I don't think he could due to liability. Stupid lawyers. Once we were inside, we had to wait in line to go to triage. Jared was really complaining that he was gong to pass out. Finally they took us back. This is when all the panicking began. The nurse took his initial blood pressure and it was 63/40. I am not that familiar with blood pressure to be as worried as she was, but she called for help STAT. In fact she was so worried about him, that she actually called our house later last week to see if he was OK.
I can't remember how much of this I wrote about already. They put IV fluids in immediately and were preparing to do a CT scan of his leg. But even after two liters of fluids his blood pressure never came above 80/47. That is when they called the ambulance with a code 3. They were there within minutes. Jared's first worry was that they were going to strap him down to a back board like after our accident. The paramedics were quick to reassure him that it would be as soft as possible. I of course had my camera and was excited to document this dramatic even I Jared's life. Jared said absolutely not, and if I did take a picture he would delete all the pictures on my camera including my BYU pictures. So I figured he was suffering enough, I would not add to his misery. I did snap a picture of the ambulance, but I don't have it on this computer. Poor kid to be burdened with a mother so obsessed with photo documenting every phase of life for the Blog. Because it was only a block away, I did not ride in the ambulance. This was hard, but I was amazingly calm. By seven o'clock he was at the hospital.
It took me a few minutes to find him and fill out paper work. I hate that part of insurance. Once I got up to the pediatric ER, there were about seven to ten people working on him. They would not give him anything for his pain because it would drop his blood pressure even more. This was awful to see him hurting and not have them do anything for it. Looking back I can see how he had all the classic signs of shock: his skin was white as a ghost, cold and clammy to name a few. The doctors asked us what was going on. By this time the pain had spread up into his abdomen. He showed all the classic signs of it being a burst appendix. They did a chest x-ray, which the technician accidentally snagged one of his IVs and yanked it out of his hand. Not good and blood spurted everywhere. The nurses were not impressed because then they had to put the IV back in. This was kind of good because we got Jared to smile about all the pretty women who were working on him.
I called Marion to give him an update and let him know that Jared was scheduled for surgery at midnight. He found a friend to let Diana spend the night at and headed down to the hospital. He has a hard time finding us, because by the time he got here they had moved Jared from the emergency room to the PICU. I was so relieved to see him. I'm sure Jared was glad as well. Jared was feeling nervous about the surgery and so Marion was able to give him another blessing of comfort. What would we do without the priesthood? I don't ever want to find out.
We went down to wait with him until he went to surgery. And I think that brings us up to date with where I started posting last Monday.
I am still dumbfounded at how a perfectly healthy, strong boy can be at scout camp one week, and then two weeks later be near death in the hospital. Life is never boring or what we expect it to be, I guess.
Three weeks ago Jared went to scout camp and had a great time. He came home tired, but that seemed normal. That week after camp June 22 -27th, he seemed fine, although one day he went to work with me and complained that his knees were hurting. I wondered if he was faking at the time, but it seemed unusual for him. He still continued to go ice skating the rest of the week, which is his latest obsession.
Saturday, June 28th, he went skating at noon and came home at 3:00. He seemed a bit tired that afternoon. That night when it was time for the evening session, he said that he was too tired and wasn't going to go. That was my first clue that something was wrong. I figured that he must be sick because he had never missed a skate before.
Sunday, June 29th, he woke up and said that his throat hurt. I wasn't totally convinced he was sick, since sometimes lately he has been sick on Sunday. But I let him stay home from church. Later that afternoon he started complaining that his right leg hurt. So I just let him rest.
Monday, June 30th, he still didn't feel any better and was complaining more and more about his leg. I gave him some Tylenol and went to work at my job with Diana for 4 hours. I still had no idea it was anything serious. During the night he would text me once or twice to come and help him. I was not impressed.
Tuesday, July 1, was more of the same. Jared was suppose to go out and help hand out fliers for the scout fund raiser. He was too sick and said there was no way he could walk that far. That night was a joint activity at the church. I couldn't believe it, but Jared said he wanted to go. I thought this was a sign that he was getting better. They were playing dodge ball and backwards soccer. Jared came, but he was mostly just lying on the ground. About half way through, he said he hurt too much and would I take him home. So I did. Later that night he threw up. I think all that movement was too much for him. Tuesday night was another hard night. I started giving him loritab that was left over from his wisdom teeth extraction. I would only let him have one at night hoping that it would help him sleep.
Wednesday, July 2, I took Diana to choir in the morning and got back at 10:30. At this point Jared was just writhing in pain. I had already made an appointment with the pediatrician for 3:00 but I didn't think we should wait that long. So I decided to take him to urgent care. It was really hard to get him down the stairs and into the car, since he could barely walk. While he was waiting for me to pull the car out of the garage, he threw up again. We got to Urgent care and I got a wheel chair for him. They took us right back to triage at 11:00. I can't even remember what any of his stats were. He did have a fever of about 101. I wish I could remember what his blood pressure was, but I don't.
They got him into a bed and after his urine and blood test, they decided that he was extremely dehydrated. So they gave him two liters of saline. They did an x-ray which looked good. They did all kinds of tests to his blood. And we waited for 3 hours for an ultrasound to make sure that he did not have a blood clot. The ultrasound looked normal. So after being there for 7 hours, they said that he had a pulled muscle and the flu. They sent us home with crutches and ibuprofen.
On Thursday and Friday he continued to get worse. He pretty much refused to get up at all. The crutches they sent home did not help him at all. It was strange because his fever broke on Friday and so we really thought he was on the mend. Sadly there was talk of Suck it up" and "push through the pain". Boy is he going to say "I told you so", when he wakes up. Friday night Marion did help him to the car and we went over to the neighbors to watch some fireworks. I think he wished he hadn't gone. He was still in a lot of pain. It was so bad that he would ask for a bag to pee in so he didn't have to walk to the bathroom. Not a Fourth of July he will ever want to repeat. It was so sad because there was a fun skating party that he had to miss, but he felt so badly that he didn't even care or complain. Not a good sign.
Saturday, July 5th, he just laid on the couch all day complaining. Marion showed him some way to try and stretch out the muscle. At this point we were still telling him that he needed to push through the pain of the pulled muscle. Also that morning I had the thought to put some heat on the sore spot and that seemed to help. The poor kid suffered all day long. At one point he told me that it hurt so bad that he wanted to die. I feel horribly guilty that I didn't take him back in that day.
Sunday, July 7th, of course he stayed home from church. My brother, who is the head trainer at UVSU was on his way home from California to Utah. I had been talking to him all week about Jared and he said he would stop and see if he could tell anything.
He put Jared through some tests and felt around his leg. Andrew called the doctor that he works with and told her what was going on. The doctor said you need to take him back in. Marion and Andrew gave Jared a blessing of healing before I took him in. There was a good peaceful feeling that things would be OK. Also Marion blessed that the doctors would be able to find out what was wrong.
Andrew and Marion helped Jared get to the car. The trip back to urgent care was the longest 30 minutes of my life. He was hurting so badly and complained about each bump in the road. He kept saying that he was going to pass out. It was so hard to try and hurry, yet drive carefully. I was on my way to the same place we went to earlier that week, when I called and found out they were closed. This was a blessing because I don't think those people could have helped him. Instead we went to the urgent care that is just a block from the hospital.
We got to urgent care at 6 pm. Once I got there I got another wheelchair for him. I think getting him out of the car almost killed both of us. He is so heavy and really had no strength to help me at all. Of course there was a security guard sitting right there, but he did not help me. I don't think he could due to liability. Stupid lawyers. Once we were inside, we had to wait in line to go to triage. Jared was really complaining that he was gong to pass out. Finally they took us back. This is when all the panicking began. The nurse took his initial blood pressure and it was 63/40. I am not that familiar with blood pressure to be as worried as she was, but she called for help STAT. In fact she was so worried about him, that she actually called our house later last week to see if he was OK.
I can't remember how much of this I wrote about already. They put IV fluids in immediately and were preparing to do a CT scan of his leg. But even after two liters of fluids his blood pressure never came above 80/47. That is when they called the ambulance with a code 3. They were there within minutes. Jared's first worry was that they were going to strap him down to a back board like after our accident. The paramedics were quick to reassure him that it would be as soft as possible. I of course had my camera and was excited to document this dramatic even I Jared's life. Jared said absolutely not, and if I did take a picture he would delete all the pictures on my camera including my BYU pictures. So I figured he was suffering enough, I would not add to his misery. I did snap a picture of the ambulance, but I don't have it on this computer. Poor kid to be burdened with a mother so obsessed with photo documenting every phase of life for the Blog. Because it was only a block away, I did not ride in the ambulance. This was hard, but I was amazingly calm. By seven o'clock he was at the hospital.
It took me a few minutes to find him and fill out paper work. I hate that part of insurance. Once I got up to the pediatric ER, there were about seven to ten people working on him. They would not give him anything for his pain because it would drop his blood pressure even more. This was awful to see him hurting and not have them do anything for it. Looking back I can see how he had all the classic signs of shock: his skin was white as a ghost, cold and clammy to name a few. The doctors asked us what was going on. By this time the pain had spread up into his abdomen. He showed all the classic signs of it being a burst appendix. They did a chest x-ray, which the technician accidentally snagged one of his IVs and yanked it out of his hand. Not good and blood spurted everywhere. The nurses were not impressed because then they had to put the IV back in. This was kind of good because we got Jared to smile about all the pretty women who were working on him.
I called Marion to give him an update and let him know that Jared was scheduled for surgery at midnight. He found a friend to let Diana spend the night at and headed down to the hospital. He has a hard time finding us, because by the time he got here they had moved Jared from the emergency room to the PICU. I was so relieved to see him. I'm sure Jared was glad as well. Jared was feeling nervous about the surgery and so Marion was able to give him another blessing of comfort. What would we do without the priesthood? I don't ever want to find out.
We went down to wait with him until he went to surgery. And I think that brings us up to date with where I started posting last Monday.
I am still dumbfounded at how a perfectly healthy, strong boy can be at scout camp one week, and then two weeks later be near death in the hospital. Life is never boring or what we expect it to be, I guess.
Sunday Morning
Jared had a good night. His fever is lower from 99 to 101 so that is good. It has been up at 103 for the past two days. The only thing keeping that darn tube in his chest is his lungs. His chest x-ray looked the same as yesterday, which is not very good. A lot of his lungs have got junk in them. They are continuing to suction this. And I think they are confident that it will just take time for him to recover from that. Hopefully the tube can come out on Monday or Tuesday. That will be a huge milestone.
He asked to watch/listen to a movie lasts night, so they let him see Star Wars. He doesn't want his glasses and he can't really turn his head, but I think just listening to something is a good distraction. Also I think he just kind of comes in and out of consciousness, so it is good to watch movies that he already knows. The other choice the hospital has was Buzz Light year. No really Jared's thing. I naively brought a bunch of movies last Monday, thinking he could watch them. They have been here all week, so now we can take advantage of them. I've got all three Lord of the Rings, 3 Pirates Movies, Spider man, and Harry Potter. Actually a minute ago he said he wanted to see the first Pirate movie so I put that on for him. But he seems to be back asleep to me.
When I first got here the nurse was getting ready to give him a bath. He told me to "Get Out" so that is a good sign also. Anytime your 14 year old tells you to leave them alone, it is a sign things are normal, right?
He asked to watch/listen to a movie lasts night, so they let him see Star Wars. He doesn't want his glasses and he can't really turn his head, but I think just listening to something is a good distraction. Also I think he just kind of comes in and out of consciousness, so it is good to watch movies that he already knows. The other choice the hospital has was Buzz Light year. No really Jared's thing. I naively brought a bunch of movies last Monday, thinking he could watch them. They have been here all week, so now we can take advantage of them. I've got all three Lord of the Rings, 3 Pirates Movies, Spider man, and Harry Potter. Actually a minute ago he said he wanted to see the first Pirate movie so I put that on for him. But he seems to be back asleep to me.
When I first got here the nurse was getting ready to give him a bath. He told me to "Get Out" so that is a good sign also. Anytime your 14 year old tells you to leave them alone, it is a sign things are normal, right?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saturday Night Update
More good news, Jared's fever has come down from 103 to 100. That is wonderful, so maybe the surgery on hip did some good. They are starting his feeds back up. He will not come off the vent until Monday at the earliest. They are encouraged with his progress, although right now the biggest worry is the congestion in his chest. But I guess I will take any baby steps in the right direction: home.
I came home from the hospital at 10 tonight and am going to hit the sack. Tomorrow Diana will be with a friend for the day, so Marion can do his young men's stuff. So all in all it was a very good day, but I am very very tired.
I came home from the hospital at 10 tonight and am going to hit the sack. Tomorrow Diana will be with a friend for the day, so Marion can do his young men's stuff. So all in all it was a very good day, but I am very very tired.
Humor, perhaps the best medicine
I read this tonight and thought it was too funny not to share. Even amidst this trial it is good to smile. Perhaps even vital.
An Ideal Marriage:
Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cooked.
An Ideal Marriage:
Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cooked.
More Pictures
The only thing more upsetting than this picture.....
is this picture......
This is what met me the other morning when I came in. The nurse was quick to reassure me that he was just gone to a test. But it does make one stop breathing for a minute.
This is a picture of the cool things they have on his legs. The white things have tubes running up them and they are attached to a machine that squeezes air into the tubes. This is kind of a constant leg massage. This helps to keep the blood circulating in his legs and pumped back to his heart. They take these off for several hours each shift to let his legs get some air. The black and blue things on his feet are to keep him from getting bed sores on his feet. The nurse ordered these the very first night, because of how tall he is. She said she would not be able to sleep thinking of his feet rubbing against the hard plastic end of his bed. He does have a pink spot on each heel, but nothing to worry about at this point.
is this picture......
This is what met me the other morning when I came in. The nurse was quick to reassure me that he was just gone to a test. But it does make one stop breathing for a minute.This is a picture of Jared rockin' out to some tunes. No just kidding. Actually I made him listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Consider the Lilies tape. I love how soothing and relaxing that music it is. No matter how upset I am, it can calm my troubled soul. Perhaps I needed it more than Jared, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Something to do for him, once again. The next day when he was doing a bit better, I let him listen to some Reliant K. He didn't really seem to respond to any of it. But it made me feel like I was doing something to help make him more comfortable. It will be interesting to see if he remembers any of it when he wakes up. I have also been reading the Book of Mormon to him.
This is a picture of the cool things they have on his legs. The white things have tubes running up them and they are attached to a machine that squeezes air into the tubes. This is kind of a constant leg massage. This helps to keep the blood circulating in his legs and pumped back to his heart. They take these off for several hours each shift to let his legs get some air. The black and blue things on his feet are to keep him from getting bed sores on his feet. The nurse ordered these the very first night, because of how tall he is. She said she would not be able to sleep thinking of his feet rubbing against the hard plastic end of his bed. He does have a pink spot on each heel, but nothing to worry about at this point.
Another Surgery
Jared is back from his fourth surgery in six days. The Doctor said that he did well and his stats were very stable. They drained the fluid from his right leg, but it did not look like puss like the last time. This could be because of the antibiotics that he has been on. They did send the stuff to the lab to be cultured. Maybe it will still come back as the culprit that is causing his fever. He now has a third drain in his leg, this one is more on the side.
The respiratory person said that he did very well on his tests this morning. He did twice as well as he needed to, in order to have the tube taken out. But I am not holding my breath because they have got to be sure about his fever and that he will not be going to any more surgeries, before they are going to take it out. After he came back, they put the vent settings up so that the vent was helping him more, but he did not like that. So after an hour they put him back to the CPAP setting, which means that he is breathing when he wants to.
I actually spent the day at home resting and getting some things caught up. Also I think it was good to spend some time with Diana. She told me last night that she really misses me and wishes that Dad could be at the hospital while I stayed home with her. It is a hard thing to balance both of their needs. Even though people can offer to help, and have, I feel somewhat like I am the only one who can help both of them. Perhaps I will learn the errors of my ways. Anyway I wanted to spend some time with Diana before she goes to Seattle for two weeks. And I think it was good to have a break from being here, although I do not really mind it at all. Today Jared seems more sedated than the last two days, so that makes me feel not as bad to not be here. I guess I just need to give myself permission not to be super human.
The respiratory person said that he did very well on his tests this morning. He did twice as well as he needed to, in order to have the tube taken out. But I am not holding my breath because they have got to be sure about his fever and that he will not be going to any more surgeries, before they are going to take it out. After he came back, they put the vent settings up so that the vent was helping him more, but he did not like that. So after an hour they put him back to the CPAP setting, which means that he is breathing when he wants to.
I actually spent the day at home resting and getting some things caught up. Also I think it was good to spend some time with Diana. She told me last night that she really misses me and wishes that Dad could be at the hospital while I stayed home with her. It is a hard thing to balance both of their needs. Even though people can offer to help, and have, I feel somewhat like I am the only one who can help both of them. Perhaps I will learn the errors of my ways. Anyway I wanted to spend some time with Diana before she goes to Seattle for two weeks. And I think it was good to have a break from being here, although I do not really mind it at all. Today Jared seems more sedated than the last two days, so that makes me feel not as bad to not be here. I guess I just need to give myself permission not to be super human.
Saturday Morning Update
This morning I am taking a break from the hospital to get some things done around here. Little things like laundry and dishes.
The hospital did call at 10 to get verbal permission to do another CAT scan on his leg. They are still concerned about his fever and can't figure out where it is coming from. The CAT scan showed that there is more infection built in his leg that perhaps goes down his leg. They are going to do another surgery to get that all removed. Because they want to be sure that there are no pockets of infection they will not do it with a needle, but instead will open up his leg to be sure that they get all the infection out. This will probably happen this afternoon. So it is a little bit of a set back, but necessary for his road to recovery. The doctor said that Jared is resting and sleeping unless they go in and ask him questions.
Again thank you for all the prayers in our behalf. I can definitely feel them and the love from everyone.
The hospital did call at 10 to get verbal permission to do another CAT scan on his leg. They are still concerned about his fever and can't figure out where it is coming from. The CAT scan showed that there is more infection built in his leg that perhaps goes down his leg. They are going to do another surgery to get that all removed. Because they want to be sure that there are no pockets of infection they will not do it with a needle, but instead will open up his leg to be sure that they get all the infection out. This will probably happen this afternoon. So it is a little bit of a set back, but necessary for his road to recovery. The doctor said that Jared is resting and sleeping unless they go in and ask him questions.
Again thank you for all the prayers in our behalf. I can definitely feel them and the love from everyone.
Friday Night
Jared had a good day today. Here is a short video of the CVT (?), I think that is what it is called. Every four hours they vibrate his chest, then they suction him and get stuff out of his chest. So that seems to be going well. He has a cloth on his forehead to try and help with the fever. This is something I can be in charge of which is nice to be able to DO SOMETHING. I keep telling the nurses, let me do anything, can I open that package, or drawer or anything to make me feel useful.
Marion and Diana came down to the hospital about 8:00 tonight. Diana hung out for a while. After we gave Jared a sponge bath, she and I got to put lotion on his legs and feet. Finally Diana and I went home and Marion stayed for a while. Marion brought some of his grading down, but honestly he was having so much fun watching them change all his lines and talking with the nurses I don't think he got much work done.
I actually took two different naps. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Boy does my neck hurt. Maybe a trip to the chiropractor can happen some time. Here is a picture of where I can take my naps. This chair is about as comfortable as an airplane seat. Fortunately, I have skills when it comes to sleeping anywhere, so that is good
Marion and Diana came down to the hospital about 8:00 tonight. Diana hung out for a while. After we gave Jared a sponge bath, she and I got to put lotion on his legs and feet. Finally Diana and I went home and Marion stayed for a while. Marion brought some of his grading down, but honestly he was having so much fun watching them change all his lines and talking with the nurses I don't think he got much work done.Diana and I went to Applebees for dinner because I really had not eaten all day. I left in such a hurry that I did not eat breakfast. And then I was just preoccupied and never went out to eat. It is nice because they bring around sack lunches that the Ronald McDonald house has volunteers make. It is not a bad lunch, but it is a Bologna sandwich. Yesterday I thought to make myself a turkey sandwich, but again I did not have time today.
After Applebees, we went over to Wal Mart and did some shopping for Diana's trip to Seattle on Tuesday. She needed a few things like socks and underwear. Also she picked out her birthday present, a nintendo DS.
As of tonight, Jared is not scheduled to get the tube out of his chest tomorrow. It will probably be Sunday. Tonight when they changed all the lines, they also removed the tape that is holding the tube. They decided to shave his mustache so that it won't hurt as much when they remove the tape. They asked Jared if they could shave it, and he shook his head No, but they did it anyway, so that it won't feel like a wax when they pull the tape off. It will grow back soon enough.
I think Marion will be able to spend some time there tomorrow and then I can get some laundry and house work done. Also the paper work is starting to come in. So that is always fun to fill out lots of forms. But maybe if I keep on top of it each day, it won't be too bad.
I should be crazy tired right now, but when I laid down I couldn't quite go to sleep. Maybe all this stress is starting to catch up with me. I will go back and try to sleep again.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Some interesting pictures, maybe
Ok here are some pictures from the surgery that Jared had on Sunday night. This first one is of his lovely healthy appendix. That is the white longish thing at the top of the picture. This is no longer inside of Jared. Now he will never have appendicitis. Perhaps it is a bummer that we didn't get to have it in a bottle. I know that some of Marion's colleagues are sad about that. But they were impressed with this picture nevertheless. Was it the Great Brain books, where the kid charges people to see his appendix in a jar? Maybe Jared has missed out on a money making venture. But of course that is the least of his worries right now.
This next picture is of his bowel. It also looks nice and healthy. So that is good. This picture might be sideways. I am now sure, because I scanned it in.
This one is also of the bowel area. I got some medical students to try to help me identify these last two. They probably thought it was strange that I am posting this on my blog. It probably is. They were pretty sure that the long blue/green thing at the bottom of the picture is some sort of instrument.
This next picture is of his bowel. It also looks nice and healthy. So that is good. This picture might be sideways. I am now sure, because I scanned it in.
This one is also of the bowel area. I got some medical students to try to help me identify these last two. They probably thought it was strange that I am posting this on my blog. It probably is. They were pretty sure that the long blue/green thing at the bottom of the picture is some sort of instrument.Then this last one I think is showing some of the fluid that was around his hip. This helped them to figure out what was wrong.
Friday Morning
This is very exciting, because there is a laptop computer here at the hospital that they are letting me use. So now I can blog to my hearts content. Warning I will now be able to share all the boring details of how this happened.
But first the latest news today. I woke up this morning at 6 am. This is strange as I did not get to bed until midnight. I decided to call and talk to the night nurse before she left at 7. When I called her she told me that they had just given him a bath and he asked for me. She told him that I was at home, and he told her to call me. So I guess that mother's intuition can work ten miles away. I got up and got dressed and left right away.
By the time I got here, he did not seem as awake. But he is having restless moments and I can talk to him and calm him down. At one point this morning he asked where his phone was. I let him hold it hoping it would comfort him, but it just made him upset that he could not see it because his arms are restrained. I told him that I needed to charge it, which was true, but I will not give it back to him any time soon. That is a teenager for you, in a semi coma wanting to text.
The nurse told me that he got quite agitated last night. So they are giving him a bit more pain medicine. They increased his oxygen from 30% to 40% because that stat was a bit low today. His chest xray shows that he has a lot of junk in his lungs. So they are doing something I can't remember the name of, but basically every 4 hours they go over his chest with a small vibrator. Then they suction him. He hates to be suctioned, but it has to be done. Also they are putting pillows under one side of his body and then the other. This movement should help both his skin and his lungs.
Later today they are going to do an ultra sound on his legs to check for blood clots. I don't think they are expecting to find any, but it is SOP. And his infection drain is still draining quite a bit as well. He does still have a temperature, but so far they can not find any other infection than the staff thing in his leg. But they are going to add another antibiotic to help combat that infection.
This is another really cool tender mercy. The nurse who helps with children and talked with Diana to help her cope with all of this, is the sister of one of my good friends in the ward. It was funny how we figured it out. She asked me if I was LDS. I told her yes and asked why she would think that. She said that she recognized my husband and figured that it had to be from church. She does not live anywhere close to my stake. Then she said well my sister lives in the southwest. I said what is her name, and was shocked when she said Eliza Dobbins. Well of course you would know us, we are very good friends with them. Eliza's husband is Jared's scout master. The Dobbins are out of town, and so I told her to let them know if she talks with them. It seems inconceivable that Jared went with Russ to scout camp just three weeks ago. Cathy the nurse came and gave Jared a message from Bro. Dobbins after she talked to him. Cathy is in charge of assigning out the nintendo games, so maybe when Jared wakes up he will get special privileges because he has an in with that nurse. And Cathy is the one who hooked me up with this computer. She said that usually they don't let it be out overnight, but because she knows me I can keep it as long as she doesn't need it for something else.
So yay for me to have something to do and be able to get all this stuff recorded.
But first the latest news today. I woke up this morning at 6 am. This is strange as I did not get to bed until midnight. I decided to call and talk to the night nurse before she left at 7. When I called her she told me that they had just given him a bath and he asked for me. She told him that I was at home, and he told her to call me. So I guess that mother's intuition can work ten miles away. I got up and got dressed and left right away.
By the time I got here, he did not seem as awake. But he is having restless moments and I can talk to him and calm him down. At one point this morning he asked where his phone was. I let him hold it hoping it would comfort him, but it just made him upset that he could not see it because his arms are restrained. I told him that I needed to charge it, which was true, but I will not give it back to him any time soon. That is a teenager for you, in a semi coma wanting to text.
The nurse told me that he got quite agitated last night. So they are giving him a bit more pain medicine. They increased his oxygen from 30% to 40% because that stat was a bit low today. His chest xray shows that he has a lot of junk in his lungs. So they are doing something I can't remember the name of, but basically every 4 hours they go over his chest with a small vibrator. Then they suction him. He hates to be suctioned, but it has to be done. Also they are putting pillows under one side of his body and then the other. This movement should help both his skin and his lungs.
Later today they are going to do an ultra sound on his legs to check for blood clots. I don't think they are expecting to find any, but it is SOP. And his infection drain is still draining quite a bit as well. He does still have a temperature, but so far they can not find any other infection than the staff thing in his leg. But they are going to add another antibiotic to help combat that infection.
This is another really cool tender mercy. The nurse who helps with children and talked with Diana to help her cope with all of this, is the sister of one of my good friends in the ward. It was funny how we figured it out. She asked me if I was LDS. I told her yes and asked why she would think that. She said that she recognized my husband and figured that it had to be from church. She does not live anywhere close to my stake. Then she said well my sister lives in the southwest. I said what is her name, and was shocked when she said Eliza Dobbins. Well of course you would know us, we are very good friends with them. Eliza's husband is Jared's scout master. The Dobbins are out of town, and so I told her to let them know if she talks with them. It seems inconceivable that Jared went with Russ to scout camp just three weeks ago. Cathy the nurse came and gave Jared a message from Bro. Dobbins after she talked to him. Cathy is in charge of assigning out the nintendo games, so maybe when Jared wakes up he will get special privileges because he has an in with that nurse. And Cathy is the one who hooked me up with this computer. She said that usually they don't let it be out overnight, but because she knows me I can keep it as long as she doesn't need it for something else.
So yay for me to have something to do and be able to get all this stuff recorded.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday Evening Update
I got home from the hospital tonight at 8:30. Jared had a good day. In fact tonight he is breathing on his own. He still has the respirator tube in and that will probably not come off until Saturday, but it is definitely a good thing. He had less problem with his blood pressure today, and so they are weaning him off the medicine for that. He was definitely more alert, although he is still heavily drugged.
When Diana came to visit, he was able to squeeze her hand when she asked him to. Sometimes he almost wakes up and is upset with all the stuff going on. We just reassure him, that he is OK and being taken care of, and then he settles back down.
Also today they removed the first drain that they had put in on Monday night. So he just has the second drain still in place.
I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. It is encouraging to come home from a long day at the hospital and read of every one's support. It is the next best thing to all of you being here. :)
I will try to post an update each morning and evening. Jared is still quite sick and will be in the PICU for several days, but things are looking better each day.
The nurse that is with him tonight has been off for the past few days. She told me that Monday morning when I was home, his blood pressure dropped so low that they actually brought the crash cart down to his room. They never needed to use it, but it was touch and go there for a while. When I got back to the hospital Monday afternoon, they told me that is had been a rough day, but I don't think I comprehended just how bad it was. I guess it was good to be spared such trauma, since the worst did not happen, but it scares me to hear about it now. Probably another example of how the Lord is protecting and blessing me.
We have really cool pictures from the laproscopic surgery on Sunday night. Something for future posts. So stay tuned for that.
Well I am exhausted. Even though I slept for 10 hours last night, I actually fell asleep sitting up in a very uncomfortable chair this afternoon. I managed to sleep for an hour and a half, but had a very sore neck when I woke up. So I will go and hit the hay. Good night.
When Diana came to visit, he was able to squeeze her hand when she asked him to. Sometimes he almost wakes up and is upset with all the stuff going on. We just reassure him, that he is OK and being taken care of, and then he settles back down.
Also today they removed the first drain that they had put in on Monday night. So he just has the second drain still in place.
I wanted to thank everyone for their comments. It is encouraging to come home from a long day at the hospital and read of every one's support. It is the next best thing to all of you being here. :)
I will try to post an update each morning and evening. Jared is still quite sick and will be in the PICU for several days, but things are looking better each day.
The nurse that is with him tonight has been off for the past few days. She told me that Monday morning when I was home, his blood pressure dropped so low that they actually brought the crash cart down to his room. They never needed to use it, but it was touch and go there for a while. When I got back to the hospital Monday afternoon, they told me that is had been a rough day, but I don't think I comprehended just how bad it was. I guess it was good to be spared such trauma, since the worst did not happen, but it scares me to hear about it now. Probably another example of how the Lord is protecting and blessing me.
We have really cool pictures from the laproscopic surgery on Sunday night. Something for future posts. So stay tuned for that.
Well I am exhausted. Even though I slept for 10 hours last night, I actually fell asleep sitting up in a very uncomfortable chair this afternoon. I managed to sleep for an hour and a half, but had a very sore neck when I woke up. So I will go and hit the hay. Good night.
Thursday Morning Update
I just called the hospital. They told me that Jared had a good night. He is still needing the medicine that is helping his heart, and he still needs the respirator to breathe, but he is holding steady. Also the nurse told me that he is more alert this morning. He shook his head no, when she asked him if she could brush his teeth. That seems like a good sign to me.
I was able to get a good night sleep, and feel a little bit more human today. I am headed off to the hospital, now. Diana went to school with Marion when she can play with the secretaries while he teaches his 3 hour lab. Then they will come down to the hospital to visit.
Oh, one other thing, Tuesday night they were concerned that the staff infection might be MRSA. That is a really drug resistant and contagious thing. So yesterday, he was in isolation, which meant that we had to wear gowns and gloves to be in there. But today the test came back showing that it is not MRSA, but OSXA instead, so that is definitely good news and now we don't have to take precautions. Also we didn't let Diana visit yesterday, in case it was the bad contagious thing. She was not very happy about that. So it is good that she can come in today.
I was able to get a good night sleep, and feel a little bit more human today. I am headed off to the hospital, now. Diana went to school with Marion when she can play with the secretaries while he teaches his 3 hour lab. Then they will come down to the hospital to visit.
Oh, one other thing, Tuesday night they were concerned that the staff infection might be MRSA. That is a really drug resistant and contagious thing. So yesterday, he was in isolation, which meant that we had to wear gowns and gloves to be in there. But today the test came back showing that it is not MRSA, but OSXA instead, so that is definitely good news and now we don't have to take precautions. Also we didn't let Diana visit yesterday, in case it was the bad contagious thing. She was not very happy about that. So it is good that she can come in today.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday Update
In the past 72 hours, I have only been home for 24 of them. The rest have been spent at the hospital. I am very happy and relieved to report that Jared is doing better each day. Today he had a echo gram where they did an ultrasound of his heart. The cardiologist was encouraged with the improvement since Monday. I am not sure if I ever comprehended just how serious they thought his heart condition was. But the medicine they are giving him for his heart is working and they are slowly weaning him off of the blood pressure medicine. So even though he is still not awake, he is improving each day. He was able to squeeze my hand today for the first time. That was happy. He was doing well enough, that I decided to come home and rest tonight. I have to admit I am physically and mentally exhausted, but under the circumstances I seem to be doing remarkably well. It must be the comforter carrying me along. So a big thank you to all the prayers in our behalf. I know that they are helping.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Update On Jared
After they took his apendix out on Sunday night, they realized that was not the problem. More tests on Sunday night showed that he had an infection in his hip joint. Last night they removed some fluid from the infection and today he had another surgery to drain the remaining puss and set up a drain so that it can continue to drain if it needs to. His vitals are doing a little bit better today so they are slowly weaning him off of the medications that have been regulating that but he is still on the ventilator. So things are looking up but they anticipate that he will probably be in the hospital for two weeks at this point.
They are calling his condition septic arthritis. Here is a little discription of it if you want to know more.
Septic arthritis, also called infectious arthritis, is caused by a bacterial infection or more rarely by a fungal or viral infection. The condition is typically acute, causing severe joint pain, inflammation, redness, and in some cases fever and chills but may also become chronic. Septic arthritis may affect any joint but is most frequently found in the knee, hip, shoulder, wrist, elbow, and finger joints. Usually only one joint will be affected but, in some cases, there may be more than one. This condition needs to be diagnosed and treated quickly because it can destroy joints in a short period of time.
Septic arthritis occurs most often in people who have had a recent traumatic injury to a joint, have had joint surgery or joint replacement, and/or in people who currently have an infection in their blood (bacteremia or septicemia). Microorganisms can spread from an original site of infection into the blood and then can be carried into the joint space. Additional risk factors for septic arthritis include age (older than 80 years), having diabetes, a weakened immune system, and/or another condition that affects the joints, such as gout or rheumatoid arthritis.
I am still at the hospital most of the time and thankfully ward members and family are rallying around to help.
They are calling his condition septic arthritis. Here is a little discription of it if you want to know more.
Septic arthritis, also called infectious arthritis, is caused by a bacterial infection or more rarely by a fungal or viral infection. The condition is typically acute, causing severe joint pain, inflammation, redness, and in some cases fever and chills but may also become chronic. Septic arthritis may affect any joint but is most frequently found in the knee, hip, shoulder, wrist, elbow, and finger joints. Usually only one joint will be affected but, in some cases, there may be more than one. This condition needs to be diagnosed and treated quickly because it can destroy joints in a short period of time.
Septic arthritis occurs most often in people who have had a recent traumatic injury to a joint, have had joint surgery or joint replacement, and/or in people who currently have an infection in their blood (bacteremia or septicemia). Microorganisms can spread from an original site of infection into the blood and then can be carried into the joint space. Additional risk factors for septic arthritis include age (older than 80 years), having diabetes, a weakened immune system, and/or another condition that affects the joints, such as gout or rheumatoid arthritis.
I am still at the hospital most of the time and thankfully ward members and family are rallying around to help.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Some Pictures
Thanks to everyone for their concern and I know you all wish you could be here. It is pretty scary looking, but here are some pictures from last night. I know it looks awful, but I have a calm feeling that he is getting the care he needs. Hopefully today we will get some answers as to why he is so sick.
Here is the full length shot. I am headed back to the hospital. Diana is at a friends so that is good.Prayers Needed
Jared had an emergency appendectomy on Sunday night. He is doing well after surgery, but they did not find the expected infection. So they are not quite sure what is wrong with him. He is having a lot of pain in his right leg and when we first went to urgent care tonight, his blood pressure was 60/40. Right now he is resting in the pediatric ICU. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would almost be comical to see this six foot giant in a room next to a little five year old or baby. So he will be staying in the hospital for a while to get some more tests. Just keep us in your prayers. And I will post updates when I can.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Firework Fun!
We had a very nice low key Fourth of July. Some friends invited us over to share in their fireworks. That was happy for us, since we never got around to buying any ourselves. Diana, Marion and I spent about 5 hours working on a painting job in the afternoon. Jared has been sick this whole week with the flu and a strained muscle. I was impressed with the pictures my camera could take on the night setting.
Patriotic Gal.
Look at my sprakler.
Here is a cat sitting on top of my car watching the festivities.
All the kids with their sparklers.
Hey look it is firework Mickey!
Patriotic Gal.Look at my sprakler.Here is a cat sitting on top of my car watching the festivities. All the kids with their sparklers.Hey look it is firework Mickey!
Friday, July 4, 2008
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