Last weekend Colby gave me a scare. Saturday morning was awesome! He was able to ordain Noah and give him the Priesthood. We had most of our family at our house, and had some treats afterward. Well, you know how family events go…they come, they participate, they eat, they stay. And we love it! Colby has started feeling like he can't leave the party because he needs to be around to entertain. Which he doesn't! But really, he just feels like it wouldn't be very nice if he checked out and went to bed. And I am constantly telling him he doesn't have to do that. There's nothing wrong with going to bed if he needs to. So…when the last of the family was leaving I was outside with them trying to get kids figured out. When I came back in Colby wasn't anywhere. I figured he went in and went to bed. He wasn't looking very good, and I could tell he was exhausted, so naturally I figured he went to bed. I went in the bedroom to check on him but he wasn't in bed. I found him in the tub. He had fallen asleep, and when I talked to him he told me he was freezing so he got in there to get warm. Made sense to me, so I left him and went out to clean up. After about 45 minutes I realized I hadn't heard him get out or make any noise, so I went in to check on him. He had fallen asleep, but when I asked him if he was asleep he said "probably" like he wasn't really sure. I told him to be careful, I didn't need him falling asleep and slipping under the water and drowning and left again. After that I figured I should check on him more frequently. About 15 minutes later I went back in and he was asleep, but I just didn't feel good about it anymore so I told him he should get out. He said he was cold and wanted to stay warm. I told him I would get him some soup and warm blankets for him if he'd get out. He agreed and I left to get those things for him. Another 15 minutes went by and I hadn't heard any movement so I returned. Same thing…asleep and cold. He asked me if I needed him to get out and I told him yes. I need him to not drown and I would help him get warm out of the water. And I wasn't leaving until he started moving. After a minute I made a noise and he looked up at me "Oh, you're still here?" Yes! Not going anywhere. "Ok" Still layed there. I started thinking to myself I'm going to have to figure out a way to pull him out of this tub. He's not budging. I asked him if he was just too tired, maybe didn't have enough energy to move himself. He said maybe, but mostly just really cold. I told him to get out, again, he said ok, this went on for another 5 minutes at least. Finally I got a little frustrated and louder and said get out! He sat up and pulled up the drain. As the water was draining he was splashing it up on himself to stay warm. I should say he refilled the tub 2 times to get it warm again. It drained for a minute and then the plug went down. He didn't care and just kept splashing water up on him. I told him it wasn't draining and to pull the plug. He did. Once I could see he was moving and finally willing to get out I left the room. I came back about 5 minutes later and found him standing up to the counter with his garment top on backwards and no pants, the drawer was open like he was looking for something. I asked him what he was doing and he couldn't answer. I could see he was sweating and asked him if he was hot. He said no, but he was hot when I touched him. Right then I knew all of this was bad. Something wasn't right. I told him we needed to fix his shirt and get his pants on so lets get back over to the seat. When I went to help him I could tell he wasn't sure what we were doing. He couldn't walk on his own. I asked him how he got to the counter and he wasn't sure. Right then I knew I needed to call the dr. Or take him to the ER. So I told him that's what was going to happen, he didn't really want me to do that, and trust me neither did I! But I had to. So we got him dressed and over to the bed. He stopped 4 times on the way to the bed because he had no energy. Once he was in bed I grabbed my phone, walked outside and pretty much lost it. It was Saturday, the dr. up north that told me to watch for these things said to call him if they happened, but he wasn't around and I didn't feel like I had a "real reason" to take him to the ER. Right then I saw my neighbors son and knew I could go to him. He wasn't home but his wife helped me. I immediately broke down to her, but made me realize I need to take his temp and then take him to the ER to have labs done and possible a scan. So that's what I did.
Noah and Mason were home, Mason was sleeping, so I called my parents and they came right over. My mom stayed with the kids and my dad came with me. I am so incredibly grateful for both of them! I love that they're close and always willing to drop everything to help me.
Once we got checked in and back to a room the nurse came in and asked what his symptoms were. I told her and she started telling me about all the tests they would need to run to find out what exactly the problem was. In short…the ER was a joke. Looking back I can't believe how long we were in there with no results and not much action. We were there about 4 hours, during that time a few different nurses came in, they drew blood, he had a chest x-ray, they took him for a CT scan, and hung some fluid. The dr. finally came in and said from the chest x-ray they could tell it was pneumonia. He showed it to us and explained that it was very faint, and would be hard for us to see and tell, but it was there. And that was the case, exactly. We could barely tell the difference between the two lungs. He told us he was going to talk to the on call Oncologist to find out who was going to keep Colby there and that was the last I saw of him. A new nurse came in to start antibiotics and told me when it finished and started beeping to come get her. It had to run for 101 minutes, and let me tell you…that was THE longest 101 minutes EVER!! During that drip Colby's parents came and my dad left. They had gone back to Pine Valley after Noah's ordination. They were VERY upset when they got there. Crying, scared, I'm sure, sad. I told them to not be so worried and that he would be ok. I explained everything that had happened and let them see how Colby had gotten worse while we were there. He was almost noncoherent. I would ask him a question and he would look at me like he was listening but he wouldn't, or couldn't answer me. He would start to drift and look somewhere else so I would say his name and it would catch his attention, but when I would re-ask the question, the same thing would happen. It was getting bad! One of the questions I asked him was if he knew where we were. He knew we were in the hospital, but when I asked him why we were there his answer was hard to come to him. He started saying "because I'm seeking…" and he stuttered saying it. Since this had gone on for a while I was pretty frustrated and kind of laughed at him. I know it wasn't nice, but I had to make the best of the situation we were in. So I finished his sentence and said "You're seeking…better health?" He kind of laughed with me and said Yes. I was extremely happy when that IV pump started beeping. I pushed the call button immediately, but when a new nurse came in it took me a minute to realize they'd had shift change and all the nurses we'd seen previously were gone. I was SO frustrated. But he got us out of the ER and up to a room.
Once upstairs and settled the nurses came in to ask their same questions. Colby was still pretty out of it, not coherent, and couldn't really answer questions. He was getting a little better, but still struggled. They asked him where he was and why, he knew where but not really why. When they asked him about his eye patch, he told them he wore it because he couldn't see out of that eye. Which isn't the case. So I had to tell them he has double vision, and he switches which eye it's on.
I stayed for another hour or so waiting to hear what the plan was going to be and hoping to see the dr. But the nurse said he wouldn't be back in that night and so I left. I told her I would be back first thing in the morning so I could be there when the dr. came, but to call me if anything changed in the night.
Doug and Janet had left by this time, and I was stranded, so I had my dad come get me. He and my mom were still at my house with the kids. I got home around 11:00, sat and updated my parents, and crashed! My mom came back first thing in the morning so that I could get back to the hospital.
Sunday:
I wasn't there long when Dr. Nadauld came. He asked Colby if he remembered him from last night. I was a little confused because I didn't think he was coming in last night. He said that when he saw what Colby's vitals were he felt like he needed to come in and check on him, and that he got there right after I had left. His blood pressure had gotten down to 84/52; and pulse was at a high 130+. I was a little bugged that he came and I missed him, but let him give me an update :) During the night they had given Colby 6 liters of fluid, along with antibiotics. His neutrafils(white blood cells) are super low, 200, dr. says he has to be here until the get to 1000; his platelets are almost wiped out, 11, so he'll have to have a transfusion. Also, during the night his temperature actually got too low. They said that's what usually happens when you get a bacterial infection, you get a fever, low blood pressure, high pulse, and when your fever breaks it plummets, too low. So they had to get him a 'bear hugger' for his bed to help him stay warm. It's like a sleeping bag that warm air blows into. Dr. Nadauld told us that what actually happened to Colby was he was septic. At first it didn't really hit me, until he started explaining a little more, and I realized you die from this. Colby could have died! And the dr. said that if he had been 30 years older, the outcome would have been a lot different. He then proceeded to tell us he was VERY upset with the ER. They handled the situation completely wrong. They should have been a lot quicker at diagnosing, and administering meds. He should have gone straight to ICU! He was very upset and said he let them know it. After hearing this from him I started thinking and realizing he wasn't taken care of the way he should have been.
He looked SO much better today and was more himself than he has been for the past 2-3 months.
Brett & Julie came over today and stayed for a while. It was good to have them there. Around lunch time Doug & Janet brought Noah over, and our friend Jana showed up with a Pepsi for me!!
Monday:
Today I had to work it out with Colby's parents for them to come sit with him in the morning so I could be home with the kids. Lexie told me last night that I'm not spending very much time at home and I'm at the hospital too much. It broke my heart. I tried to help her understand that I'm doing my best to be there for everyone, but that I can't be in two places at once. And that's why we have to let our family and friends help out. So I decided to stay home this morning and when I took her to the bus, Doug & Janet were at the house so I went to the hospital. The update on Colby today is that his neutrafils are up to 1400!! YAY!! That's awesome! But his platelets are still really low, 14, so they're probably going to do another transfusion. Also, they want him to start taking his meds orally, and once he starts that, he needs to take them for 24 hours before they'll let him go home. So he'll for sure be here another night. He didn't even start taking them orally until 11:30 today.
I stayed today until about 5:30, Noah had a choir concert at school so I wanted to go watch him. Colby's parents traded me places when Lexie went to school, Brett came and picked up all the kids around 4:00 and took them to his house; then they got Noah to his school for his concert. After the concert Doug & Janet took him back to Brett's and I went back to the hospital Just as I was getting ready to leave my mom showed up, that was perfect timing! So she took Colby on a walk around the hall a couple of times and had a pretty good chat with him. She was completely amazed at how well he was! He literally is the old Colby! Happy, smiling, good color, funny, I LOVE IT!!! Also today, I realized Cutler is the Wrangler of the Week in his class and I forgot to send pictures for his teacher to have the class guess who it was! I was going to take care of that this weekend, but since I spent my time here at the hospital, I completely forgot! I feel so bad!! After Noah's concert I picked up Cutler's pictures from Costco and went back to the hospital. I stayed there until about 8:30 and then had to go get the kids to get them home to bed. What a crazy day!
Tuesday:
This morning I had to take Lexie to dance and then get over to the hospital. It was too hard to figure out a schedule for someone to be at the hospital this morning while I took her to dance and then someone to watch the kids while I sat at the hospital waiting for Colby to go home. While I was getting ready Colby called and said they were getting ready to discharge him. All of a sudden I didn't know what I was going to do. Thankfully, I have a lot of people willing to drop everything and come to my rescue. Colby's parents have been amazing through this crazy hectic scary weekend. Janet came over and took Mason and Lexie while I went to the hospital. We were home before Lexie was done with dance. A sweet lady from my ward brought Lexie home for me, her little girl is in the same class. I'm learning through all of this, that there are so many little miracles happening on a daily basis. I am so incredibly grateful for my new ward, new neighbors, friends and family willing to drop everything and run for me, for my family!
When I got to the hospital they were waiting for more platelets to get here from Vegas. They came and he got the transfusion and then we were on our way home.
I'm hoping I learned a few things from this weekend. Like what to watch for! I thought I knew, now I do!
