So...If you haven't heard I recently got out of the hospital. I had caught the swine flu, which turned into a very, very bad pneumonia, and to top it off turned into ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome, if you don't know what that is) it basically leads to a buildup of fluid in the air sacs, that prevents enough oxygen from passing into the bloodstream. Here is the whole story...
I started to feel sick on the 15th of September. It started out with just a high fever, and since the kids had been sick the week before with fevers also I didn't think much about it. But after having the fever of 104* for 4 days I had finally had enough. It was Saturday the 19th, my kids had gone up to my sisters in Logan, and I was home all alone, Torrey was at work, so I drove myself to the emergency room. I thought that I had a bad flu and they could give me some medicine to get rid of the dang cold. So as I'm waiting in the emergency room, they tell me I have to get a chest x-ray. So we get that all done and the doctor (will call him DR.X) came back to talk to me while we were waiting for the x-rays. He put on an oxygen monitor, and I was down in the mid 80's (normal oxygen is in the high 90's) so he walked out into the hall then called me out there with him. He was looking at my x-rays and it was not good. My whole left lung was full of pneumonia and the right was streaked with it. He told me how bad it was and that I had to be admitted right away. I'm still alone and gettin very scared. They get me in a room and get me going on oxygen.
Torrey finally arrives and makes me feel better. The next day they have to move me up to a mask of oxygen, cause I'm still not improving.
The next day they have to move me to an even more powerful thing called the CPAP.
(by the way, that's not me)
So I spend the day on that (not fun) and my kids came to see me finally and they were pretty scared at first. But then they thought it was funny and said it looked like I had an elephant nose. Later that night I got up to us the bathroom and Torrey had to help me cause I was so weak, I was off the oxygen for no more than 5 mins, and the nurse came running and hurried to put the air back on. I had dropped (in just those 5 mins) into the low 40's. She said she had never seen it go that fast, she was really scared and went to get the doctor (this one will call DR.Z). So of course Torrey and I are gettin really, really scared. DR.Z came in and told us that he thought that I should be taken up to Utah Valley. But DR.X who was kinda my main one, said to get another x-ray and see after that. I could barely stand up to get it done, and the machine wasn't working, so she had to take me to another one, and that one had problems to, by the time that was all done, it had taken about 45 mins to get an x-ray. Back in my room DR.Z came in and told us that DR.X told him to keep me just one more night. Torrey went out into the hall with him and asked how my x-rays were, and he told him that they were very bad, worse than the first time (with the swine flu, it just keeps compacting on its self over and over and over). Torrey asked if I should be taken to a better hospital, and DR.Z told him that in his opinion yes we should go, right now. But he cant go over the orders of DR.X, so Torrey would have to request it. Torrey said what do I have to do to request it? And he said you just have to tell me that's what you want. So he told DR.Z that's what he wanted. DR.Z said, I'm glad you did this I already have it set up (thank goodness that doctor was there that night, because as you keep reading you will find out that the doctors in Provo told Torrey if we would have waited another 12 hours like DR.X wanted to, there wouldn't have been anything that they could have done to save my lungs or my life). So start preparing me to get taken up by ambulance, it was a scary feeling, we were both crying, not knowing what to expect. This stupid guy was trying to get an ART line in my wrist (kinda like and IV but it has to go into an artery) and that guy hurt me so bad he couldn't get it in and he tried about 50 times, and it wasn't like a little needle prick or anything, he put the needle in and dug around in there trying to get it. Finally Torrey said you have to get someone else to do this, and another guy came in and put it in on the first try! Yay! So Torrey and I said our goodbyes, which was really, really hard and he left so he could be up there when I arrived. So now the time came for them to put me to sleep...YIKES!
Now I don't remember much about this part (of course) but I do remember being aware that I was taken outside and put into a Helicopter. I heard people talking and the helicopter starting up, and even taking off. So yes I was life flighted (wish I could have been awake to experience that).
And then there is 3 1/2 weeks of my life missing that I don't know what happened, so all I can do is tell you what Torrey has told me.
They had to put me into a medical induced coma for that time. I was in a really crazy bed called the Rotoprone. My family decided to nickname it the "Waffle Maker" cause it would turn like a waffle maker...(here are some pictures of this crazy, yet lifesaving bed).
Now you get strapped into this bed, really, really tight and it rocks you back and forth. In my case I was on my stomach, because when they would flip me up onto my back my stats would drop really fast and really low, but they couldn't rock me up to high onto my right side either cause it would drop to.
So for the first few days it was really touch and go, the doctors really couldn't even tell Torrey if they thought I would pull through or not. It wasn't until about 4 days in the bed that they told him that I would in fact pull through. Man was he relieved!! So I'm still in the bed in a coma and on life support (ya I forgot to tell you that) I was on life support for a long time. My stats would be good one day, then drop the next then be stable for a few days, and the x-rays were different every time to (I wouldn't be surprised if I become radioactive from them all)
About 2 weeks of being in the rotoprone bed, they said that I coughed to hard for my lungs (they were extremely fragile) and popped a hole in my left lung, which in turn caused my chest cavity to fill with air and collapse my left lung. Yikes! So to fix it they had to put in a chest tube to suck out the air and fluid that was there, and re-inflated my lung. Now I thought that those kind of tubes went though your sides between the ribs, but of course mine had to be different. It is basically where you put your hand over your heart when saying the pledge of allegiance. So after that happened things got better everyday. I was in the "Waffle Maker" for about 2 1/2 weeks. During this time they would bring me out of the coma to make sure that I wasn't getting brain damage, they did that about once a week. I don't remember it at all cause they didn't bring me all the way out just enough to ask me a few questions. They finally put me on a fairly normal hospital bed, but it still rocked me while on my back. I was on that one for a few days. So the time came to wake me up...yay!!! and in order to do that they had to give me a Tracheotomy, because they couldn't wake me up with all the tubes I had going down my throat. Here are some actual pictures of my trach... (may be to graphic for children)
So I get moved to a normal hospital bed and they start to wake me up. When I come to I have no idea where I am, what is going on with me... just nurses coming in and out telling me they will be back soon. So I just lay there and look at the ceiling. All the dots on it made it look like ants crawling up above me, and I even thought I could feel them falling on me, of course Torrey said it was just the drugs I had in me, but man they looked real. So real in fact I remember crying when I thought they were falling on me, and no one would help get them off. Finally Torrey came...I was so thrilled to see him I started bawling, for more than one reason. While being in the coma I had some very strange dreams, and when I wasn't dreaming it was like a kaleidoscope of colors and faces, there would be times I would see a horribly scary face and I would try and shut my eyes really tight to make it go away and start crying. It was so strange. All the dreams that I had were so realistic that I believed that they happened. Which brings me back to seeing Torrey... the last dream I had before waking up Torrey had died in it. I could have sworn that it really happened, and when I saw him all I could try to say to him (cause I wasn't able to talk) was your alive, your alive, he had no idea what I was saying. I was so elated! Then I tried to ask him about Rico, now Rico was a baby that I had in one of my dreams, and they took him while I was in the coma and Torrey named him Rico. haha. Torrey couldn't make out what I was asking him so a nurse made a board with the alphabet on it and had me point out the letters to spell words, but having my body out of commission so long I couldn't get my hands and arms to work. They just kinda flopped around. It was awful to feel so weak and helpless. But when I finally got him to understand what I was asking he told me that we hadn't had another baby while I was out. It was hard to understand since it seemed so real.
So as the days went by I was getting better at slowing down when moving my lips and Torrey was getting better at lip reading, so we were able to talk and he told me all that happened and where I was and how long I had been in there. I really don't recall much about the first couple of days since I was really drugged up and still coming off the effects of the coma. I was still on the respirator and it was basically breathing for me. I was in the ICU at Provo for about 5 days (awake, and total almost a month) and then they asked if I wanted to be transferred to a Specialty hospital, where I would have more one on one care and recover alot faster. We agreed to that and on a thursday I was takin out of the ICU. In the process of getting me moved to the ambulance bed this really stupid girl was suppose to bring the hose to the trach with me while they moved me and when they counted to 3 she didn't move. My trach got ripped since she didn't move it, holy crap, it hurt so bad, and of course I was crying again. They kicked her out of the room and gave me a minute to calm down before transferring me to the ambulance respirator. Finally I get to this specialty hospital and they get me all hooked up the respirator there. Then a nurse and a wound care guy came in and washed me down, took pictures of my wounds, and then left me. NO medicine, NO fluids, NO food for my feeding tube, NO nothing, only air. I stayed like that for 6 freakin hours, my neck was throbbing from being ripped, everything else hurt to, I couldn't move to call a nurse so I laid there. Finally Torrey arrived and of course caught me crying (man I sound like a baby in all this), but as soon as he arrived everything got hooked up. He ripped in to them and for the rest of the time I was there I had no problems. I wanted to go back to the ICU so bad, but we decided to wait it out overnight, the next day things were much better. I basically rested that day since they were starting physical therapy the next day.
Things advanced so fast there, within a week I was off the respirator, moved to a T-piece and then they buttoned my trach. With the button on I was able to talk, I have never been so happy to hear my voice before, hahaha. Then I was just breathing air through a cannula. At the end of that week they took out my trach, my feeding tube, and my PIC line (that one started in a vein in my right arm, and went across my chest to the top of my heart, long huh?) and they were going to take out my chest tube, but it decided to fall out on its own, scaring me and my nurse seeing it on the floor. But all was good and there was no need to worry about it. By this time I had pushed myself so hard in therapy, that I was able to finally walk again (you don't know how hard it is to learn to walk again, it is so frustrating that you cant do it, when you have done it your whole life...it is amazing what we take for granted). I only used a walker for 2 days then I could do it myself (of course someone was there supporting me, just in case). I kinda went against the rules of calling a nurse to help me into the bathroom, and did it myself... probably not a good idea, but I was able to do it. Then the day came (the day after everything was removed) to take a SHOWER!! Oh man...oh man...wonderful. I mean as much as I loved my sponge baths and all...haha (just kidding). That was a very good day. Then I was in there for one more week (2 weeks total at the specialty hospital). I had bounced back so fast everyone was shocked, the doctors first told Torrey to expect me to be in there for at least a few months. So it was a relief that I was getting out so soon. I was discharged on October 29th, and have had to stay with my mom so I can have help with the kids while getting stronger and better. This year the hospitals state wide put a ban on children under the age of 14 coming into the hospital. That was so hard, but the specialty hospital let them sneak in twice while I was there. The first time Chasey wouldn't even come near me, I scared her really bad, and Bridge and Bri were afraid they would hurt me, so they didn't come to close either (but I still had the trach in the first time they came, so I did understand that I was a bit scary) but the second time it was much better. Now I'm gettin ready to go back to our home in Nephi this weekend, YAY!! I'm so excited. I am still on Oxygen and I will have to be for some time yet, but it is mostly when I'm up moving around and sleeping. I can sit without it on and breath room air. I am still a bit weak, and have a horrid time going up stairs (luckily I don't have them at home), but gettin better everyday.
I want to thank everyone who has supported my family during this time, and for everything you have all done for us, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
And to my wonderful hubby, who was with me every single day in the hospital (he really never missed one! even while I was in the coma) Thankyou for being there for me, I love you so much, I couldn't have made it through without you, I love you.
I have one more thing to add... during my stay in the hospital all I wanted was my pillow from home (cause the hospital ones suck) so Torrey gets it from home and my mother (being the clean freak that she is) decided to wash it...now I have had this pillow for as long as I can remember, and I loved it...this is what happened to it when she washed it.....
It disintegrated!!!! What a sad, sad day.
Thanks again to everyone and here is a pic or two of my beautiful kids during all this, (they are troopers and the best kids in the world!)
