Wednesday. Wednesday I was going on very little sleep. Since he coded the night before I stay at the hospital until 4:30 a.m. Once home I didn't sleep well. I was back at the hospital at 8:30 ths next morning. He had been on dialysis all night...but all night meant he made it. He was still on dialysis and already they had taken of 3 liters of fluid. He was so swollen the night before. His vent-tube in his mouth where they had tied it down, the string could barely be seen because he was so swollen. He was also, at this point on, pressor medications. These were to keep his blood pressure up. They only make five of these types of medicines...he was on three. We needed him down to one. We didn't want to get to five or even four. That was too risky for his body....and it meant we were out of options for him. I posted on FB that I needed prayers that he gets off at least two of these.
Also on this date a friend from church made the page on facebook called Pray for Troy. She asked me for permission first....I can't thank her enough. There were over 1000 members on that site by the 5th day of it being up. They didn't know him. They either knew him, were friends of friends or complete strangers. Amazing I tell you...amazing. Within six hours of me asking for prayer to get him to down to one pressor......he was on one pressor. Amazing huh. I do believe in the power of prayer...and in miracles.
Wednesday......stable for his condition, but still alive.
Until next time,
Troy's girl.
September 22, 2010
September 8, 2010
April 6, 2010
Tuesday...Tuesday was a stressful day. He came through the surgery decent enough. They were not able to place the tracheotomy, but he had a feeding tube and most of his stomach was closed. Also, his kidneys weren't working. It was just too much stress for his body. He became very, very swollen as well. The good thing about placing the feeding tube was that the nutrients in his food would help the liver to reginerate. Remember, his liver was very small and very damaged, but so far it was doing an okay job. I worked this day and Jack was with my family. My parents were still in town. That eveing around 6:30 I left. I went to my sisters for dinner with my mom, dad, sister and Jack. We had fried pork chops, potatoes of some sort and I'm sure much more. As soon as I sat down, filled them in the day and Troys condition, I get a call from his best friend who was at the hospital. It went like this.
Kelly: "Hello"
Keith: "Hey Kel, do you know?"
Kelly: "Do I know what?"
Keith: "He coded."
Kelly: "What...is he back?"
Keith: "Yeah, he's back but they don't know what caused it."
I hung and I was leaving. My family wanted to drive me, but I knew if I didn't drive myself I would feel like I was going much faster. I have no idea how I drove to the hospital without crying. I just knew I had to get there. Its amazing what you do in times of crisis.
I run in the hospital, his coworker was standing outside of the ICU, she took my purse and back I went. I went into his room and there was his mom, a few uncles and his friend Keith. Everyone was crying. I thought he was gone, but I look and in fact his cheset is still moving. They really couldn't tell us why he coded. Ever so slowly his heart rate just dropped and he flatlined. Around 2 minutes later they got him back. They push us all out of the room trying to make an assessment. At 11 p.m., after blood work and many tests they find that he is septic. His kidneys weren't pushing out the bad and the kidneys were having a hard time processing all of this new blood. Also, his blood pressure wasn't staying up now. They said to prepare ourselves. HA! Prepare yourself? How do you even begin to do that. When I came out of his room there were so many people there. My sister and dad, my neighbor, my friends, his friends, his coworkers. Amazing....absolutely amazing.
The plan was to open his stomach up, check for any perforations, try to place a line for dialysis and put him on some pressors. By midnight this was all done. They were scared he wouldn't make it through these few small, bed-side proceduresl, but he did. Our minds were at rest a little, the dialysis was started. I stayed at the hospital until 4:30 a.m. I want to make sure he wouldn't code again before I went home and went to bed. I took off work the next day and just went to the hospital once I got up 4 hours later. Wednesday was a "stable as you can get day." Wednesday he was alive.
Kelly: "Hello"
Keith: "Hey Kel, do you know?"
Kelly: "Do I know what?"
Keith: "He coded."
Kelly: "What...is he back?"
Keith: "Yeah, he's back but they don't know what caused it."
I hung and I was leaving. My family wanted to drive me, but I knew if I didn't drive myself I would feel like I was going much faster. I have no idea how I drove to the hospital without crying. I just knew I had to get there. Its amazing what you do in times of crisis.
I run in the hospital, his coworker was standing outside of the ICU, she took my purse and back I went. I went into his room and there was his mom, a few uncles and his friend Keith. Everyone was crying. I thought he was gone, but I look and in fact his cheset is still moving. They really couldn't tell us why he coded. Ever so slowly his heart rate just dropped and he flatlined. Around 2 minutes later they got him back. They push us all out of the room trying to make an assessment. At 11 p.m., after blood work and many tests they find that he is septic. His kidneys weren't pushing out the bad and the kidneys were having a hard time processing all of this new blood. Also, his blood pressure wasn't staying up now. They said to prepare ourselves. HA! Prepare yourself? How do you even begin to do that. When I came out of his room there were so many people there. My sister and dad, my neighbor, my friends, his friends, his coworkers. Amazing....absolutely amazing.
The plan was to open his stomach up, check for any perforations, try to place a line for dialysis and put him on some pressors. By midnight this was all done. They were scared he wouldn't make it through these few small, bed-side proceduresl, but he did. Our minds were at rest a little, the dialysis was started. I stayed at the hospital until 4:30 a.m. I want to make sure he wouldn't code again before I went home and went to bed. I took off work the next day and just went to the hospital once I got up 4 hours later. Wednesday was a "stable as you can get day." Wednesday he was alive.
September 3, 2010
April 5, 2010
Monday....Oh Monday, how I love you. This is the day that we got some good news and obviously we knew that you would make it....at least for now. They were going to attempt to put the bowel back in, put in a feeding tube and a tracheotomy. We got two out of three. Surgery was scheduled for that morning and we were prepared. The night before, the found him stablel enough to do a CT without contrast. At this point they were not able to assess other damage to his body. The liver was the main problem and thats what we focused on. We had no idea if he had any other broken bones. They were able to do a bedside scan and discovered everything from below the pelvis was fine. No broken bones. With the CT they did find that he had a small break in his back, but nothing to cause any problems. Head was fine, neck was fine, everything was fine...except that tiny break in his back.
Monday he goes for surgery. After a while they come back out, they were able to put in 60% of his bowel, but he was swollen so the other 40% would have to wait. They were able to put in a feeding tube so he could start getting some nutrition and with these feeds, they put in a liver vitamin type of thing that would help his liver regenerate. Remember, he only a little under half of a liver that was damaged and still bleeding a little. Also he was clotting on his own and keeping his blood pressure up. They did tell us that in a year or so he will need a hernia repair because the bowel had been pushed up above his diaphragm, which would make him a little uncomfortable, but it is repariable. Just the fact that they were talking a year later made us realize he was going to do great!
During the surgery they tried to get his out of rhythm heart back into rhythm so they stopped his heart. However, it took four minutes to bring him back, meds and finally the paddles brought him back. His heart was the best thing we had, we couldn't let that go, but it was working overtime. At this time he had over 200 blood products. Whats amazing is he the only person in that hospital to have recieved over 100 blood products and lived longer than 24 hours. The body has a hard time accepting all of this new blood, processing it is a huge deal and with a damaged liver, this was a miracle in itself.
His kidneys were still working well. woohooo for healthy kidneys.
Next starts the process of trying to wake him up a little. Anytime someone has a partial open abdomen they don't allow them to fully wake up until the stomach is closed, but to have them start to respond...how amazing would that be.
Until next time,
Kelly
Monday he goes for surgery. After a while they come back out, they were able to put in 60% of his bowel, but he was swollen so the other 40% would have to wait. They were able to put in a feeding tube so he could start getting some nutrition and with these feeds, they put in a liver vitamin type of thing that would help his liver regenerate. Remember, he only a little under half of a liver that was damaged and still bleeding a little. Also he was clotting on his own and keeping his blood pressure up. They did tell us that in a year or so he will need a hernia repair because the bowel had been pushed up above his diaphragm, which would make him a little uncomfortable, but it is repariable. Just the fact that they were talking a year later made us realize he was going to do great!
During the surgery they tried to get his out of rhythm heart back into rhythm so they stopped his heart. However, it took four minutes to bring him back, meds and finally the paddles brought him back. His heart was the best thing we had, we couldn't let that go, but it was working overtime. At this time he had over 200 blood products. Whats amazing is he the only person in that hospital to have recieved over 100 blood products and lived longer than 24 hours. The body has a hard time accepting all of this new blood, processing it is a huge deal and with a damaged liver, this was a miracle in itself.
His kidneys were still working well. woohooo for healthy kidneys.
Next starts the process of trying to wake him up a little. Anytime someone has a partial open abdomen they don't allow them to fully wake up until the stomach is closed, but to have them start to respond...how amazing would that be.
Until next time,
Kelly
September 2, 2010
April 4, 2010
Sunday.....Sunday was just a stable day. He was stable for his condition, but not stable enough for anything else. We had plans for Monday. Surgery, try to put his bowel back in his stomach, put in a feeding tube and possibly a trach. So for today we waited. I was in his room most of the day. Thankfully, my parents were in town with Jack I think. I cannot remember much of this day. I just knew that Jack was taken care of. I also knew that I was growing a bond with his mom...an even stronger bond. So her and I sat and talked about the decisions, asked the doctors questions, how could we help him. Always her and I....always.
I left that night knowing I would be back tomorrow and so would he. Until then, I prayed and I asked for prayers on FB.
Jack was on spring break, he was going to see family in Ashland. Thank God for family. Thank God for answered prayers.
I left that night knowing I would be back tomorrow and so would he. Until then, I prayed and I asked for prayers on FB.
Jack was on spring break, he was going to see family in Ashland. Thank God for family. Thank God for answered prayers.
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