Today Was a Good Day

Quick update on Dad...  They started hemodialysis today.  He tolerated it really well.  So well they thought they would try to get him off the ventilator.  They were able to remove the breathing tube this evening!  We are so excited it's finally out and he can talk!  It's killing us not being there to see him but I'm so happy knowing he's doing better!  We can't wait to see him this weekend!

As promised last night, I have pictures of Eli. His new favorite accessory are his sunglasses. He wants to wear them all the time and gets mad if you take them away! He loves them!

He even likes to wear them on top of his head like a cool dude!

He just ran and sat in front of me on the kitchen floor and posed for this picture.  Camera hog.

You've gotta love this boy!  We sure do!

Update on Dad - 3.27.11

We just got back from Little Rock not long ago.  It was a good trip.  Dad seems to be doing about the same.  They stopped the continuous dialysis on Saturday.  They are restarting dialysis tomorrow but it will not be continuous.  It's much harder on the body because it takes off the fluid so fast compared to the other.  They will be watching him closely to make sure he tolerates it.  He remains on the ventilator and sedated.  He did open his eyes and nod his head yes and no last night.  We were all thrilled to see his response to us!  All of his vital signs (including blood pressure) have been really good the past few days.  I will continue to give you all updates as I get them!

I have some recent pictures of Eli I wanted to post but my camera battery is dead.  I will upload them after the battery is recharged.  He's been a pistol lately!  Although I think he's getting a little better he still has a long way to go!  We keep joking that we are going to put him through boot camp!  HA!  I'm ready to have my sweet baby back!

Update on Dad - 3.25.11

Sorry for no update yesterday.  I worked the past two days and I was exhausted when I got home.  Dad has had two good days in a row, and we're hoping today is the third.  He's still intubated and on the ventilator.  They started dialysis on Wednesday and it seems to be doing him some good.  His labs are looking better each day.  His blood pressure has been holding it's own and he's off both blood pressure medications.  He's sedated and sleeps most of the time.  I will continue to give you updates as I get them.  We are going down there this weekend to see him again.

Update on Dad - 3.23.11

Today Dad had a pretty good day.  He remains intubated and on the ventilator.  His blood pressure has now stablized and he's off all the blood pressure medication.  They started hemodialysis today and it will be continuous for at least 24 hours.  They will periodically do blood tests to make sure he is tolerating the dialysis.  He is still in critical condition but we are thankful for good days like today!  Hopefully there will be many more of the good days to come!

Chad and I both started back to work today.  It was a little strange going back after being off for 4 weeks but it was nice to get back to our routine.  It means our life is somewhat starting to normalize.  It was extremely hard to wake up so early this morning!  That means I'm headed to bed early tonight! 

Good night, all!

Update on Dad - 3.22.11

I called this morning to get an update on Dad.  It sounds like he's taken a few steps backwards.  They had to reintubate (place the breathing tube back in) and put him back on the ventilator.  He just wasn't able to do all the breathing on his own.  His blood pressure continued to stay low so they had to max out his one medicine he was on and restart the second medicine again.  His blood pressure has stablized for the time being.  They have decided to start him on dialysis which will start tomorrow.  We always knew dialysis was in his near future but it was just a matter of when it would be started.  They have placed a feeding tube so they can start giving him some nutrition.  He spiked a fever overnight so they are culturing everything possible to see if there is another infection and where it is coming from.

I will let you all know when I learn anything new.  Keep the prayers coming!

Looking up

Just a quick update on Dad tonight...

They had a little trouble weaning him off the ventilator last night so they decided to consult a pulmonologist.  They finally got him extubated this evening!  I wish we could have seen him without the breathing tube before we left but I'm just glad it's finally out!  He has sleep apnea and sleeps with CPAP every night so they are making him wear it all the time right now.  His kidneys and blood pressure were doing better so they stopped one of the medicines to help his kidneys function (it also helped his blood pressure some).  Since stopping it his blood pressure has started to go back down.  He remains on a continuous morphine drip to help control pain.  He seems to be coming around slowly but definitely has a long way to go before a full recovery!

I'll continue to give updates every so often for those of you who are checking here for them.  Robyn and I had to come back home today.  It was so hard leaving Dad! 

Hopefully we can make it down again very soon!

Good night all!  And thanks for the prayers!  They seem to be working!  The power of prayer is amazing!

Update on Dad

Some of you haven't known about what's been going on with Dad so I thought this might be the easiest way to tell everyone.  He's been having his own health problems while we were dealing with Chad's. 

It all started on February 21st with surgery on his lower back.  While recovering in the hospital he developed a staph infection.  They were having a hard time figuring out where the infection was coming from and finally figured out it was his upper spine.  They did another surgery on March 18th to place pins and a rod in his spine (to fix more back problems they discovered after the first surgery) and to remove some of the infection.  During surgery his blood pressure dropped.  They decided to send him to the ICU for a few days to recover.  He's now on a ventilator and requiring medication to make his kidneys function and keep his blood pressure up.  They've kept him sedated so he can rest and not fight the ventilator.  He has been so out of it he has no idea what's going on.  Robyn and I came down to Little Rock today to see him and spend the night.  This evening they've turned off the sedation so he will start waking up and hopefully they can remove the endotracheal tube by the morning.  They have mentioned possibly having to do another surgery later this week to remove more infection.  We are keeping our fingers crossed it won't come to that.  He's been through so much already.

He has a very long recovery ahead of him.  Not only does he have to over come the infection, he's had major back surgery he will have to over come.  He will need continued prayers for a long time!  He's a tough man and we know he will come through this!

Update on Chad - He's doing great now!  He's slowly getting stronger each day and the headaches have slowly started going away.  He's supposed to go back to work later this week, so we are keeping our fingers crossed he's strong enough!

Thanks to everyone for the continued support for our family during this time!  We couldn't make it through all of this without all of you!  I think after all of this is over our family deserves a HUGE vacation! 

I wish I had a cute picture of Eli to brighten up this blog post but I'm away from home and I don't have my camera.  Maybe tomorrow!

Good night!

Life is Sweet

Sorry I haven't really blogged since we got home.  We were busy at the first of the week with follow up doctor appointments and Chad having the stomach bug.  I had a stomach bug while Chad was in the hospital and I guess I gave it to him.  Mighty nice of me, huh?  I promise, I didn't mean to do it!  He's finally over it and is doing so much better with everything!  Thanks to everyone for continuing to check on us! 

We very much appreciate it!

Some big news in our house....  Eli's bed was changed into a BIG BOY bed yesterday!  It's kind of a test to see how he does.  And so far he's done great!  I totally expected Chad would have to change it back to a crib today but I was wrong!  I put Eli in the bed last night at bedtime and he never got out!  He just sat/laid on the bed and cried for a bit before falling asleep but never got off!  Then this morning when he woke up, he sat there calling "mommmmmmmyyyyy" but never got off the bed.  I'm so proud of him! 

He thinks his new bed is super cool!

Here he would say "cheese" and then cover his face for the picture!  Silly boy!

We have been trying to spend lots of quality time together this week and enjoy life.  With all that we went through the past few weeks, at times I wasn't sure if it would ever be back to normal again.  During Chad's illness I promised myself if our lives got back to normal and he got well I wouldn't take our simple life for granted.  It's scary to think how quick your life can be turned completely upside down.

Today we took a last minute trip to Branson to do a little shopping.  I had some good coupons and we live so close it's an easy drive there and back.  We usually try to plan our day trip to Branson around Eli's nap.  We try to leave when it's nap time so he will sleep most of the way there and be in a good mood for shopping.  It works most of the time, except for today!  He has a cold that has turned into a nasty little cough.  He hasn't been sleeping the best (naps or nightime) and only took about a 30 minute nap in the car on the way there.  Needless to say, our shopping trip was a disaster and we turned around and came back after about 1 1/2 hours of fighting him while trying to shop. 

He did look super cute in his green shirt for St. Patty's day though!

Home Sweet Home

Chad finally got discharged yesterday afternooon around 4:00.  Eli smiled so big when he saw his daddy get out of the car.  Chad was smiling too! 

Chad left the hospital with a headache and had it most of the evening after we got home.  He hasn't really been out of bed the past 3 weeks.  So far any activity he does gives him a headache.  I'm sure it will just take a while to shake whatever was wrong with him and get back to his normal activity.  He's lost so much weight and muscle it will take a while to get his strength back.  I think this next week we will be spending a lot of time hanging out around the house and taking it easy.

He will have lots of follow up appointments in the next few weeks, starting with Monday morning bright and early.  He has to be back at the hospital at 5am for some lab tests.  I'm not joking.  5 AM!! 

Today we plan to just take it easy and maybe venture outside to enjoy this beautiful, sunny 70 degree weather!  Spring has arrived, folks!  I love it! 

Life is grand!

Hospital Day Six

We had a great night last night.  We both rested well when they would leave us alone!  You don't get much sleep in the hospital between all the people coming in and out of the room and the noises in the hall.  We both are ready to sleep in our own beds!

I think we will be going home today but are waiting for endocrinology to discharge him.  He wants to see him one last time before he's discharged.  I'm sure Chad will have lots of follow up appointments after leaving here.  I don't mind.  I appreciate them wanting to follow him closely.  It eases my mind a little.  They still aren't 100% sure what the diagnosis is.  The doctor said yesterday they had pretty much done a living autopsy on Chad and nothing had come back abnormal.  If it was indeed the hemiplegic migraines, then it's VERY RARE for them to get this bad.  If it was encephalitis, then where was the fever that usually accompanies it and why was MRI normal?  Those are the two diagnoses they are going between.

Chad's mom, brother and Eli dropped by early this morning before heading to the airport for Brian to catch his flight.  I don't know what we would have done if Brian hadn't come to help out.  I don't know what we would have done without any of our family and friends here to help!  We are so thankful and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hopefully the next post you read will be telling you we are HOME!

Until then...

Hospital Day Five

Today was a wonderful day!  Chad's feeling great!  No confusion at all!  He still has his IV but this evening they decided to stop the last IV med.  We actually got out of the hospital and went for a walk outside.  The weather was beautiful and he was glad to get some fresh air.  Just the short walk we took caused him to have a headache so I think it may take a while to get over this.

Eli came up for another visit tonight.  He was happy to see Daddy and Daddy was happy to see him!  Eli has always been such a daddy's boy!  I know he has really missed him. 

We didn't learn much of anything today except they aren't sure what caused everything.  It sounds like they have pretty much ruled out everything and are calling it hemiplegic migraines.  That scares the heck out of me because it means there's a good chance this can happen again.  I'm sure Chad will be seeing a neurologist very soon and we will find a medicine that works well to prevent these horrible things!  I had never heard of hemiplegic migraines until 3 weeks ago and now I know way more than I ever wanted to know.  Go here if you want to learn more about them.

It's frustrating not having a real answer but I guess we are just thankful he is feeling better.  I'm not sure when he will be discharged but we are hoping for tomorrow.  We cannot say it enough, thank you to everyone for all the sweet words of encouragement and prayers.  We are truly blessed!

Here's a picture from Eli's visit tonight. 

I couldn't get a picture with both of them looking, this is the best one I took!

Hospital Day Four

I know this is a day late but I wanted to give you an update on what happened yesterday.  There might be multiple blog posts today so I didn't want to get out of order or it might be confusing.  Brian was willing to stay here with Chad so I could leave and spend some time with Eli.  I haven't really seen Eli since Chad was admitted on Saturday, so it was nice to get some time in with him.

I have a funny story about Tuesday night.  Chad was doing great on Tuesday, much less confusion but it was still there along with hallucinations.  I don't guess I've ever been around anyone having hallucinations but it was quite funny at times.  Tuesday night we were both exhausted at this point.  We had neither one slept the night before so we tried to go to bed at a decent time.  While I was fast asleep Chad decided he would try to escape!  He pulled out his IV and headed down the hall.  Now remember he hasn't been out of his room (much less really known where he was) until now.  Luckily the nurse caught him and helped him back to his room.  I never knew any of this was taking place!  They turned on his bed alarm that would sound if he got out of bed (and wake me up).  Of course he set it off a few more times throughout the night.  Needless to say we didn't much sleep that night either.

Wednesday he was doing much better.  He woke up a little confused on where he was but everything else was back to normal.  He woke up asking to see Eli so I brought him up for a short visit.  It was a great reunion!  As the day progressed Chad finally remembered where he was and the old Chad was back.  Now he's just completely exhausted from the lack of sleep.  The hallucinations are gone as well.

The doctors still don't have any answers as to what exactly was wrong.  I think they've pretty much narrowed it down to either an episode of migraines or encephalitis.  They are only thinking it was just migraines because none of the tests clearly indicated encephalitis.  However, with encephalitis, many times all the tests are negative and they never find a cause so it can be hard to diagnose.  It's so frustrating because we just want an answer.  Unfortunately we may never get one.

I guess what matters most is he's doing better and back to his old self.  He's itching to get outside so we will try to take a walk later today when it warms up.  We haven't seen a doctor today yet so we don't know when they will discharge him.  He's still on some IV antibiotics so it may not be until tomorrow. 

I will post more as I learn it today! 

Hospital Day Three

I will start with last night since I blogged kind of early yesterday.  Well it was interesting to say the least!  My brother-in-law came to stay with Chad while I ran home to see Eli and shower yesterday evening.  He managed to pull out his IV while I was gone.  When I got back Chad was actually carrying on conversations, answering questions, and following commands.  He made the comment "Man, I've been out of it".  Music to my ears!  He actually said a sentence!

We tried to go to sleep at a decent time but that didn't work so well.  He was up most of the night messing with his (new) IV, causing his pump to alarm, pulling off his telemetry leads (no less than 10 times) and eating bananas (two of them), peaking out the window and walking around the room.  Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep and I'm feeling it today. 

How's he doing today?  He seems to be less confused this morning.  Don't get me wrong, the confusion is still there.  He's not sure where he is, although we've told him multiple times this morning.  He's started having some hallucinations.  I think it's just part of whatever is going on in his brain or maybe from lack of sleep.  But he is carrying on conversations, laughing, following commands, etc.  All things he couldn't do yesterday.  So it's definitely an improvement!  I know it will just take time for all the confusion to go away.  They have consulted an endocrinologist and neurologist today.  They both came to see him earlier.  From what they are saying, they are now looking at his pituitary gland for the cause of everything.  It sounds like they have almost ruled out viral encephalitis but we're just not convinced that's not what was wrong.  He had every single symptom of encephalitis.  We are still waiting on the results from the EEG, but the MRI and MRA were both normal. 

So that's what's been going on today.  Chad's brother, Brian, flew in from CT this morning.  He is staying here with us until Friday.  I'm so happy he's here!  It's nice to have someone here who knows what questions to ask and understands what the doctors say.  It definitely has eased my mind. 

I know I keep saying this but I feel I can't say it enough.  Thanks to everyone for the prayers, sweet words of encouragement, texts and phone calls.  It feels so great knowing we have so many friends out there!  I will keep you all updated as we learn new things!

Hospital Day Two

We had a good night last night.  Chad and I both slept well.  Then he woke me up this morning by snapping his IV tubing in half and pulling off all his telemetry leads.  I asked what he was doing and he says "I need to go to the bathroom".  I guess he was just trying to get disconnected from all the tubes and wires!  I had to just laugh.  Silly boy!

He's so tired of all the wires, the IV (which he keeps trying to pull out) and the tests.  Today he went for a CT, MRA and now an EEG.  We still don't know any results from all the slew of labs they've drawn or tests they've run.  I'm sure they will slowly trickle in over the next few days.  They are consulting a neurologist/neurosurgeon now too.  He's still disoriented as to where he is or why he's here.  Maybe we'll go for a walk later to get out of this room?  I think it would do us both some good.

Thanks to everyone for all the sweet encouraging words and prayers.  We both feel so blessed to know we have so many people out there who care for us.

PS...I realized last night after I posted that I cannot count!  Yesterday was day 19, not 17.  I guess the lack of sleep has gotten to me!

17 Days Ago

Most of you who follow or read my blog are friends with me on Facebook so this is no new news to you.  I just thought I would go in a bit more detail to let you know what's been going on with Chad and where we are now.  We both appreciate all the prayers that have been said.  I think Chad is probably on every prayer list in Eastern Arkansas!  But it's with good reason.  He continues to need prayer so please don't stop yet!

Okay, where to start?  This may be a little long but I will try my best to give the short version.  I wish I had been blogging about this all along but I just haven't had the time.

Wednesday, Feb 16th (the day it all began) - Chad and I were driving down the road.  He started swerving and I asked him what was wrong.  He stated "I don't know, something doesn't feel right".  I told him to pull over and I would drive.  When he tried to get out of the car he about fell down.  He complained of numbness in his left leg and arm.  As I started heading to the ER the left side of his face started drooping.  I completely thought he was having a stroke.  After arriving at the ER all the numbness went away and here came the migraine.  He has a history of migraines but he says this was the WORST headache he's ever had.  He was given pain medicine and sent home.  The headache never fully went away until the next morning. 

Fast forward through three ER visits, multiple doctor consults, many different medicines, and many tests/labs run (and 17 days later) he is finally admitted to the hospital.  The migraines had been coming every day.  He had stopped eating or drinking last Tuesday and became very dehydrated.  He was extremely confused.  He laid in bed all day, every day, in pain.  All he did was sleep.  He had been diagnosed with hemiplegic migraines.  Or so we thought...

So here we are.  17 days later.  Chad's in the hospital.  He's had more blood drawn than I've ever seen on one person (and remember I'm a nurse!).  He's had 2 CTs, 2 MRIs and a spinal tap.  They have finally concluded they aren't sure yet what's going on, but SOMETHING'S GOING ON!  You think? 

Viral encephalitis is at the top of their list.  They have called in an infectious disesases specialist to help out with diagnosing the virus.  Tomorrow he will be treated to an MRA, another CT (of his chest this time) and an EEG.  Fun times for Chad.  I'm sure he can't wait.  However, since he had the spinal tap last night he hasn't had a migraine.  And his appetite is back.  But he's still confused.  Sometimes he can't remember where he works and sometimes he can.  He has a hard time following commands or explaining what's wrong.  I think that's the hardest part of everything, seeing him so confused.  Every once in a while we get a glimpse of the "old Chad" and I smile.  I miss him.  I'm ready for him to be well and get over this (but I'm sure not as much as he).  The doctors have all been great (as well as the nurses).  They are committed to finding out what exactly is causing this craziness and are being very aggressive (hence all the crazy labs and tests).  They have mentioned sending him to Mayo Clinic if they can't find out what's going on soon.  I'm hoping it doesn't come down to that but if it does we will deal with it then. 

One day at a time right now.  That's my motto.  So as you can see, Chad still needs lots of prayers.  Please pray for his recovery and for the doctors to find out what's causing his illness.

I will keep you updated on his progress on this blog so check back!

Good night.