Sunday, December 28, 2008
One Day at a Time
Emily is doing better now and is back out of the hospital again... we are just going to take things one day at a time. We have little plans for the remainder of our vacation, because we just need to see how things work out. Emily is on better anti-seizure medication now and I am making sure she gets it. The recovery from meningitis can take a while, especially if it gets as bad as hers did. She is weak and tired, but sick of laying around. It turns out her kidney is just fine, leaving us with one less thing to worry about. She does still have a significant amount of pain in her back, and it may take some time to resolve. She has set a goal to steer clear of all hospitals until Himaya gets a baby brother or sister... sounds like a good goal to me. We are again thankful for all the calls, messages and prayers, as well as the blessings from heaven. Emily will be okay, but it will take some time. Thanks again! -Branch
Friday, December 26, 2008
Round 3... and the scariest day of my life
First off, let me wish everyone a merry Christmas; cause if I don't throw it out now, I am likely to forget.
Round 3 you ask? Yes... round 3. Emily was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon with only a prescription for anti-seizure medication, even though she was complaining of headaches and a lot of back pain. That night and the next morning the pain got worse and worse. We decided Em needed to go back to the hospital because she was in constant pain, and couldn't find a comfortable position. while getting ready to go she kinda blacked out, and wouldn't talk to us for about 10 seconds or so. So she went back to the hospital by ambulance. They tried morphine for the pain. When that wouldn't take the pain away they gave her dilated (about 10 times more powerful than morphine) which also didn't work. A little while later, they gave her caffeine which worked like a charm. She was let go with a prescription for red-bull, coffee, monster or whatever kind of caffeine she wanted.
Christmas day was a lovely hospital-free day, though Em had to keep up the red-bull and no-doze. She woke up this morning in extreme pain, and instead of waking me up, she layed moaning on the living room floor. The moaning eventually woke me up, and when I got out there I was sure she was just finishing up having a small seizure. *note: I have a few years experience working with people who have chronic seizures. I called the on-call neurologist, who said we should come to the ER later when she felt a little better... meaning after she got her caffeine fix. *another note: Emily had forgotten to take her anti-seizure meds last night. Emily had a pretty bad 10-20 sec. seizure on the couch, and after she recovered, we got ready to go. She said she felt ok, and she didn't want me to call for an ambulance. On the way to the ER (her dad drove while I sat in the back seat with Em) I experienced the scariest few minutes of my life. Emily had another smaller seizure, but she stopped breathing. After 5-10 seconds of completly losing my cool, I pinched her nose, tilted her head back and gave her a couple of breaths. She started breathing on her own again, but it was short shallow breathing. I kept my ear on her nose/mouth while I called 911. They wanted us to stop and wait for them to get to us, but the roads were HORRIBLE, and I kept telling them that they couldn't get to us and get Em to the hospital as fast as we could get her there if we kept driving. Emily stopped breathing again, and restarted after 2 more rescue breaths. We made it to the hospital, and she has had a bunch more tests an MRI and a couple of CT (cat) scans. They found that the back pain may be due to the compression fracture to one of her vertebrae. It was hypothesized that she may have arched her back so far during a seizure last Friday, that she damaged the T11 vertebrae. The MRI showed a few small infarctions in her left kidney (this means a few small parts of the kidney lost blood supply, and essentially died). They don't know exactly when it happened, or what caused it yet, but she just came back from another CT scan of that kidney, so we hope for more info in the morning.
They are going to keep her overnight, and we will see what they have to say when the CT and other test results come back. Thank you all for your prayers, calls, texts or thoughts. I know that Emily will be ok, and that the Lord is watching over her and our family. I will keep you in the know. -Branch
Round 3 you ask? Yes... round 3. Emily was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon with only a prescription for anti-seizure medication, even though she was complaining of headaches and a lot of back pain. That night and the next morning the pain got worse and worse. We decided Em needed to go back to the hospital because she was in constant pain, and couldn't find a comfortable position. while getting ready to go she kinda blacked out, and wouldn't talk to us for about 10 seconds or so. So she went back to the hospital by ambulance. They tried morphine for the pain. When that wouldn't take the pain away they gave her dilated (about 10 times more powerful than morphine) which also didn't work. A little while later, they gave her caffeine which worked like a charm. She was let go with a prescription for red-bull, coffee, monster or whatever kind of caffeine she wanted.
Christmas day was a lovely hospital-free day, though Em had to keep up the red-bull and no-doze. She woke up this morning in extreme pain, and instead of waking me up, she layed moaning on the living room floor. The moaning eventually woke me up, and when I got out there I was sure she was just finishing up having a small seizure. *note: I have a few years experience working with people who have chronic seizures. I called the on-call neurologist, who said we should come to the ER later when she felt a little better... meaning after she got her caffeine fix. *another note: Emily had forgotten to take her anti-seizure meds last night. Emily had a pretty bad 10-20 sec. seizure on the couch, and after she recovered, we got ready to go. She said she felt ok, and she didn't want me to call for an ambulance. On the way to the ER (her dad drove while I sat in the back seat with Em) I experienced the scariest few minutes of my life. Emily had another smaller seizure, but she stopped breathing. After 5-10 seconds of completly losing my cool, I pinched her nose, tilted her head back and gave her a couple of breaths. She started breathing on her own again, but it was short shallow breathing. I kept my ear on her nose/mouth while I called 911. They wanted us to stop and wait for them to get to us, but the roads were HORRIBLE, and I kept telling them that they couldn't get to us and get Em to the hospital as fast as we could get her there if we kept driving. Emily stopped breathing again, and restarted after 2 more rescue breaths. We made it to the hospital, and she has had a bunch more tests an MRI and a couple of CT (cat) scans. They found that the back pain may be due to the compression fracture to one of her vertebrae. It was hypothesized that she may have arched her back so far during a seizure last Friday, that she damaged the T11 vertebrae. The MRI showed a few small infarctions in her left kidney (this means a few small parts of the kidney lost blood supply, and essentially died). They don't know exactly when it happened, or what caused it yet, but she just came back from another CT scan of that kidney, so we hope for more info in the morning.
They are going to keep her overnight, and we will see what they have to say when the CT and other test results come back. Thank you all for your prayers, calls, texts or thoughts. I know that Emily will be ok, and that the Lord is watching over her and our family. I will keep you in the know. -Branch
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Much Better
The doctor cleared Emily, and we left the hospital just after noon. They were still not able to determine what virus caused the meningitis, but they ruled out the ones that require long-term antibiotics. Emily Himaya and I are staying with her dad in Murray Utah for a few days until Em recovers. Thank you all again for your comments, thoughts and prayers... It meant a lot, and it made a difference. -Branch
Monday, December 22, 2008
Improvements
Emily is doing better all the time. Today they moved her out of the ICU and into a room. She is still on a restricted diet for now (since she pulled out her ventilator tube and may have hurt her throat), and her back hurts from laying down for days. She is walking around some, and we may be looking at being released sometime tomorrow. I want to thank everyone again for all the help and the prayers. I am especially grateful to those who stepped in and took care of Himaya while I have been here with Emily... I can't thank you enough!
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