I thought that I should probably update everyone on what has happened the last few weeks. Since my last post, we have had Lilli's Adoption Day (July 31), the two Brower reunions (Ariah & Annie Brower reunion--Deb's great grandparents [August 2] and the O. L. & Idonna Brower reunion--Deb's family [August 2 through August 7]), Elvin's wedding (August 7), our one day visit to the South Bannock County Fair (August 8), and Deb's visit with Uncle Jay (August 11). I will blog more extensively on these events later. However, I would like to update all on what has afflicted me the past few weeks.As I have mentioned, we went to the O. L. & Idonna Brower reunion. Most of the reunion was at North Canyon just outside of Liberty, Idaho. We packed up and left early on Thursday to come home for Elvin's wedding. Friday, I had plans to get everything settled from camping and to do some yard work. I was so tired, though, I could not do anything so basically I laid around and slept. At the time, I thought it was just from camping (though I was unusually tired), but now in hindsight I can see that it was the beginning of my body telling me something.
That evening, we went to the fair and looked through all the buildings. My back bothered me a bit, but I thought is was from all the lifting and bending from camping. When I started to crawl into bed, the muscles in my back spasmed. It was painful but as I relaxed in bed, it went away. Some eight or nine years ago, I got muscle spasms in my lower back. After a day or two, they went away so as I fell asleep I thought that is what would happen. This time the spasms were in the middle of my back and not in the lower back. However, as the night progressed every little move I made caused my muscles to spasm. By the time morning arrived, every little twitch made my back spasm. It was incredibly painful. I have had appendicitis and broken my collar bone. Neither of those could compare to the pain I had each time my back spasmed. I laid around all day Saturday dumping ibuprofen and Tylenol into me to ease the pain. I had a very difficult time sleeping and on Sunday I stayed home from church. I insisted that Deb and the girls go so I stayed home and slept. It was still very painful and I was also beginning to get a little fever now and then.
On Monday, Deb had to go to Jerome to pick her mother up. She had gone out earlier to Aunt Lavon's so she could visit with Uncle Jay who was coming to visit. Deb called Mom and had her come and babysit me and Lilli while Angie and Deb went to Jerome. While Mom was here, we ran down to the HealthWest Clinic here in Downey to check me out. About an hour before going, I had taken an 800 mg ibuprofen. The pain and fever would significantly subside whenever I took the ibuprofen so when I saw the doctor, I actually felt pretty good. I thought I had whipped it and was on the mend. However, when the ibuprofen began to wear off, I started to get sick again. Not only that, but my stomach began hurt. I was afraid I had taken too much medicine and now my stomach was reacting to it. Mom called our neighbor, Ben Evans, to come and give me a blessing. Ben called Bishop Johnson and together they blessed me. That night, I slept a little better than I had previously, but I was still a sick boy.
Tuesday, Deb's Alison Pantry order came in. I laid in bed and on the couch as Deb did all the work. Usually, I am at work when her orders come in so she was looking forward to my help on this delivery, but I could not. Although the doctor had warned me that too much ibuprofen and Tylenol would be disastrous for my stomach, I kept taking them. I would take 800 mg of ibuprofen and then four hours later take three 500 mg tablets of Tylenol. As the day progressed, the Tylenol seemed to lose its effectiveness and only the ibuprofen offered some relief. That night was the most miserable night I had ever spent in my life. My back was still spasming very painfully. My stomach was killing me. I was chilling and then burning up. I could not get comfortable. During the night, I called the Franklin County Medical Center to see what I could do about my stomach. They suggested Pepto Bismal. I took it and it settled my stomach and I finally fell asleep at about 4 a.m. It didn't last long though as I woke up again at about 5 a.m.
We decided I had better go back to the clinic to see what can be done. When I got there, I had a fever of 104.9 degrees. The doctor said I needed to go to an emergency room and quickly. We decided to go to Preston since Dr. Mark Gibby had been my doctor for years. When Deb's mom arrived to watch the kids, we took off for the Franklin County Medical Center. Lucky for us, Dr. Gibby was the on-call doctor so he saw us right after we were checked into the ER. He immediately ordered an IV for me so that a painkiller and other things could be pumped into my body. I then had some blood drawn and I gave some urine for more tests. After awhile, I was admitted to the hospital and then had chest x-rays and a CT scan done. Dr. Gibby called me the mystery man because he could not figure out what was going on with me. I spent the night at the hospital and Deb, bless her heart, stayed with me sleeping in a recliner.
Thursday morning, Dr. Gibby came in and told me that my blood culture had grown staph (staphylococcus aureus). Somewhere in my body, I had a staph infection. Dr. Gibby then said he had talked with several doctors, bouncing off ideas what may be going on. He then mentioned that one doctor in Pocatello, Dr. Cary Jackson, would take my case but I would have to transfer to the Portneuf Medical Center. Previously while taking my vital signs, it was noticed that my blood-oxygen levels were below normal. They had put me on oxygen to keep them in the normal range. When I was told that I would be transferred, Dr. Gibby said Deb could take me if my oxygen level was normal. Otherwise, I would have to go by ambulance.
When Deb found out I was going to be transferred to Pocatello, she felt I needed another blessing so she called Bishop Wakley to ask for some suggestions. Bp. Wakley said he would call his brother, Randy, who was living in Preston to see if he could do it. About an hour later, Randy (who was also a classmate of mine through all my school years and also a roommate at BYU) came with a neighbor, John Hyde (who told me that Mom was his first girlfriend!). Together, they gave me a blessing. A short time later, the nurse checked my vital signs and my oxygen level was normal. I would not have to go to Poky by ambulance!
When we arrived at the hospital, Deb got a wheelchair to take me in. As soon as I sat down, I told Deb I was going to throw up and just as she got something to my mouth, I let it go. I had thrown up twice before while at Preston and since I was on a liquid diet, it was the easiest puking I had ever done!
After I had checked into my room, Dr. Jackson showed up. He told us that he had a whole slew of tests that he wanted me to do the next day. Since I was doped up pretty good, I did get some sleep between all the visits from the nurses to check my vital signs. Again, Deb stayed with me and slept on a chair that made into a bed (much less comfortable than the recliner in Preston).
Friday morning started early (5:45 a.m.) when I had blood drawn. Then I was taken to test after test. I had chest x-rays done, I had an EKG, I had an echo cardiogram, I had an MRI. It just seemed like I had barely returned to my room when another nurse showed up with the wheelchair to take me somewhere else. By the time the day was over, I was exhausted. Never had my body been poked, punched, probed, and prodded so much. At the end of the day, Dr. Jackson said that they were narrowing down where my infection was. He wanted me to have another MRI on Saturday along with a probe into my throat to look at my heart to have a closer look at something that appeared on my echo cardiogram. The doctor then prescribed some intravenous antibiotics and morphine for the pain. I convinced Deb that she needed to go home so that she could be with our girls and get a good night sleep in our bed.
I would like to make a couple of observations from the tests I had. While doing the echo cardiogram, the technician showed me my heart as it pumped blood. You could clearly see the valves opening and closing. I sat there stunned at being able to see my own heart beat life through me. Before the echo gram, I had an MRI. I was very nervous about the MRI. I was afraid I was going to panic with claustrophobia. I then reflected on my youth when Dad when put a blanket up against the desk when we would play under it. I would panic thinking I would never get out of it even though it was Dad holding me in. I thought to myself as I entered the MRI machine, "If I panic inside here, I'm blaming Dad!" I was very nervous at the beginning but as the test proceeded, I kept telling myself that it was OK. When I was finished, the hair on the back of my head was completely drenched from sweat.
The MRI on Saturday was done with a contrast injected into my IV. That way the doctor could better pinpoint where the infection was. After the MRI, I then had my throat scoped. A cardiologist, Dr. Gonzalez, scoped my throat. I had to swallow a tube with a camera on the end (yes I was awake through it all). He then would look at my heart and valves with the camera in my throat. Let me tell you, for someone who has a hard time swallowing pills, it was a very daunting task to swallow a tube about the size of a child's finger! I choked and gagged big time!
The scope to look at my heart was clean. I had no heart problems. We were very thankful for that. However, the second MRI with the contrast showed that I had an infection laying on my spine in my mid back. So Dr. Jackson said we needed to treat it aggressively with antibiotics through an IV. At first, he said the treatments would be 6 weeks to three months but after getting a good look at the MRI, he came to the conclusion that it would be more like 3 to 6 months of IV antibiotic treatment. On Saturday evening, a PICC line was inserted into my vein in my upper left arm. I would receive all my IVs through the PICC line.
Sunday, Deb came to the hospital as soon as she dropped the girls off to Grandma Bet. They went to church in Swan Lake while Deb came to the hospital to be with me. Later, Grandma Bet brought Angie and Lilli to see me. I had not seen the girls since early Wednesday morning and I was anxious to see me. When they got to the room, Angie was more excited about riding the elevator than she was in seeing me. Lilli wanted to crawl up in bed with me when she saw me. I sure appreciated seeing the girls. It lifted my spirits.
On Monday, the doctor finally took me off a liquid diet. The first solid food meal I had was chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and peas. I scarfed it down. I was never so thankful for a good meal than I was when I get to eat real food rather than broth, jello, Popsicles, and juice.
Deb was such a great sight for sore eyes during this time. All I could do was lay in bed and watch TV. Thankfully, one of the cable stations showed Hogan's Heroes quite a bit. I got to see a lot of episodes of my old favorite show! Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were spent just laying in bed. Eventually the pain subsided and I went from morphine through my IV to a pill. During the night Monday, I did not have any painkillers at all.
On Tuesday, Dr. Jackson came in to see how I was doing. He asked us to go and see the MRI of my infection on the spine. Both Deb and I were stunned at how big the infection looked laying on my spine. Because of the size of it, Dr. Jackson said that the IVs would probably been 3 to 6 months rather than the 6 weeks to 3 months that he initially thought. He also said that he would make sure that we had home hospice come in to show Deb how to do the antibiotic IVs. Finally, Dr. Jackson said he would turn my case over to an infectious diseases doctor, Dr. Martha Buitrago. Unfortunately, her office is in Idaho Falls so it would mean commuting there to see her. We have an appointment for Wednesday, August 27.
I was very thankful to get home and sleep in my own bed. It seemed like an eternity since I had been home. Since I have been home, Deb has been trained on my IV antibiotics. I have two antibiotics that are administered. One is given to me continuously through a pump that I have to carry around. The other is administered for about 30 minutes every day. Deb has stepped up and been a great nurse for me!
I have thought a lot about my battle with my staph infection. I have wondered what would have happened if this had occurred 10 years ago. Would the doctors been able to diagnose the problem? What about 25 years ago? Would it have been a fatal infection then? I am so blessed to live in a time now that computers and machines can literally look inside my body to find the problem. It is a miracle.
I have also greatly appreciated all the doctors, nurses, and technicians that were so willing to help me find the problem and then get the solution. These men and women are so talented and I am grateful for each one of them.
Finally, I am so thankful for the prayers of so many--friends and family. I have grown to appreciate the girls and they joy they bring to my life. I do not know where I would be if I did not have my wonderful wife by my side each step of the way. She has been such a strength and a support. I love her with all my heart.
I am still sick. I still have the infection to fight off. But with the help of talented medical personnel and the prayers of those close to me, we will win.
