Day #10- ICU

Well, it can't be said that when the Hughes family does something they do it small. I mean, we have always been taught that if you are going to do something, do it big!

Day 10 has dawned bright and beautiful. I am actually very proud of myself. I left earlier than I have since we got here to head back to the Guest House and I was completely OUT by 12:30 am. I slept until 7:20 am when my eyes popped open. I knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep, so I just attacked the day and got ready.

Upon arriving at the Hospital, I found my wife in AWESOME condition. Her fever had broke during the night and she was sleeping. I gently kissed her forehead and said good morning. I can't begin to describe the love, happiness, peace that began to flood into my mind when she opened those beautiful blue eyes and looked at me. From there we had a discussion about when I had left (I had kissed her goodnight, but she was exhausted and been OUT! Yet another reason I left earlier- so she could sleep. It has been nice to have her very alert, writing CLEAR notes, and starting to get a bit feisty.

Dr. Pearce came in and checked her over this morning and talked about her surgery. It is scheduled for 1pm, which I was glad to hear. That means my oldest son will be here to see her when she goes by. He is doing okay, but he really needs to see his mom and dad. I am SO thankful for all the good people around us. Kristin is bringing up my baby girl and my oldest. That means I will have been able to see 4 of the 6. The two little boys were  very cute last night when I was talking to them. My 4 yr old son would talk and talk and talk. He sounded much more grown up than before. My little 2 yr old son didn't really say a whole lot. I hope he hasn't forgotten who is mommy and daddy are...

Yesterday after I blogged (and I was able to slap myself a couple of times and get my mind cleared up), I returned to the room and found her doing okay. Our friend Kelly arrived (I think more to check on me than to see my wife in this case...) and she stayed for quite a while. Iva Wilske, the second grade teacher at my school, stopped by for a visit. She stayed for quite a while too. I am SO thankful these ladies showed up to support my wife and distract me. Iva left and then Kelly stepped out when my wife's parent arrived. It was nice to see them again. They brought her little brother Jordan with them. He just graduated from high school, and it was nice for him and his sister to "visit". During the "You Can't Be In Here Hours" we went to Aunt Roberta and Uncle Keith's house for dinner. It was nice. We ate on their deck and enjoyed the warm-ish evening air.

When we got back to the hospital, Aunt Patsy and Uncle Larry arrived and spent some time visiting with my wife. We were trying not to be a "herd" in the room, so I stayed in the waiting room for most of the time. Before everyone left for the night, we gave my wife a blessing. I anointed and her dad blessed. It was a wonderful blessing and the reason she is doing so well today.

After the blessing, I walked everyone out to the parking garage while the gave my wife her nightly bath. When I returned I visited with my wife, but also enjoyed some quiet time just holding her hands and letting her rest. I think one thing I am really learning is that to let someone know you care you don't have to say anything. I know that sounds really, really dumb and obvious, but again, until it really affects you, you don't understand, not really.

That brings us up to date.

UPDATE: Dr. Lichti just came in for his morning rounds. He explained that it would really most likely be Friday before they close her. They will add drains and may have to use an organic graft (which he explained is pig skin with all the animal properties taken out of it). I sure that may be the source of teasing and laughing at some far future point in our lives...

Her surgery is scheduled for 1pm today, so everyone say a prayer.

I asked what caused all of this and he stated that it was a uterine infection. He wouldn't comment on if it came from the C-Section of just happened ("I have seen these things pop-up out of the blue".) which I think he knew more than he would agree too. But that is okay for now.

I do want to say that my wife LOVED the three e-mails that people had sent. You can send them from HERE. I read them to her and she loved hearing from a few of you. If you get a minute, I would ask that you drop her a note every now and then while she is here. She may not respond to you (at least for a while) but she will enjoy hearing from you and about you.

Also, if you haven't noticed, Face Book is being stupid. So, it and when decides to behave, I can give more of the minute-by-minute updates. For now, this is the update.

Later...

Day #6- ICU

Update to Day #5- Surgery: She went in to surgery at 3:00ish pm. She was in surgery for two plus hours. Dr. Lichety came out after the surgery and explained that everything had gone well. He did explain that he had found and removed two more pockets of abscesses, one by her liver and one lower in her abdomen. She then spent the night and part of the today recovering from that. One special moment happened while they were taking my wife to surgery. My oldest daughter had come with my parents to see me (thanks for bringing her. I need to see my babies). When they wheeled my wife by on her bed, the anesthesiologist stopped the bed and asked her if this was her mommy. My daughter nodded yes. He had her come over and tell her she loved her and my wife was able to have human contact with one of her babies. It was a very special moment. My parents took me to my aunt's house in Alpine so I could pay my monthly bills and we had dinner there as well. Then we returned home (a.k.a. Hospital) so I could be with my wife again. I ended up going to bed around 3am. After her surgery she didn't do very good. Her temperature was really high, her blood pressure was low, her heart rate was also very high, and she was breathing way too fast. Even though I was able to chat with four good friends on-line, I left feeling very down and depressed about how things were going.

Day #6- So what happens when a person hit the lifetime maximum on the health insurance? This question has been bugging me now for a couple days. I know I need not worry, for even if I have to give up my house and car, I just want a healthy and happy wife. So that isn't the problem- but it continues to plague my mind. I would be crazy to not think that we will hit $1,000,000 mark with this adventure. Two weeks minimum of ICU and then up to 3 weeks in recovery mode. Anyways...

After not going to bed until after 3am, I didn't awake until almost 9am. I was a little frustrated with myself, but I also realized that it was not a sin. The nurse would have called me if there had been any major problems. I decided it was going to be okay. I showered, got dressed, and headed over. Jayna was the nurse on duty this morning. She gave me the morning report. Everything was looking much better. Her temp was still a little concerning as it was a little high AND the cooling blanket was still running.

My sister and her husband showed up around 10am. What a great day it was to spend with them. They spoiled me at Wal-mart and took me to lunch. We ate at In-n-Out. That was mighty tasty. (Thanks for that!) When we got back, my wife's sister and her husband came to visit. When they left, it was time to head to over to the guest house because I can't be here in the ICU from 5-7. I took another shower and then rested for about 2 hours. I awoke to my phone ringing which frightened me a little. I was very pleased to see the name "Mr. Z" on the caller I.D. (okay, it actually said his whole name). He offered to take me to ComdeySportz for a couple hour improv show. It was a hard decision, but I had never met him and I really needed to a fun activity to help get me out my emotional funk. So I agreed to let him pick me up and I went. Talk about 2 hours of fun and laughter. Man that was great. He dropped me off between the shows. I had fun meeting and talking with Mr. Z for the few minutes that we had.

When I got back the the ICU, everything was looking even better than before. Joe is her nurse tonight and she is so fun and funny to be around. I can't say enough good things about the staff here. They have been helpful, pleasant, and thoughtful of not only my wife, but me as well. They are always asking if I need anything, explaining what they are doing, and such.  Anyways, her temp is WAY down (in fact she is now cold...36.6 degrees cel.) and she is resting. I talked with my sis-in-law in PA for over two hours tonight on Skype. Cool program, I must say.

Tomorrow will be another rest day for her. Her next surgery will be on Monday morning at 7:30am. Then Wednesday, and then hopefully they can close her on Friday. I really hope it all goes well so that we can move on and be done with the ICU portion of this adventure.

Well, it is late (2:10am) and time for me to head over to the guest house and rest. Some friends have invited me over to dinner tomorrow. I am also going to do my laundry while I am there. What a blessing good friends are.

Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, calls, notes, etc. We will never be able to repay everyone, but we will love you forever!

Later...

Please Help Me I'm Falling...

 As for the last 3 days, I am not sure what to feel anymore. When I got the phone call on Monday to get to the clinic in town ASAP because my wife might have a heart problem, I had a sinking feeling that things were going to take a turn for the worst. Little did I really know what was in store.

When I got to the clinic, my wife was on an IV and oxygen. She looked tired and emotional (as well she SHOULD be after all her suffering the past few weeks). The PA came in and told us that he was very concerned with her heart rhythms and that he wanted her to go to the Price hospital to be checked out. She was loaded into the ambulance and off she went. I went home and threw stuff in to a bag (thankfully Krisitn and Cindy were there to help me remember items). When she arrived at Castle View, they immediately started running tests: CT Scan, Chest X-ray, EKG, and massive blood tests. My sister-in-law was there and she started demanding answers. She got them too. We found out that, despite out repeated requests to be seen by our doctor to have her seen (more on this another post...I am still trying to work out my anger over how all this happened- it just isn't right!!!) she had become toxic. Her tests revealed massive abbesses within multiple layers of her abdomen and uterus. One was the size of a softball. She had a total of 13 (I think). They also discovered that her blood had become sepsis and she was in trouble (potentially life threatening).


They loaded her up in an ambulance and sent her to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. My sister drove me to the hospital behind the ambulance. When we arrived they pulled her in the ER and immediately began new tests. They discovered that her system was completely off- her chemicals were way out of whack (potassium was at 2.2 and should have been at 4.0, for example). They decided to put her in the IMCU (intermediate intensive care unit) for the night and had her scheduled for 7am surgery.

Through the night she did improve a little as far rebalancing her system with fluids and chemicals. At 7:00 they took her down to surgery. I told her that I loved her and gave her a kiss. She smiled at me. She went through the double doors at 7:30am, and I was able to see her in her room at around 3pm. The infection had reeked havoc on her body. She had to have a complete hysterectomy. They repaired 7 or 8 abbesses, unstuck her bowel from her abdomen (which the infection had 'cemented' in place) and had to clear lesions off the bowel as well.

It was a long and tense amount of time for me. My mother and father-in-law where here with me (thankfully, I would have been a basket case if I would have had to be alone through that). I began to get so anxious that I thought I would explode.

When I finally got to see my wife, I cried. She looked so fragile and I knew at that moment that I couldn't lose her for anything. That was so hard to see her, sedated and on a respirator. Knowing that she would be sedated until after the final surgery was hard too. She wouldn't even know I was there for over a week. I felt so helpless and guilty. Life is interesting that way...we play the blame game when something goes wrong. I find it ironic that we are willing to avoid taking the blame until it become serious, and then we heap it on ourselves. The nurse explained that it was pretty touch and go for the first while. My sisters Cora and Suzette came to visit with me and one of my good friend from Green River decided to come and take me out (was supposed to be for dinner- ended up being dessert, long story...). My wife had two of her sisters show up as well. We all went to dinner at the Golden Corral. When we returned, we found that her condition had greatly improved. She was much more stable and seemed to be improving. Many family members came and went. I enjoyed seeing and visiting with all of them. After my sisters left I met my friend from Green River and we went to Denny's. We stayed there until almost 2am laughing, being smart alecks, and having fun. I needed that...a lot. When we finished, he dropped me off my wife's aunt's house. I also had him give me a priesthood blessing before he left to drive home (crazy man...2.5 hours home. I almost felt guilty, but I needed that experience. Update: He made it home safe at 4am...I know he will be blessed for his unselfishness in doing service and visiting me!)

I have to say that 5 hours of sleep did my world a lot of good. We have been back here at the hospital now for about 4 hours. The doctors and nurses gave a very positive report this morning stating that she looks really good on paper and they have no major concerns about her condition right now.

Does this mean we are home free?
No! But things are looking really positive for right now. They informed us that she will have a surgery on Friday to check for infection and get clean her up inside again really well, then they will repack it with the sponge pack and wait until Monday and do it again. They are hopeful that Monday they will be able to close the incisions they have made. After that it becomes a waiting game as we wait for her body to start to "wake up" and her organs to function correctly. After her body is in full operation again, we were told it could 5-7 days before they will release her to come home. So, my optimistic outlook is to be home by the middle of June. My  baby girl will miss her birthday (in fact she will still be , most likely, but when we get her home, we will have to have a wonderful celebration of her life), but I am just grateful she is still here to have one.

As for all the wonderful, wonderful people who have given so much for our family, and will be called on to do so much more for us, thank you. It is very humbling to have such an outpouring of love and support directed at us. I know we will never be able to say thank you enough and it most certainly won't be enough- but it is all we have to offer. I can't even begin to list all the calls, offers for help, prayers, sneakily paying cell phone bills to give me more minutes, drives to see us, e-mails, texts, and caring for my 6 babies at home, meals for the kids, park excursions, and much more. We love you and are grateful for all that you have done and are doing still...

Later...