Sunday, April 10, 2011

Weeks 6 and 7: Kidney Stones, Pneumonia, and Collapsed Lungs - Oh my!

I wasn't able to sit at the computer long enough to blog last week, so this week I'll try to play catch up :) All was going pretty good here, just sitting around being lazy, or occasionally running an errand here or there. Nothing too exciting. Then the "fun" began....

It all started with Katelyn and a nasty cough/cold that didn't want to let up - finally one night it got so bad that we decided to take her in to Urgent Care. The verdict: Upper respiratory infection and double ear infection. This is at least ear infection number 4 for her now. Poor thing! I'm afraid she's going to end up needing tubes someday...

Katelyn modeling a doctors mask at Urgent Care. Her cough was terrible!

We thought everyone had finally gone through about all the sicknesses we possibly could at this point. I mean so far between the 4 of us we've had the flu, bronchitis, urinary tract infection, prostate infection, ear aches, and upper respiratory infections. That's enough for one family in a 6 week period, right? Apparently not...

Last Monday around 2 am, Nate started noticing blood in his urine (I know, gross right?), so he took himself to the ER because I had already taken my nightly sleep meds and was PASSED OUT. Around 7am he wakes me up to tell me I need to get up because I need to take him to his urologist. After a cat-scan the ER doctor found a 6mm kidney stone! (We were told an average kidney stone size is around 3mm so that gives you an idea of how major this was). The doctors were amazed that he wasn't passed out on the floor screaming in pain. So we spent the day hunting down the urologist and trying to get an appointment to have his surgery done to remove the stone. We finally got in, and scheduled the surgery for Wednesday morning. Little did we know we wouldn't make it that far.

Later that night his pain became unbearable and back to the ER we went. The ER doctor got in touch with Dr. Snyder (his urologist) and he came in immediately to do the procedure. The doctor said the stone was longer instead of round and extremely jagged. He was able to pull it out without blasting it, but Nate had so much blood that he was beginning to form blood clots so they put a stint in so that it would be easier to pass the clots while he recovered. Everything seemed to go well and I was with him in recovery again laughing with his nurse at his goofiness while he was doped up on major pain pills. All was finally going to be okay! Or so we thought....

Nathan in recovery after having an out patient procedure to remove his kidney stone.

So home we went with pain meds and hope that we would FINALLY be a healthy family again. Then the next day, Nate started having a really hard time breathing, fever, and a really high heart rate. Doctor recommendations: Go back to the ER! After waiting about 4 or 5 hours they could not get his oxygen and heart rate under control without the help of an oxygen tank, so they decided to admit him. The verdict this time? Post operative pneumonia with a partially collapsed lung! When it rains it pours, huh? So for the next 2 nights Nate stayed in the hospital doing breathing treatments and trying to rest. The nurses wanted him to get up and walk a lot but he was in a lot of pain from the stint that was still in. Unfortunately Nate doesn't seem to respond well to many medicines so they had to try a lot of different pain meds and antibiotics before they could finally find something he could keep down and not have a bad reaction to. He was finally released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon.

Nathan enjoying his steak dinner in the hospital. In recovery after surgery he kept saying he wanted steak. Probably not quite what he was wanting but he tried it anyway :)

Nathan doing one of his many breathing treatments to try to re-inflate his lung and get his oxygen under control.

The next day, Nathan began taking a new antibiotic that is a cousin to the Augmentin family, which he is allergic to. The doctors and the pharmacist convinced us that he should have no problem with this medication regardless of his allergy so we did what we were told and took the meds. Within 20 minutes Nathan was vomiting everything that came in and I was afraid we were going to end up back in the ER - Again! Luckily, we were able to get the vomiting under control at home and with rest and a few crackers, he seemed to be getting better.

Now, all is well again as he is recovering and his pain is almost gone from the surgery (stint is out too thankfully. Poor guy!) Regardless of all of this, we're still somehow in high spirits. Heavenly Father has a plan for everything - even when we just don't understand it! There was a reason all of this was supposed to happen. I hope I figure out why soon so I can feel better about it ;)




We had one or two uneventful days for the most part - just trying to recover from our crazy week. Then this morning we woke up late for church because the electricity went out, and when we looked at Katelyn we saw the rash. It started last night around 8pm but she wasn't bothered by it and it didn't look severe so we sent her to bed. This morning it had spread everywhere, including her face, and was much worse. So off to Urgent Care we went!! The doctor determined it was some kind of allergic reaction so she's now on a steroid and benadryl for the next 5 days. The steroid makes her NUTS! She's already a hilarious child - add a steroid to the mix, and I just don't even know what to do with her anymore.. ;)


Katy and her poor blotchy face from her rash. Luckily she never seemed bothered by it!

After everything that has gone on the past few weeks, I needed some positivity and good food, so me and my partner-in-crime (aka my sister in law Jennica) did what we do best - we made an interesting new snack to eat! (Thats our thing - we make weird and cute edible things for fun). This time it was cake balls! Maddie helped us dip some of them, but it was a really messy process. They turned out to be really good, but pretty rich. For my upcoming baby shower we're going to be making brownie balls shaped like owls :) I can't wait to do them!


Me and Jennica working on the cake balls

Maddie getting in on the cake ball action

Maddie enjoying the chocolate candy coating by the spoonful.

Now that we've seemed to get past all of this craziness, I hope that I can have some time to unwind and regain some sanity and much needed sleep. In the meantime, I am officially 32 weeks pregnant and our little Allyson Claire will be joining the madness soon! I now have a new OB doctor named Dr. Burgett and he is FABULOUS! I'll be getting another ultrasound done soon so we can check on Ally's growth, but I have no concerns in that area. She moves around like crazy and is definitely growing. I don't think I've ever been this big pregnant!

32 week belly shot.

1 comment:

  1. It takes a strong woman to deal with so much sickness!! Good job for keeping everything together! I hope you're past the worst of it! :)

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