Prayer for Casey

In Jan Casey started getting really sick, he was off most of the month due to no work anyway so he saw the Dr. He had bronchitis at the time and was put on antibiotics. A few weeks later he still wasn't feeling better, and was put on a second round and this time also a steroid to help. Both times they did chest xrays and said they were fine (no pneumonia). Still though he's had bouts of extreme fatigue and every now and then he coughs and it just doesn't sound right. About 2 weeks ago he was having some pain and shortness of breath. We went to the Dr again and again they did a chest xray and blood work. Again the chest xray looked clear, they did learn that his total cholesterol was high. Dr's thought his extreme fatigued could be due to that. They never figured out the pain around his arm.

So yesterday and today Casey was working in Topeka, he was to drive the 1hr and 15min drive, work 10hrs and drive home.  Today he called me while he was at lunch like he always does and tells me he's not feeling well. He said he went ahead and went into work because when he woke up not feeling well he just thought he was tired. After all he'd gotten up both days at 5:30, drove the 1hr and 15min drive and yesterday worked 10hrs then drove home. He told me he was going to try and just work 8hrs today and come home early. Around 1:30 he called again and said he was getting worse and was headed home. He said he didn't want to scare me but he was having tingling and numbness in his right hand. Since I used to work at a Dr's office I proceeded to ask him the triage questions we would ask over the phone to see if we should have them talk to a triage nurse right then or send a message to the nurse. I asked him if he was having any pain anywhere, he said yes his upper back (red flag to me). I asked if he had trouble breathing, he said not really, just once in awhile he would have to take a deep breath a couple of times (I didn't tell him but again another red flag to me). I asked if he was having pain in the chest and he said no. He said he could tell he was having a fever because he had the hot and cold thing going. I asked if he felt dizzy and he said not really, I told him I thought the Dr would want him to go to the ER and would he be ok with going to an ER there in Topeka? He said he didn't want to do that, I told him I'd call our Dr's office and get their advice. After telling the receptionist (who I used to work with) what was going on she decided I should talk to the Triage nurse. After waiting for one to be available (a very short time) I talked to the nurse and told her everything Casey had told me. Earlier he had said he was having trouble keeping lunch down as well, since Casey has high Cholesterol she said he should go to the ER ASAP.

So I call Casey back and tell him what she said, I asked if he thought he could find one and he tells me he's already on the highway and out of town so he felt like he could make the drive home and then I could drive him to the hospital.... Honestly, men are so stubborn sometimes! I called my mother in law to see if she could come over and watch the kids so I could take him to the ER. I knew there was NO way I was keeping a 2yr toddler and a 7mo old busy for who knows how long. My mother in law arrived about 20min before Casey did. I explained what was going on and we waited for him to get home. As soon as he got home as he was walking up the porch I knew he was bad. On his way home I had told him to call me every 15min or so to let me know he was ok. When he would call me he sounded pretty chipper and while I could hear the pain in his voice a little bit it wasn't really bad. I looked at him and said "Um we need to go NOW" I kinda hesitated for a split second because at that point I wasn't so sure that we shouldn't just call 911 and have an ambulance take him. However we live within a couple of miles of a hospital and I thought it would probably just be faster to drive him myself. Which is what I did, he was very pale and sweaty on his face yet he was shivering but then not just a couple blocks up the street he was burning hot and opened the window. We got to the hospital and I asked him if he was ok to walk in by himself if I let him off at the door and I went to park. I didn't want him to try walking from the parking lot. He said he could, he was registering by the time I got in there. By the time we got to the hospital he was now having chest pains, but was also having severe pains under his right arm every time he breathed.

The triage nurse took him back rather quickly (although it seemed like to long to me but I know it was only a couple of minutes). She was talking to him and he got white as a ghost and said he felt like he needed to throw up. So she handed him a bag and he threw up, a lot. I felt so bad, I didn't know what I could do for him. The nurse said they were going to get an EKG and went off to find someone or something (she wasn't very good at communicating and was gone what seemed a long time). Finally she came back with another nurse and they said they were going to take him to a room, the 2nd nurse noticed how pale and sweaty he was and told him to stay where he was (sitting in a chair) and she was going to get a wheel chair. We get him to a room and she has him get into a hospital gown. She tells him they are going to do a chest xray, a tech comes in and gets him rather quickly and whisks him off for his xray. Soon they were back, the nurse takes some blood and gives him some Loritab for his fever which was 103 at checkin and to help with the pain he was having. Not to long considering it was an ER later a Dr comes in and talks to Casey. He tells him he's leaning towards thinking Casey had pneumonia but the xrays were in-conclusive (I hate that!). He says he wants to order a CT scan, he is also ordering an EGK and a blood culture, he says that Casey's first blood work came back with a high red cell count. He asks Casey how his pain is and Casey said its starting to return.

The Dr leaves and the nurse comes in to gather lots of blood. She also started him on an IV fluid because Casey had been vomiting a lot since arriving. Another nurse comes in and does an EKG, just as the nurse was finishing up getting all his blood the CT tech arrives to wheel him to the CT scan. She is a bright bubbly person and is talking to Casey while the nurse finishes up, she leaves for a second and then comes back in laughing and says. "I have read to many lab orders today, I had to double check yours because I thought yours said you needed a pregnancy test and I was like WHAT? Turns out I was looking at another patients orders!" We all got a good laugh about it, she tells me it will probably be about 30min and tells me where I can get some coffee or water or a snack from a vending machine. I take the chance and grab something. Spending some time in front of it thinking how terrible it is that they don't provide healthier snacks for those of us on a diet! I wouldn't have been so worried about it except I haven't had a chance to work out today and didn't want to go over on my calories. I opted for animal crackers because they do have "healthy options, just look for the heart!" Really? Animal crackers? Um ok, only 240cal for the bag. Ugh but at least it was food and I was STARVING.

I get back to the room and shortly later I hear Casey's laugh floating down the hall as he's being wheeled back, the meds must be kicking in. As she wheels him back into the room I hear her say "Oh yeah I would have SO fired that Dr!!" I laughed and said "Ah is he telling you his first kidney stone story?" If you don't know it here's the short sweet story. When he was like 20 he started having pain, went to the Dr, Dr thought it was an STD even though he was a virgin and he told the Dr that and sent him to an STD specialist (Casey didn't realize that other Dr was an STD specialist). Turns out Casey was right and it WAS a kidney stone, both Dr's missed it and it took 2 weeks to pass on his own. ANYWAY, its a story Casey likes to tell health care professionals about his old quack Dr, seriously Casey has had some MAJOR health issues his old "family Dr" has missed over the years. Thankfully he now sees excellent Dr's that I switched him too when we first met.

A short time later the Dr was back and he said the CT scan report wasn't fully out yet but there is SOMETHING on the CT scan. He said at this time they are inclined to believe its pneumonia and that he has two options. He can be treated in patient, or out patient. Inpatient of course would be being admitted to the hospital and given IV antibiotics. Out patient would be where he was giving a script for antibiotics and pain meds and sent home. Casey wanted to come home, I asked the Dr which would help him heal better? I was thinking IV would be better then trying to take something if he's throwing up, the Dr said actually normally at home is better because few patients sleep well in the hospital. But it was up to us, he leaves us to discuss some more. He tells us he is going to have the nurse put him on a IV antibiotic NOW to at least get that in his system before he's sent home if we choose to do that. The nurse comes in a few minutes later, Casey is having pain again and looks pale and isn't as talkative anymore (a sure sign he's not feeling well). The nurse asked us if the Dr talked to us and we told her what he said, she said there was more that the Dr was going to be talking to us about and she felt like going home wasn't a good idea. Just then the Dr walks in and says that the longer report of the CT was out and that he has some sort of mass. They are hoping its just pneumonia but it could in fact be a tumor. Needless to say neither of us were expecting THAT, he said given the new report, the fact that Casey has turned white as a sheet again and is in pain he strongly recommends Casey stay in the hospital. We both agree right away and they start getting ready to get him admitted. Of course that takes awhile. The nurse came back in again and gave him some morphine this time for the pain. Over the course of time that we'd been there (roughly 4 1/2hrs) he was given Loritab, tordal (shot) and now morphine. So not good, you know if Casey is complaining of pain it is severe because he NEVER complains and he does NOT like taking meds.

They tell us it might be a little bit before they know which room to take Casey too, so once the morphine was on board and he was back to looking a little more pink I told him I was going to run home. Get him a change of clothes for if they let him put on regular clothes or in case he wanted to shower at least he'd have clean underwear and asked him if he wanted me to bring anything else from home. I got him his cell phone charger, my lap top and I grabbed me some dinner and checked on the kids and Grandma Stephie. I told her I'd be back shortly, I wasn't going to be long just drop the stuff off and see if they had said anything else.

When I get back the nurses were just finishing up putting a new IV on him and getting him settled in his new room. Casey tells me that a 2nd Dr had come in and talked to him. So as of now here is what we know.
There is some sort of mass in his chest area. Its a solid mass, the Dr still hopes its just pneumonia but he says that this type of pneumonia isn't something you normally see on a younger man. However the mass IS solid, if it is pneumonia they said this type doesn't show up on xrays well at all and chances are this mass (whatever it is) has been the root of his problem since Jan. Which I've been saying he was NOT 100% better and I've been saying for a couple of weeks I thought he had pneumonia and that it for some reason wasn't showing up on xrays. Tomorrow they are running more tests, they are concerned because while its presenting like pneumonia he is not coughing really unless he vomits and if he does cough he's not getting any mucus out. They want to get a culture on a good gunk of mucus if he does cough some out. At this point that's all we know.

So I know people are wondering how we're holding up etc, at this point neither of us are terribly worried. We are praying its just pneumonia or something easily treatable. I was talking to my Aunt about it and she was asking how I was doing emotionally. Emotionally I'm tired, very tired yet I doubt I'll be able to sleep. I am confident though that the Lord has this all under control and I am determined to stay strong and not worry. Not only for Casey but for the kids, the hardest part on me at this point is that I feel pulled in two places, I want to be with Casey yet I need to be home with the kids. They are advising at least for 24hrs not to allow the kids to see Casey in case its something that is very contagious (they mentioned like MRSA) we don't want to get the babies sick.

Through it all tho I have seen God at work already, the fact that he protected Casey as he drove all that way home. The fact that the ER got him in, in a relatively short period of time. There weren't very many people in the waiting room at the time but when I left there were a LOT of people and a line to register. The staff has been very kind to us and attended Casey very quickly and have expressed concern for him not just "get him in and get him out" type of thing. I am ever so thankful that the hospital is such a short distance because that will make visiting him easier. The fact that my mother in law was able to drop everything and come over to watch our babies who were very well behaved for her was a huge blessing too. I do see a lot of positive in everything that has happened today even though its been a somewhat scary afternoon.

Some things we would appreciate prayers on would be:
Wisdom for the Dr's to figure out what this is.
Healing for Casey from whatever it is.
Strength for me to handle the babies on my own for awhile as well as time to visit Casey while he is there.

For me the hardest part of this whole thing right now is going to be in dealing with my mother in law. Please understand I love her dearly! She is an amazing woman and I mean her no disrespect. However, she is high strung, is that the word I want to use? I think so, she has trouble understanding medical issues. Also Casey is her only child which well means we get more focused attention which is normally a great blessing. She has been a huge blessing to us, however she is worried and confused about his health. When she's worried or scared she tends to assume things. Some of the things I heard tonight from her was that our "new diet" is making him sick! She doesn't understand that we haven't even STARTED said diet yet. She also thinks that Casey going completely off soda cold turkey is making him sick. Ok granted it can cause a wallop of a headache, maybe some fatigued initially but not THIS serious of an illness. Then there is the whole Dr thing, "Why don't they know whats going on? They don't seem like very good Dr's! He needs a BODY SCAN!!! Why haven't they done xrays? EKG? CAT Scan? Blood Work?" All of which they have done and I calmly remind her that I have told her that they DID all that and she says "Then how can they not know whats going on???? Are you SURE their good Dr's? Maybe he needs to go to St Lukes" Again I LOVE her I really do! But she just has a hard time understanding medical stuff. It doesn't help that during the whole process she's talking to other family members (who are NOT the problem). The problem is that she is also conversing with someone who is NOT family but is in a relationship with a family member and is butting her nose in where it doesn't belong. Getting Steph all worked up because "She knows about medical stuff", again another source of stress for me as she told Steph who didn't know what pneumonia was when I texted it to her (she didn't know that's how it was spelled) this lady told Steph that pneumonia was a "pinched nerve in the brain" Um no. To which I have to admit I wasn't so kind when Steph told me that, I was actually rather cruel towards this lady when I told Steph that SHE (Sally) had a pinched nerve in her brain in the fact that it wasn't working right. I so shouldn't have said that or thought that, but well I was stressed a little and to be honest its not far from the truth with this lady.

So please be in prayer for our family, we need Casey to be healthy. We want Casey home, we love him and miss him dearly. The kids light up when he gets home and I know its going to be very tough on us 3 alone for the next few days. Thanks for your prayers! We are totally trusting God and I will post any updates as I get them.