Wow. My last entry was 5 weeks ago today. And the next day, our world was rocked. Here's the story.
I had been to lunch with my Grandma Woodward and called John on my way home just to say hi and see what he was up to. At that time, he casually mentioned that he had a headache. No big deal. I didn't think one thing. That was at 3:30 in the afternoon. Soon after, I got home and at 4:30 John said he had taken 800 mg of Ibuprofen and it didn't touch his headache, so he took a Percicet and went up stairs to lay down.
At 7 pm, he came downstairs again, and by this point he was bothered by the light and said he'd never had a headache that bad. He then took a Lortab and went back up stairs. I took the kids outside and played for a couple of hours so they wouldn't bother John. Then I came back in to get them ready for bed and took an ice pack up to John. We both thought he had a migraine, and his back was starting to hurt. When he gets really tense, his back (which he injured years ago) seizes up and starts spasming. So, I put the kids to bed and laid down with Ellie for a minute and dozed off.
At 10:30pm I heard some groaning and got up to find John on the stairs. He said he needed to go to the hospital. He was stuck on the stairs and couldn't move. So I called my sister (she lives across the street...so lucky for us. Had she not been there, I would have insisted that John just go to bed), and asked her to come over. When she got there, she saw John's condition and asked if her husband Joe should come give him a blessing.
So, Joe and our neighbor Garrett came and tried to move him down the stairs. When they realized how much pain her was in, they gave him a blessing right there on the stairs. It was the most personal, beautiful, and specific blessing I have ever heard. Garrett blessed John that his breathing would calm and that his heart rate would slow. He said the pain would subside within 2 to 3 hours, but that there was a long road ahead. As soon as the blessing ended, both Joe and Garrett said we needed to call an ambulance.
So, I called an ambulance to come get John. At this point, while John was still conscious, he wasn't very lucid. And, admittedly, I still thought it was just a bad headache from which he needed relief. Joe and Garret tried again to get John down the stairs and with EVERY move, John would cry out like he was giving birth. (Admittedly, my sister and I were on the front porch chuckling - not that it was funny that he was in pain - it was just comical to us that two grown men were trying to be so delicate, and yet the third grown man was crying out so loud with every touch. I'm a rotten wife, I agree.)
So the ambulance came, put an IV in for morphine and off they went. I followed them in my car (still thinking he just needed some injections in his back and a good dose of morphine for the pain and we would be coming home that night). By the time they got to St. Marks Hospital, John was unconscious. They could rouse him enough to ask him his name and where he was, but then he'd pass out again. And within 20 minutes of arriving to the hospital, he was completely out...unresponsive.
Okay, so here's another admittance. When he passed out, I started to worry that he had taken more pain medication than I was aware of, so I thought we were dealing with an overdose...but the ER staff (who were GREAT) knew way more than me, and knew this wasn't the case. Although John didn't have a fever (which is very rare with an infection), his blood pressure was very high.
So, in the ER, the doctor did some tests on John's eyes and immediately knew there was pressure on his brain (specifically the right side). They took him for a CT scan, fearing he'd had an aneurysm. When the scan came back normal, they immediately did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). They had some additional nurses come in to prop John up to do the test, and we were all just chatting until the fluid starting coming out. Their faces all changed, and one nurse said, "Holy crap.", and the doctor said, "Oh my." Apparently spinal fluid is supposed to be clear like water, and John's was more like the color of milk. The doctor said he's never seen spinal fluid so cloudy and told me John had bacterial meningitis. They took four viles of fluid and another ER doctor came in to look at it because he hadn't ever seen it so creamy either. Very comforting.
Up until that point, I had been very calm, but when they told me it was a life threatening infection and started moving REALLY fast, I got sort of weak and probably went white. It took me about 10 minutes to regain my senses. So there we were. The doctors put him on a steroid to reduce the swelling in his brain and started the antibiotics right away along with an anti-seizure medication.
When they moved him from the ER to ICU, he was in isolation so I had to gown up to go be with him. That only lasted the first day when they found out he wasn't as contagious as they had originally thought.
The next day, the kind doctors tried to be gentle, but they weren't sure he was going to make it. So for three days John was in a coma fighting for his life. I was in shock, but doing really well. The doctors thought I was in denial and finally one doctor talked to me with my mom (I think he was hoping she could get me to understand that John could die - which I understood, I just couldn't process it). John had so many doctors working on him...a neurologist, an infectious disease specialist, a pulminologist, etc. They told me that even if he pulled through, there was a significant possibility that there would be long term neurological deficits and he was at risk for a massive stroke. Again, while I understood what they were saying, my mind couldn't process it (plus I know I was being sustained...how grateful I am for the power of prayer!). John also had pneumonia and a sinus infection that we didn't know he had.
Finally Thursday morning John woke up. What a relief! So many people had been praying and fasting for him and he'd been given two blessings, and his name was in temples all across the country. He was really out to lunch, and was extremely weak (and 5 weeks later, he is still very weak), but he was alive! The doctors kept telling us (and still do) how lucky John is to be alive.
We were lucky in that he had relatively few setbacks in the hospital. He gradually got well enough to go home. He was in the hospital for 9 days, and was sent home with a pic line for the antibiotics. He was on home health care for a couple of weeks.
So now, we're in recovery mode. He's in physical therapy for weakness and balance...he still has a massive headache...is still very weak...and has permanent hearing loss. All very manageable! Okay, he does have some very slight memory issues and maybe some small personality changes, but those too are very manageable. He has some abnormalities on his brain that we are working on (only one was consistent with a small stroke) finding out what they mean - if anything. And the infectious disease specialists (two of them) think he might have an immune disorder that makes him more susceptible to infections. We'll start the testing for that in September.
For the past several weeks, we've had doctor appointments several times a week, and had to go back to the hospital because of a all-over body rash. But this coming week, I think the only appointments John has is physical therapy....and getting fitted for a hearing aid. And just this weekend I've seen HUGE progress. He hasn't been driving, but yesterday he felt so good that he went to the store (it's only a half mile away, but how liberating for him!!).
John's illness has been so hard on Ellie and Jack. Thank goodness they are resilient. And Thank goodness my mom and my family have been SO willing to help with them. Neighbors have also been awesome to help with meals, my kids, mowing our lawn, bringing goodies, bringing projects for Ellie and Jack to work on, etc. I have learned so much about service. It's been so humbling to be served. People have come out of the wood work with kindness. A little old lady I'd never met even brought over a loaf of homemade bread! That's how I want to be...willing to serve others. And I've learned that it's the little things that make such a difference! And how wonderful it feels to have people you don't even know show such love.
I am so grateful to have John with us! I realize how close he came to death. His body has been absolutely ravaged by this. I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of John and of our little family. I'm grateful that he has allowed us to go through this to change our course slightly. I am grateful for prayer, and am so grateful for the priesthood and for the good men who have administered to John and to me. I am grateful for the MANY tender mercies we have seen and been blessed with throughout these past few weeks.
Thank you to everyone who has called, sent messages on Facebook, prayed for us, or helped us. It has meant the world to us. I'm sorry I haven't been good about responding...my focus has been on John and my kids :). Hugs to all...and I'll try to be a little better about posting John's recovery. Hopefully within a few weeks we'll have some good news about his long term health. I'll let you know. Oh, and I'm too tired to go through this entire post...so if it doesn't make sense, sorry! I know it's very long and wordy. I'm sure if I took the time to reread it, I'd edit the heck out of it. But, right now I've got to get in bed :).
