There's No Place Like Home!

What does this lovely gal...


have in common with this handsome man???

They would both agree that there is absolutely, positively, no place in all of the world like HOME!!!

I feel like I have lived an entire life since my last post and probably look like it, too. When I posted last Friday, we had returned from the ER and were trying to keep Greg hydrated and his meds down until we met with the gastro doctor on Tuesday. We actually had a really good day on Friday. Greg felt reasonably well, took his meds, drank Gatorade like an all-star, and even ate dinner. Our well pump got fixed and we came home. We were getting ready for bed on Friday night when we got a phone call from the ER. The nurse asked me how Greg was doing and then told me that they were getting results back from his blood cultures in the lab and we needed to come back to the hospital immediately. The tests were showing that Greg had an infection in his blood that needed to be treated. We both thought it didn't sound too great, but neither of us had any idea just how serious the condition was.

To make a long story short, they admitted him to the hospital and started him on IV antibiotics while they tried to determine what exactly was in his blood and what else was going on with him. His stomach had never felt great, but throughout Friday night and into the day on Saturday, the pain was intensifying and he was not doing well. About midday on Saturday, the doctor told us that more results were coming in from the lab and Greg had clostridium difficile (c-diff) in his intestines and salmonella in his intestines and blood. SALMONELLA! We both thought this was a bit crazy, (who in the world gets salmonella?), but Greg's condition was deteriorating so much we didn't have much time to think about it. Doctors and nurses were coming in and out of his room poking and prodding and Greg was absolutely miserable. At this point, Greg and I were starting to recognize that this was serious business and we were getting a bit scared. We prayed together (which we finally gave up doing because a doctor or nurse would come in the room every time we started) and my dad and uncle gave Greg a wonderful priesthood blessing. We felt calmer and more peaceful after that, but it was still scary. They took him in for a CT scan and then an ultrasound and determined his gallbladder was also infected.

The next few hours after that were some of the most horrifying of my life and something I hope to never experience again. My cousin posted about it on her blog, so I'm just going to cut and paste her version of the experience rather than type it out myself.

Greg, and by extension everyone who loves him, did not have a great weekend. The CT scan and ultrasound they did Saturday afternoon showed that his gall bladder was very infected. The doctors did not want to do surgery because of the infection he had in his body. They decided to put a drain in hoping that would buy some time to get the infection under control. They took him into radiology to put the drain in. He was not put out because they needed him to be able to move. Whatever it was they gave him for the pain did not work and he felt them cut him and sticking the drain in and them trying to push it into the gall bladder. It was not a good experience for Greg and it ended up not working. So there was now a hole in the gall bladder and bile was leaking into Greg's abdomen. They brought Greg back to his room to prep him for emergency surgery. I wasn't there, but the accounts of the experience from those who were are awful. Greg was in excruciating pain. As they brought him off the elevetor they could hear the yelling/bellowing/moaning sound he was making clear down the hall in his room. Every nurse on the floor was in preping him for the surgery. They were throwing paperwork at Natalie to sign. She asked if it was possible to send him to another hospital and they told her he wouldn't make it if they did.

Kyle and I were in Bear Lake and I happened to call my mother about this time. She was crying and told me things were really bad. We got in the car and headed for the hospital in Logan. When we got there everyone was waiting for him to come out of surgery. When the doctor came in he said it had gone well and it was probably for the best that they took it out. It was very infected and diseased. The doctors theory is that Greg got salmonella back around the first of June when this whole thing started. It has been ravaging his body and got into the blood stream causing the infection there. He said he figures that the salmonella is what attacked the gall bladder and infected it. The first antibiotic they gave him in June killed too much good bacteria in the stomach and has caused a different infection there so getting the right mix of stuff to treat this is going to be tricky.

When I saw Greg yesterday he was still in quite a bit of pain, but said it was a different pain and not as bad. He was very doped up but was able to carry on a conversation with me for a little bit. He will be in the hospital at least until tomorrow and maybe longer. The doctor said after all the messing around with his general doctor and the 3 trips to the ER he isn't letting him go home until he knows they have a handle on this and that Greg is getting better.

Greg's surgery was Saturday night and they finally released him to come home this afternoon. He was one sick kid and was somewhat of a celebrity in the hospital. Every doctor who came in acted like it was such an honor to treat "the guy with c-diff and salmonella in his blood" and the nurses kept telling us what an interesting case he was. (Don't worry, I explained to them that he's always been kinda weird.) He is still very weak after nearly 2 months of being sick, but he is on the road to recovery. He will be on heavy duty antibiotics for 30 days and then we will re-evaluate to make sure all infections are gone and he is healthy again. They told us multiple times how lucky we are that he is young, strong, and a fighter. These kind of infections are nasty! He is loving being home and said he was most excited for "good food and his own bed."

We are so grateful for all of the love and support from family and friends over the past week. We have been told that many people fasted for Greg and our family on Sunday. It's difficult to explain, but we have definitely felt the strength that comes from your prayers and we have needed it. We have been overwhelmed with the many kindnesses shown to us and the sacrifices our families have made to help us and our kids. I can't list names because there have been too many and I know people have helped us in ways we don't even know about, but you know who you are and we love you.