Medical Mysteries and Summer of Surgeries

We have had quite time as of late with doctors and hospitals. First we have our medical mysteries of Porter and Mason. Porter started it off with all his spots. Mind you he's already had the Chicken Pox, but one day these red spots started appearing all over his body. They didn't seem to hurt or bother him except when he saw them. Small scratches and bug bits seemed to really react to it too, they just got huge. It wasn't scabs or pimples, just spots. I took him to the doctor and the Nurse Practitioner brought in a few more doctors, including an epidermal specialist, but no one could figure out what it was. They ordered several tests but everything came back normal. They took pictures to document it and had me come back several times but with no new information. Was a mystery and will always be a mystery.

Now for Mason's mystery. Mason was sick with a high fever and red eyes for 3 days, then broke out in a rash. The same signs and symptoms for measles and there happened to be an outbreak in Tucson and crazy enough our health insurance called with a generic message to immunize the kids for measles right when he was breaking out. I called the doctor and they said to meet behind the office. The doctor (who has seen and been around measles in Africa all the time) met us at a picnic table and said it looked like measles. So a nurse came out and drew blood. They then contacted the Department of Health who sent the head of Epidemiology to our house within 30 min to talk to us for 2 and 1/2 hours about where we had been the recently (where it could have been spread) and to talk about the seriousness of a measles outbreak in the U.S. where there hasn't been one in years. It took a while telling him everyone we were in contact with because of course, because of Murphey's Law, it had been a busy 4 days. We had visited out of state relatives, had a big family dinner, Nana's funeral, Stake Conference and overnights at both sides of our families. The tests ended up coming back negative , but then they wanted to be sure so they sent a nurse from Coolidge to Mesa to draw more blood. She was unsuccessful so they drove Mason and I to Phoenix to the clinic there . It all seemed like this top secret government operation. It came back negative again. All that work for nothing. Just glad he's ok.

On to the Surgeries. It was April 19, 2008. Brent was out on a quading trip with his dad when I got this call from him telling me that Brent was in an accident, they were at the hospital in Eager. He said it was his Spleen and would call me once they knew anything. He let me talk to Brent which was such a relief. Next thing I heard they were flying him in a small plane (just for him, costing $30,000) to Sky Harbor Airport so an ambulance could talk him to Good Samaritan Hospital. I got to the hospital and was met by his mom and aunt, Lisa, and uncle, Mark. We got to see him briefly rolled by, once he got there with the ambulance and then a few minutes later Mark and a friend we able to give him a blessing. He didn't look bad on the outside but I could tell he was hurting internally. He motioned for a kiss a few times and would hold my hand reassuring me he was okay, which was really sweet. His mom and I stayed through the surgery in the waiting area, which seemed like forever. Finally the trauma surgeon came out to talk to us, he said that they were able to get the internal bleeding to stop and did end up having to take out the spleen, it was obliterated. His other organs were checked while they were in there and everything looked fine. There was one minor complication concerning scar tissue between his bladder and ureter preventing them to place a normal catheter. He ended up calling one of his Urologist buddies (we later learned that all the urologists at that hospital were on strike, for about 3weeks, because of pay)who walked him through how to place a super pubic catheter, which is where they cut a hole in the bladder through the abdomen and place a tube through there with some stitches. Brent had to stay in the hospital for a week, including the ICU for a night. I was there from open to close (of visiting hours) to comfort, support, feed, bath and kiss him. It took him a few days to get up and take a few steps. But of course the nurses didn't mind...they loved him. Both families were great, he had daily visitors and the kids were watched and well taken care of so I could be with him. (I don't know what we would have done without our families...they were truly wonderful). The fun didn't end when we got home. We didn't have insurance or a urologist but Brent still had a tube coming out of his abdomen. Doctors wouldn't see us and quite frankly we couldn't afford to be seen, but the catheter should have been out within 10 days. 3months, 7 doctors, acquiring insurance and a lot of pain later, Brent was finally able to have another surgery to have it removed and check out the area. He wasn't totally catheter free but was able to take that one out on his own after 10days. We were all kind of sad to see 'Mr. Bubbles' go (that's what Brent and everyone else called his lovely catheter bag). He is still regaining his strength, has very low blood pressure and back problems but all in all is doing great now. Looking back we can see how very blessed we were physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially. But what an experience.


Okay this one won't take as long. A couple months ago we had put the boys down for bed and I started to have horrible back pain. I blew it off at first thinking it was cramps. When it kept getting worse and felt more like constant back labor ( and I wasn't due with another baby anytime soon) I knew I was experiencing another kidney stone. This had happened each time I was pregnant at about 6months along. So Brent called Grandma and Grandpa Calhoun to come over and watch the boys while we rushed over to the emergency room. The pain was excruciating by this time and I couldn't hold still or stop crying (this got Brent really worried because with epidurals I didn't get like this when I had kids). They got us in fairly quick, took me back to a room and started giving me pain meds. Thank goodness for modern medicine.It took 5 hours though. After taking a CT scan the doctor came in and informed us I had 2 large kidney stones piggybacking each other. The only thing to do was to have surgery. Brent went home and I stayed the night. I was put on a waiting list for surgeries the next day and finally around 7pm I was taken back for surgery. It was amazing to not remember a thing. I woke up burning though. I had to stay till the next night and even got my own 'Mrs. Bubbles' to keep me company, although I really didn't want it. My urologist was amazed I had no symptoms before, said that I must have a high tolerance for pain because my kidney was 3times the size and my ureter was the size of a sausage because of the blockage! He measured one kidney stone to be 6mm and the other 7mm, so together I had this 13mm dam. He also had to put a stint in to retain an opening.


What a Year...what a year!