Luke's First Trip to the ER

Quick update: Life as our little family knew it turned itself upside-down last Saturday when Luke got sick. At first, we thought it was just the flu, but when the headaches and the very intense abdominal pain started, we knew that it was something more.

By Sunday night the pain was so bad that Luke couldn’t take it anymore; he couldn’t sleep, he was throwing up, but he hadn’t eaten anything so he wasn’t really throwing up anything that resembled food.

I took him to the emergency room up at OHSU around 8 P.M. We sat in the waiting room for 3 hours before they got him in. Still, he was in bad enough shape that they gave him an IV while we waited. He was really out of it during this time; he doesn’t remember much of anything. The pain was so bad that he couldn’t really talk. He was pale.

When they finally got him back they realized he had very low potassium levels – though he had only thrown up a total of two times – so they gave him a nasty orange drink that I had to force him to drink. His liver was enflamed and so that made some of his blood work counts funky. The nurses did a flu test and it came back negative so that squashed our first theory into oblivion. They gave him some morphine and some anti-nausea medicine to try and make him more comfortable. They also took some chest x-rays. After all that, and much poking and prodding around his body, the doctors (I forgot to mention that when attending to Luke all medical personnel are dressed in the full protection getup with cover-dresses and masks) still had no idea what was wrong with him so they asked to keep him overnight.

Since we just moved to Portland, we don’t know anyone that would be willing to watch the baby. Z came with us through this whole ordeal. She did alright actually. She didn’t want to go to sleep because there was so much activity going on around her. She gets really flirty when she’s exhausted but won’t go to sleep. She also thinks everything is hilarious. I had to go home so that I could try and get the baby to sleep and take care of some work things. Luke had gone through two IV bags and they were putting in a third before I left at 2 o’clock in the morning (he would go through a grand total of seven IV bags in two+ days).

The next day we went to see him and he was feeling a little bit better (I think the morphine helped with that) and they had run some more blood work on him. His white blood cells and platelet levels were low – and still are, as a matter of fact. They did an ultrasound and everything looked normal, except that Luke has a sub-spleen (Lucky guy’s got two spleens. He says that means he’s special). Mono test came back negative. Blah! More and more theories going out the window.

By the end of the day Monday, the doctors still don’t know what’s wrong with him. On a happier note, no one was wearing the protective clothing/masks anymore. Luke was able to eat something. He was able to get some restful sleep. On a more negative note, he couldn’t stop sweating – they had to change the sheets three times.

By Tuesday Luke is ready to blow the hospital popsicle stand. When I get there with Z (who everyone loved and flirted with) Luke was pacing the halls like a crazy patient telling the nurses he wanted to go home. Since they still didn’t know what was wrong with him they had resorted to testing for AIDS. Luke knew then that they would never figure out what was wrong with him.

He felt a smidgen better and his pain was tolerable so I took him home that morning. He came home, still very weak, and slept for a while but felt well enough to go out for a celebratory dinner at Olive Garden – though he barely ate anything.

This was a very scary time for us. We count our many blessings that troughout this whole thing, family was checking in all the time and doing anything in their power to help. My dad got a hold of our new bishop and he got the missionaries to come to the hospital and give Luke a blessing. Luke’s family checked in and his sister – who is a nurse – called and talked to the doctor to make sure that the doctor knew what she was doing. We appreciate EVERYONE – family and friends – for their love, support and prayers.

Aslynn dealt with the whole situation rather well. She did get more needy. She wants to be held and snuggled more the past couple days; I just think that is how she is responding to the stress of the situation. She figured out that if I have something in my hand and she wants to hold my hands or be in my arms all she needs to do is take the object out of my hand and throw it aside. It’s cute and annoying all at the same time.

Her sleep schedule got turned tush over teakettle so she’s been waking up during the night more often. If any of you have any ideas how we can get her to sleep through the night, let us know! I am getting tired of feeding her every time she wakes up – which can be as often as every hour. She isn’t hungry; it’s just a comfort thing. If she doesn’t get to eat a little she cries inconsolably. With Luke out of commission I have a renewed respect for single mothers who have to take care of the baby all by themselves.

Anyway, Luke is home and feeling better and stronger. We hope that he will continue to get better quickly. He hates being taken care of like an invalid – he’s just way too independent to put up with such “nonsense.”