so this past week.... probably has ranked up there as one of our most challenging weeks to date.
I wanted blog about this as a way for me to personally remember what happened this week (so it might be boring to you to read! LOL). I want to remember God's goodness in our time of need.
We spent the extended July 4th weekend in Michigan visiting family in Bear Lake, Michigan and friends in Traverse City. It was a fabulous weekend (more photos to come... I meant to blog about our trip... but then last week happened!).
Todd in Michigan-- three days before "backgate" began. and no the zip line did not cause it!
Upon returning home Todd had horrible back pain beginning Monday July 6th. This happened first after driving to Florida for Spring Break this past March and it has been something he had been dealing with on and off since March. But this pain on Monday after our six hour car ride back from Michigan? It was BAD.
We went to his family Doctor's practice Monday and it was believed that he had sciatic pain. He was sent home with prednisone and a muscle relaxer and it was thought that by Friday he would be much better.
He was able to walk into the doctors office (with pain) on Monday (however I had to drive him because it was too painful to use the clutch on his car). But by Wednesday it was a different story-- he could no longer walk or even sit up. By Tuesday night he was completely 100% bedridden and could only lay flat on his back to relieve the pain.
On Wednesday I called his doctor back to update him on his lack of progress and he agreed Todd needed an MRI. God has an amazing way of providing in our time of need. On this very same day my sister in law Alyssa was meeting with her doctor at
OrthoIndy (where she is also employed) for a follow up appointment of her own. She told
Dr. Meredith Langhorst about Todd's symptoms and she told her to call us and come in right away before his MRI.
It was quite the ordeal getting him to OrthoIndy and then the imaging center for his MRI. Since he could no longer walk, he had to crawl on his hands and knees through our bedroom and through the garage and then into the back of my minivan where he laid flat on the floor. It was clear things were declining in his ability to move. He laid flat on his stomach or back at any other time. Taking him inside these appointments in a wheelchair created great pain. We were able to be seen quickly by the Dr at OrthoIndy, then we were off to get an MRI. When he got to his changing room at the MRI he collapsed on the floor in pain. The nurse had to take his blood pressure while sitting and it was VERY (concerning) high due to pain.
He did keep his humor and left the MRI waiting room on his hands and knees and yelled out to the people in the waiting room to DON'T WAIT and let it get this bad. oh. my. word.
Dr. Langhorst from OrthoIndy called us before we even got home and his diagnoses was a "Disc herniation with severe nerve impingement" at L4 and S1.
Basically, our disc's are like a jelly donut with a crust along the outside. Todd's disc burst and the jelly had sprayed all over the nerve causing severe pain (not ready for this jelly). Dr Langhorst's partner, Dr. Schwartz (a surgeon), called us at 9:45 Wednesday evening to discuss our options. He could get Todd into surgery that next day, or he could do a cortisone needle injection (less invasive) with Dr Langhorst the next day. After discussing the options we opted for the cortisone injection on Thursday with hopes it would relieve his pain.
On Thursday we repeated the exhausting and painful move from bed to my van. I called ahead and told them that we needed a stretcher or a hospital bed to be ready for him to crawl into from the back of my van--- he could no longer tolerate a wheelchair and walking was not an option. I found it interesting that the nurses were VERY surprised at his need for a stretcher--- this is when we began to understand the severity of his case.
We arrived at the Spine Center and were all set for his injection. I can't say enough praises for Dr. Langhorst and her attention and care. The injection went well (think similar needle and procedure to an epidural) and we were on our way back home hoping for the best. We were told that result make take up 3-5 days.
In the meantime he is on a concoction of medication: Prednisone, Gabapentinin, Hydrocodone, and Bacarol. We had a pharmacy going on here.
Unfortunately we realized by the weekend things were becoming much worse with his pain management and overall health. Throughout the week i was able to balance my time caring for the kids and Todd, but by Friday or so, he was needing me to be available to him most of the day. It is so scary to see your husband decline so quickly. As one of my friends put it, >Seeing your spouse that debilitated is a certain kind of horrifying".
We somehow managed to make it through Saturday. Several calls to the doctor realizing surgery would be imminent. Overnight we had flash flood rains in Indy. Our kids ran into our bedroom and Jonah hopped in bed with Todd, while Jordan got in bed with me in the twin mattress i had pulled into our room during the week. At about 3:00am Todd called out to me that he felt like he was having trouble breathing.
That's something you never want to hear.
About 20 minutes later, our sump pump alarm began screaming downstairs.
That also is something you never want to hear. Especially when you your husband is laid up in bed.
Thankfully my parents (who live across the street) came over at 3:30 am along with our GM (just like family) of our family business to help me clean up the mess. We had an emergency plumber come around 5 am. What an ordeal.
In the meantime Todd was texting me about what the plumber need to do downstairs (he is always highly involved in home repairs), and very troubled that he could not be involved in the repair/clean up. In addition, he was having trouble breathing and felt like he was passing out.
All of these things caused us to really consider the emergent situation we were facing: high blood pressure, breathing problems, uncontrolled pain.After sharing these new symptoms with the doctors, Dr. Schwartz called us late morning with the news that he (instead of the on-call doctor) would perform surgery on Todd and to be at the OrthoIndy hospital by 1pm.
We looked at each other in disbelief and were so thankful God had worked these details out and we did not have to wait until Monday or Tuesday for surgery.
Sunday at 2pm pre-op. Todd was barely awake due to pain. OrthoIndy is primarily an outpatient hospital where most all their patients' surgeries were performed during the week.
We were the only ones in the OR on Sunday. They literally "fired up" the operating room just for us.
Unreal.
Todd's surgery went wonderfully. The doctor removed the ruptured portion of his disc and confirmed that with the way the disc had ruptured it would NOT have healed on it's own. So this surgery was necessary for him. We had a good report that it went well after I had waited in the lobby with my parents and sweet friend Jennifer Walls.
After an hour and a half the nurses called me back since he had trouble waking up from anesthesia and nausea meds. But guess what? He was SITTING up when i saw him!! couldn't even believe it! I knew the surgery worked the second I walked back.
Todd at 6pm in Recovery.
The two RN's and I sat there with Todd in a dark and empty Recovery area as he got the VIP treatment. He asked hilarious questions (like "are you getting time and a half for being here on a sunday?" they said Yes. He said "ok do you want me to sleep awhile longer?" LOL).
Finally, he was able to sit up, then stand up, then WALK. oh how AWESOME that was.
Here he is at 8:15 the evening of his surgery. Sitting up in a chair and able to walk! WOW what a difference a few hours made.
He has a long recovery ahead, but we are so thankful for the exceptional care he was given and how God has worked out every detail!
