David

I thought this blog would be a great way to update people on what's going on with David. I'll try to update at least once a day.

Late Monday night Brett(my brother) and Joey (David's brother) found David asleep on the couch, having trouble breathing and thrashing around. They tried to wake him up but he was not coherent. I was asleep on our bed with Audrey and so they came and woke me up, saying that something was very wrong with David. When I got out to the living room his face looked very blue, his breathing was really raspy and when I tried to wake him up he was non-responsive. He was tossing and turning on the couch and moaning like he was in pain or he was struggling to breathe. I immediately called 911 and asked for an ambulance to come. My dad was staying with us so he came downstairs and gave David a blessing immediately.

When the paramedics came David was still incoherent but very agitated that they were trying to talk to him or touch him. He tried punching one of them and he did not appreciate that we had turned on the lights. He got really mad when they tried to check his blood sugar. They loaded him into the ambulance and headed for Riverbend. I guess on the way to the hospital he was still violent and he started throwing up a lot of blood . He says that this was when he started to wake up but he wasn't fully aware of what was going on until he got to the hospital. They did not want me riding in the ambulance so when we got to the hospital we had to wait for quite awhile before we were able to go back and see him or even know what was going on. David's parents had come to the house while the paramedics were there and they drove me and Joey to the hospital.

When we finally got back to the ER we found that David's oxygen saturation had dropped to the 60's (normal people are around 98-100, David's oxygen is normally about 90-93). His face was still very blue and he had on an oxygen mask. He had responded a little to the mask (raising his oxygen level to about 75 but they had to try a bi-pap machine. They threatened that if that didn't work he would have to have a breathing tube put in because not only was he not getting enough oxygen but he rate of breathing was too fast and they were afraid that he would tire quickly. He did respond to the bi-pap machine. They proceeded to do tons of labs and tests to find out what had happened. While in a CT scan (they had ordered one of his head to see if he had an abscess or maybe they could tell if he had a seizure, and then one of his chest) they had to cancel after just doing the head CT scan because his heart rate dropped into the 20's.

Here is a synopsis of what the concerns were with this event:

He might have had a seizure.
Because he was throwing up blood he could have been bleeding internally.
His heart rate may have dropped too low (causing seizure like symptoms).
He may have had a heart attack.
There could have been a problem with the surgery that he had four years ago (something malfunctioned).

They simply don't know what caused any of this, and are currently trying to figure out what the initial problem was and then what other symptoms it had caused.

He was put in a room in ICU at Sacred Heart, and then it was decided that he should be moved to OHSU as soon as possible.

During the night his heart rate was very irregular. He fluctuates between 25-100. They have also insisted he have oxygen (this irritates the heck out of him).

We were transferred to OHSU at about 11:00 Tuesday morning. The trip in the ambulance went fine. David was actually looking much better and his breathing was stable. As long as he's awake his heart seems to be beating at a good rate. We arrived at OHSU at about 1:00 Tuesday afternoon. David's parents, his brother John and then my mom arrived shortly after we did. At about 3:00 the doctor came to get a history and they started testing. He had an echo-cardiogram, a chest x-ray and an EKG. About 6:00 Dr. Weiss (a cardiologist that has known David for a few years) came and we talked about what they think happened, and what the plan was. They think that he probably had a seizure but are not 100 percent sure. They also don't know what might have caused the seizure and would have to look into that. They are pretty sure that there is nothing wrong with his surgery that he had, because he would be sicker than he is and he has actually improved quite a bit since he arrived in the ER. The plan is to start testing everything starting with his head and working their way down. Dr. Weiss said that worse-case scenario, we would be here about a week. He is planning on starting with a neurologist. We are currently in ICU at OHSU but might be able to move to a regular room soon. The doctors are letting him eat (Finally!). And much to his relief and at his request they removed the catheter so that he can get up and walk around.

Last night at about 10:00 a neurologist came and got a full history again, we are sure getting tired of telling the story. He did some tests to see if his strength is the same on both sides of his body and they asked him a bunch of questions to see if his brain is working properly. He passed all the questions with flying colors. They are going to try to send for his brain scan from Eugene, or possibly repeat it here today. The team of neurologists is supposed to see him this morning.

We also had a little problem with his heart rate in the night. He goes on these 4-5 second pauses where his heart doesn't beat. Needless to say he doesn't get much sleep because he sets off the alarms every few minutes. His heart rate is also fluctuating quite a bit. He seems to be tolerating the rate that his heart is beating (no dizziness or nausea). They say it's possible that his heart may have been doing this for a long time, but it never caused symptoms and therefore was never monitored.

David's spirits are a little better. He hates being in the hospital and so he is always a little grouchy. His tongue is hurting (we think he bit it during his episode at home), so it's hard to eat and talk. We have been assured that tongues heal quickly and so this shouldn't last too long. Other than that he looks good and says that he feels good. Nothing else is hurting and he feels like he can get enough air. We're hoping that they find out what happened and are able to address it quickly so we can get home to those kids!

Thanks to everyone who is helping with the kids. We could not survive without all the help. I hope they are being good! I will try to update again later today when we have more information.