Dude, where'd they go?

Yeah, so... sorry we've been AWOL, but I guess we kinda hit a point where we've just been trying to regain our footing and clear our heads from all of the uh... everything. Almost forgot this blog even existed! So that's our bad, sorry!

So lets see what I can do to get us all caught up, shall we?

When we last checked we were just getting off of an exhausting 7 day stay up at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital where we discovered that Dustin (me) has been suffering from a necrotic pneumonia in his right lung. Prior to that we were aware, mostly I was aware, that there was some kind of infection and I'd been on some oral antibiotics in hopes that it would fix it. During that time the fever had gone down but the nasty, stinky puss that I was coughing up persisted. (some of this may be a repeat, but bear with me, I'm trying to be thorough.)

When the oral antibiotics ran out the fever came back hard. They tried to get me back on those pills, but it wasn't happening, and when I got near 103 fever they put me back in the hospital where the CT scan revealed the pneumonia. Which was essentially gangrene in my lung. Lovely, right? They put me on three different liquid antibiotics after my wife's insistence that the levaquin that I was on before wasn't cutting it. They narrowed them down until we found the meropenem was working to fight this nasty bug.

So on the seventh day we went home, and I've been taking the Meropenem in a home application three times daily via my port.

That was the end of April, and in the first part of May I was nearing the end of my scheduled radiation treatments, and the damage that was being done to my esophagus was starting to make itself known. In fact, with two treatments left, I was ready to turn my back on it altogether. My body was telling me enough, and I was inclined to say that 24 out of 26 treatments is good enough, if I go any further I won't even be able to swallow water, which was becoming difficult.

So I skipped the 25th treatment, and went in the next day, a thursday (the 6th I think) to talk to the Doctor. I regret letting her talk me into finishing the last 2 treatments after I explained to her that I didn't believe that my body would be able to take it. Friday I took the last treatment, everyone there said how proud they were and I got a cheap computer print out graduation certificate. I held my head up Saturday as best I could. By the end of Sunday, I was feeling like I was on the doorsteps of hell.

The next few days were a constant fight to be able to ingest some kind of calories. I was struggling to get down the most basic of broths. Solid foods were impossible. Water was painful. It took some effort and a couple of hours to finish a cup of tea. Mandy and I were both frustrated, fearing that something had to happen or I would need a feeding tube and I'd be in the hospital again. At one point I was ready to just let her take me, because I didn't think I was going to be able to make it on my own steam. I was scared. Very scared. And I wasn't the only one.

Before that first week was out I'd lost a considerable amount of weight. I'd gone to bed hungry every night. I was miserable and out of hope as far as I could tell. We talked to the doctors and it was decided that I needed to at least get hydrated. An IV pole and some saline solution bags were delivered to the house, and after a couple days and about 3 liters of fluid pumped into my veins, I started to come around. I was also starting to add to my diet of broth some noodles and such. My weight came back up to something a little closer to healthy and I was maintaining it for the most part. I was even making it to work and putting a few hours in, on something of a part-time thing.

I hate the IV pole in my home, though, even though it's helping a lot. I never wanted anything in my house to look like it came from a hospital, and for good reason. I had the hydration going while we were sitting at the dinner table with all of the kids. Landon found it very disturbing, and was visibly upset. He saw it as a sign that I was getting worse. We were able to help him understand what it was for and that it was actually helping me and doing a good job of it, but there it was; a symbol of my fight against this disease...

Anyway, things were gradually, bit at a time, getting slowly better. The foods I could eat were starting to expand into other things, and I could get more in and it wasn't taking as long. A slow frustrating progress, but progress none the less. Until last weekend when out of the blue a piercing pain out of nowhere in my lower right quadrant left me pretty much incapacitated in the middle of what would have been a decent Saturday with the kids. The pain was so unbearable I started vomiting more than I had to offer.

I had Mandy take me to the ER, and it was the longest car ride of my life. I was half convinced that I wasn't going to make it there, or perhaps part of me wished I wouldn't as I would have welcomed an end to the pain. I thought at that point that my body was just starting to shut down and some organ was giving up inside of me. I thought the end was near. Who knew a freaking kidney stone would be that freaking painful???

Yeah, that's what it ended up being. After throwing up in the ER lobby trash can, they took me back, took my vitals, and finally drugged me up enough to not give a rats behind about how bad I was hurting. They did a couple X-rays and a CT scan and came back with the results. I spent the night up at Huntsman (cuz they have better rooms) and when we decided my life was never in danger, I was free to go. The weekend was ruined, but I'd live to see the next one.

So that was last weekend, and this weekend I've been eating more of what my family is eating at meal time, and with the better food and the hydration I've had more energy to enjoy their company. I've even had the opportunity to hang out with a couple dear friends this last week, which has done much good for my moral. I'm hoping the rain clears up and we have some sun, I'd really like to fish a little this weekend if we can. Maybe do some back-yard smores with the kids.

Thanks to the grace of God and his divine strength in getting Mandy and I through all this turmoil and challenges, and thanks to all the support we've received from all the loving family and friends we have both near and far. I understand there's a yard sale fund raiser being held for us at the Kaysville Elevation campus on June 5th, not sure if they need more donation or not but there's a link on facebook. Also on the 19th I believe there's going to be a spaghetti dinner being held by some more friends of ours, not sure location or other details on that one yet.

I want to thank all of those involved and the participants in these events for your continued efforts to help my family in our time of crisis. It's been a long battle, and it's not over yet. I have another CT scan in the first part of June to evaluate the antibiotics and the radiation treatments to see how they worked, and what to do next if anything.

As for right now, I'm not worried about anything but spending as much time with my wife and family as I can, and healing up the point were I can eat without struggling through tiny bites of bland whatevers.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers. Better get to bed. Love you all!

~Dustin