A Crazy Week!

The past week has been one that I don't care to repeat any time soon.

Monday started with a trip to the ER with Wayne. The back pain was intense and not responding to the oral pain medications. We went to our primary care doc first, but after an injection and still no pain relief, Wayne was sent over to the ER. We saw a new (to us) PA who insisted that Wayne show him how much he could bend and twist, which is NOT something to do to someone who is in the midst of a major pain spike. He agreed that Wayne would probably benefit from some IV pain reliever, but he would not give him more than 1/2 of the dosage that is typically required to lower the pain spikes because the PA thought he shouldn't need that much. Since the ER was extremely busy (patients in the hall waiting for rooms) Wayne got the ordered dose and was discharged.

Tuesday Wayne was still in extreme pain and barely able to walk. After discussing the situation with our primary doctor, he went to the ER again. A different PA this time (Praise God!) who was familiar with Wayne's case. He ordered the pain medications and we waited. After several doses and no relief, Wayne was admitted so they could monitor him as they continued to give him heavy doses of pain medication and anti-inflammatory meds. They were concerned that he might have a serious reaction with all the medications in his system. Thankfully, there were no reactions, but it took 3 days of IV pain and anti-inflammatory meds for him to be able to walk and move without severe pain.

Tuesday night Nathanial called to tell me that he was in quarantine with a case of the flu. He assured me that he was feeling better that evening and not to worry. The next day I spoke to him and he said he thought he was a bit better. On my way to the hospital to see Wayne on Thursday I received a phone call from Nathanial. The school nurse was arranging for him to be taken to the local ER. His temp had spiked again and he had other symptoms and she wanted to make sure he wasn't dehydrated. Thankfully, he was being discharged from the ER when I arrived at 'his hospital' with the diagnosis of "flu" but not the H1N1 type. I brought him home and put him in a room to himself; filling him with chicken soup, liquids, toast, etc. He's feeling 100% better and is back on track.

Even in the midst of all the chaos, we were blessed...a meal from church friends, another church friend coming every morning to help with the kids and do tasks around the house that he knew Wayne wanted done, prayers and phone calls, gifts, and cards. Hopefully the week to come will be a little less crazy (though there are 3 doctor and 1 dentist appointments on the schedule!) and we'll be able to get back to 'normal'.