~HollyBear~
09-16-2007, 07:05 PM
My original posts were all in Oct 05 forum, the ones I posted from my phone during the whole ordeal we just went through, but now that we're home, I can get on boards much easier.
So we are home now...thank goodness! Thayn is sleeping right now but doing better. He finally convinced the nurses he just wanted to recover sleeping in his own bed. So here's the whole story:
We started out the trip worried about Joseph...his temp was down but he was still complaining of stomach pain (he later passed a lot of gas and bm's so we figured it was a touch of a stomach bug and he'd be fine). We got into the small town and first thing after checking Thayn in for the race was to drive up to the finish line so he could see the end of the course once before running. Then we ate dinner at a pizza place and then went to our campground, 1 mile north of the marathon start so he got to see the rest of the course. We basically went right to sleep and woke up early and got him to the starting line before 7.
At 7, we cheered daddy off and then raced back up to get ready for the day and clean camp. 1.5 hours later, we headed back down the hwy to follow the runners. We found Thayn at the 10 mile marker. He was doing great but needed a new bandaid for his nipple (runners rub in funny places on their clothes). We met him again at the half marathon start line (13 mile) and he was great and then we drove to the 18-19 mile and the kids played on the grass at a park while we watched for him. He came by and didn't need anything, but joked about needing a ride. So we drove up to the 20 mile, and by then he'd gone up a few big hills and was really wearing down. Refilled his gatorade and off he went. We met him at 24 and he was getting really tired, but said he would finish.
Kids and I drove to the finish line at 26.2 miles. We waited there for maybe 10 minutes, me with the cameras ready the kids playing on some bike racks next to me. When I saw him come over the hill I told the kids to clap for daddy. He waved both arms up and i figured he was waving at us. Then he started kicking his feet up funny and I thought he may have injured his knee. Then he fell to his knees and got right back up. Then he stumbled off to the side, his legs looked like they were giving out then layed down in the street. People started yelling "runner down! get a medic!" By then I was dropping the cameras into the stroller and yelling "that's my husband, someone watch my kids" and i ran up the 30 feet to him. He was still trying to get up and saying help me up I want to finish. But the medic got there and wouldn't let him up. He asked him a bunch of questions, where was he, what was the year, who was president, and thayn got most of them wrong.
They got a backboard and a neck collar on him. Someone brought my kids to me and when I found out they were taking him to the hospital, someone else took my keys and went to bring me my car after I told them where it was. I got the kids in and rushed to the hospital. I beat the ambulance because they had to stop first and get an IV started. They got there a minute or 2 after me. I got his information to the ER desk but they wouldn't let me see him. We waited for at least a half hour and I kept asking how he was and if I could see him.
Finally a dr came and told me that his breathign failed and they had to put him on a ventilator with a tube down his throat. He told me they couldn't treat him well there at that tiny hospital because they had no ICU so he would be transferred by ambulance to the next hospital 30 minutes away down the canyon. He told me that moving him in the state he was in was risky because he was not extremely stable and could get worse or even die. I was scared to death. I asked to see him but they made my kids wait with the ER receptionist. When i first saw him with tubes all over it was the scariest moment of my life.
They said they would leave in about 5-10 minutes after they finished prepping him for the transfer so I got in the car for a head start. I flew down the canyon and got to the next hospital 2 minutes before the ambulance again. Again, I could not see him for a while. When they finally let me see him they still had the backboard on, the callar on his neck, him mouth had that big gaurd on it with a tube coming out, IV's everywhere. They said that they had to give him a paralizing drug in order to get him to hold still enough for a CT scan. That made it so that they had to keep the ventilator in because it would also paralize his lungs. they also had given him sedatives. The CT scan had come back ok, but in his blood test he had elevated cardiac enzymes and his blood was appararrently at fatally acidic levels--the dr said people died all the time with that acidic of blood. The EKG they did showed some heart damage on the right side of his heart. During this whole time he was in the ER, and we were in a private waiting room there close to him. I had brought in the dvd player for the kids and the nurses brought them coloring books and a beanie baby each. They also brought us complimentary dinners. The hospital was amazing to us!
He was unconsious for most of the day yesterday until about 6, when he started to come out of it. He does not remember anything about the fall or most of the hospital until that time, and the first time he was really aware was about 8 pm.
It was an incredibly lonely and scary feeling being that far away from anyone I knew, having no one to watch the kids so I could be with Thayn. And for a while, not knowing if he was going to come out of it.
So, like I said before, the kids and I stayed the night in one of the nurses RVs in her hard, with water and power. I didn't sleep much, but the kids got some much needed rest. I felt very alone there. At one point after I first got the kdis settled at about 10 I was i the car outside the RV talking to my MIL and had the rv door cracked open in case the kdis woke up. I looked out side mirror and saw a small dark figure peeking out of the rv door and thought kaitlyn had woken up and was crawling around, about to crawl out the door. I freaked out and started screaming and then what I thought was kaitlyn fell out of the rv door and ran off. It was their cat! I freaked my MIL out so bad! I then sat on the phone in the car and sobbed and sobbed for a good 5 minutes and I tried to get off the phone so she wouldn't have to listen to it, but couldn't. The stress of the day had really gotten to me--not that that was the first time I cried all day, not by far, but it was the worst!
So we slept and went to see thayn this morning. All the fluids he was pumped did such an amazing job at bringing him back around. The official diagnosis: heat and exhaustion did him in, turning his blood super acidid which made it very dangerous for his heart. And extreme dehydration. His temp was 104 at first. He needs to have a followup with a cardiologist before we go on our vacation to argentina in 2 weeks, and hopefully the damage showing is going to heal itself. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.
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So we are home now...thank goodness! Thayn is sleeping right now but doing better. He finally convinced the nurses he just wanted to recover sleeping in his own bed. So here's the whole story:
We started out the trip worried about Joseph...his temp was down but he was still complaining of stomach pain (he later passed a lot of gas and bm's so we figured it was a touch of a stomach bug and he'd be fine). We got into the small town and first thing after checking Thayn in for the race was to drive up to the finish line so he could see the end of the course once before running. Then we ate dinner at a pizza place and then went to our campground, 1 mile north of the marathon start so he got to see the rest of the course. We basically went right to sleep and woke up early and got him to the starting line before 7.
At 7, we cheered daddy off and then raced back up to get ready for the day and clean camp. 1.5 hours later, we headed back down the hwy to follow the runners. We found Thayn at the 10 mile marker. He was doing great but needed a new bandaid for his nipple (runners rub in funny places on their clothes). We met him again at the half marathon start line (13 mile) and he was great and then we drove to the 18-19 mile and the kids played on the grass at a park while we watched for him. He came by and didn't need anything, but joked about needing a ride. So we drove up to the 20 mile, and by then he'd gone up a few big hills and was really wearing down. Refilled his gatorade and off he went. We met him at 24 and he was getting really tired, but said he would finish.
Kids and I drove to the finish line at 26.2 miles. We waited there for maybe 10 minutes, me with the cameras ready the kids playing on some bike racks next to me. When I saw him come over the hill I told the kids to clap for daddy. He waved both arms up and i figured he was waving at us. Then he started kicking his feet up funny and I thought he may have injured his knee. Then he fell to his knees and got right back up. Then he stumbled off to the side, his legs looked like they were giving out then layed down in the street. People started yelling "runner down! get a medic!" By then I was dropping the cameras into the stroller and yelling "that's my husband, someone watch my kids" and i ran up the 30 feet to him. He was still trying to get up and saying help me up I want to finish. But the medic got there and wouldn't let him up. He asked him a bunch of questions, where was he, what was the year, who was president, and thayn got most of them wrong.
They got a backboard and a neck collar on him. Someone brought my kids to me and when I found out they were taking him to the hospital, someone else took my keys and went to bring me my car after I told them where it was. I got the kids in and rushed to the hospital. I beat the ambulance because they had to stop first and get an IV started. They got there a minute or 2 after me. I got his information to the ER desk but they wouldn't let me see him. We waited for at least a half hour and I kept asking how he was and if I could see him.
Finally a dr came and told me that his breathign failed and they had to put him on a ventilator with a tube down his throat. He told me they couldn't treat him well there at that tiny hospital because they had no ICU so he would be transferred by ambulance to the next hospital 30 minutes away down the canyon. He told me that moving him in the state he was in was risky because he was not extremely stable and could get worse or even die. I was scared to death. I asked to see him but they made my kids wait with the ER receptionist. When i first saw him with tubes all over it was the scariest moment of my life.
They said they would leave in about 5-10 minutes after they finished prepping him for the transfer so I got in the car for a head start. I flew down the canyon and got to the next hospital 2 minutes before the ambulance again. Again, I could not see him for a while. When they finally let me see him they still had the backboard on, the callar on his neck, him mouth had that big gaurd on it with a tube coming out, IV's everywhere. They said that they had to give him a paralizing drug in order to get him to hold still enough for a CT scan. That made it so that they had to keep the ventilator in because it would also paralize his lungs. they also had given him sedatives. The CT scan had come back ok, but in his blood test he had elevated cardiac enzymes and his blood was appararrently at fatally acidic levels--the dr said people died all the time with that acidic of blood. The EKG they did showed some heart damage on the right side of his heart. During this whole time he was in the ER, and we were in a private waiting room there close to him. I had brought in the dvd player for the kids and the nurses brought them coloring books and a beanie baby each. They also brought us complimentary dinners. The hospital was amazing to us!
He was unconsious for most of the day yesterday until about 6, when he started to come out of it. He does not remember anything about the fall or most of the hospital until that time, and the first time he was really aware was about 8 pm.
It was an incredibly lonely and scary feeling being that far away from anyone I knew, having no one to watch the kids so I could be with Thayn. And for a while, not knowing if he was going to come out of it.
So, like I said before, the kids and I stayed the night in one of the nurses RVs in her hard, with water and power. I didn't sleep much, but the kids got some much needed rest. I felt very alone there. At one point after I first got the kdis settled at about 10 I was i the car outside the RV talking to my MIL and had the rv door cracked open in case the kdis woke up. I looked out side mirror and saw a small dark figure peeking out of the rv door and thought kaitlyn had woken up and was crawling around, about to crawl out the door. I freaked out and started screaming and then what I thought was kaitlyn fell out of the rv door and ran off. It was their cat! I freaked my MIL out so bad! I then sat on the phone in the car and sobbed and sobbed for a good 5 minutes and I tried to get off the phone so she wouldn't have to listen to it, but couldn't. The stress of the day had really gotten to me--not that that was the first time I cried all day, not by far, but it was the worst!
So we slept and went to see thayn this morning. All the fluids he was pumped did such an amazing job at bringing him back around. The official diagnosis: heat and exhaustion did him in, turning his blood super acidid which made it very dangerous for his heart. And extreme dehydration. His temp was 104 at first. He needs to have a followup with a cardiologist before we go on our vacation to argentina in 2 weeks, and hopefully the damage showing is going to heal itself. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.
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