bad things come in 3's

so josh had a clot, then our basement floods the next week, then my stepdad passes away unexpectedly.

this is the story: so he has had a rare condition called churg strauss, they found out about this the day after Christmas. he went into the hospital for a bad case of pneumonia. to make a long story short, this condition made it so that he had to be fed through a feeding tube in his stomach, because the disease affected his swallowing muscles.

so a month had passed and home health was coming to his home to give him some physical therapy and speech therapy. nursing was also coming in to monitor his feeding and vital signs.

on the second week of feb, he had really high blood pressure, 200/185. so they returned to the hospital. the doctors there were so humble and felt as if he was better off seeing a variety of specialists. so they transferred him to the university of Utah.

when he got there, he was doing awesome. they allowed him to start eating again and they were really starting to find out more about his condition. I went to go see him on Saturday feb 11th and this is when I took this picture. he was very weak and tired from all the medications and from being malnourished, but all around he was feeling great.

well the next day he was having extreme pain in his abdominal region. they just treated it like they'd treat any constipated person. but then at 3 am on Monday the 13th he became unresponsive and had to be intibated and put on a ventilator.

so they did a ct scan of his abdomen and found that his bowel had perforated. so they rushed him into surgery.

since this is such a painful process, they wanted him to wake up from the surgery without any medications to wake him up. well ted wasn't waking up. so they started running several neurological tests and brain scans and they didn't show anything abnormal. but he still wasn't waking up.

so they finally decided to do an MRI. the results came back with a massive ischemic stroke that took over most of his brain. with this type of stroke he'd never be able to see, talk, or walk ever again.

so sadly the family all decided on Wednesday feb 15, to take him off the ventilator and move him to comfort care.

ted was around for about a day and a half on a morphine drip and just being comfortable. then at 6:30 am in feb 17th he took his last breath. he went very comfortably and did not suffer. but he had been suffering with quite a bit of nerve pain for the last month and a half, so he deserved not to suffer anymore.

he was such a great man and will forever be in my heart. I love you ted!

to see his obituary, follow this link:
http://www.utahvalleyfuneral.com/obituaries/Ted-Madsen/

I also made a tribute video of his life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBM1GO8DojA&sns=em

it has been very hard losing him, so please remember the whole family in your prayers.

update on Josh's blood clot

we found out he has the genetic clotting disorder. we saw a vascular surgeon so they could follow his condition.

they said he would need to be on his blood thinning pills for 6 months to a year. then he will have to be on baby aspirin forever. so that's the latest.

he will be getting a follow up ultrasound next week. let's pray all goes well because he's dying to get back to the gym. ;)

the horrible DVT

so about 3.5 weeks ago, josh was running. the next day he woke up with the worst pain ever. he felt like he was stepping on needles each time he took a step.

2 days later he went back to the gym to ride a bike and the next day woke up with numb toes on that same foot.

so we booked an appointment with our primary care doc, and josh was diagnosed with something called plantar faciitis. his doctor prescribed him something for pain and inflammation and recommended some physical therapy.

well josh thought it would be a great idea to also see a chiropractor since his toes were feeling numb. so he booked an appointment for that too. when he arrived by his appointment with his doctor, he seemed to think that he had a blood clot in his leg. since the doctor is just a chiropractor we just kind of ignored but he suggested.

in the meantime, Josh has been going to physical therapy, and the pain and swelling has just gotten worse and worse.

so on Sunday I got the feeling that we really needed to get it checked out that day. so I convinced Josh to go to the emergency room. while there he was finally diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg also known as a DVT.

myself and the doctors were all completely shocked because usually these things don't occur unless you have surgery or go on a road trip and that sort of thing.

so now we have to have Josh take some blood thinner pills and he has to have shots in his stomach for about five days. thank goodness I have the knowledge and nursing skills to be able to be doing these at home.

we found out later that something called factor V Leiden runs in his family which causes spontaneous blood clots to form throughout your body. so tomorrow a genetic test will be ran on Josh to see if this is what he has. if by chance he does have this disorder he will have to be on blood thinner pills for the rest of his life. if not, it's probably just a fluke that he ended up with a blood clot and he will only have to be on blood thinner pills for about six months.

we still don't know if his toes are numb because of the blood clot, or if it's because he has something wrong with his back. we are going to wait until his blood clot is clear, and then do something about his back if the numbness is still there. the doctor yesterday was saying something about a pinched a bulging disc in his back that may just need a little injection.

his chiropractor called him out of the blue yesterday to make sure he got his leg checked out and that everything was okay. he said that he also had a bad feeling about Josh and that he was worried about him. it was so nice of him to call Josh and make sure that he was okay.

so I'll try to update my blog again as soon as I know what's up with everything.

wedding bells!

josh's brother jesse got married in the Los Angeles temple over the weekend. it was nice to take a small vacation to Cali with this busy schedule of mine. congrats to jesse and Corrine! you guys looked great!

summer rain

I love warm summer rain! this rainbow was amazing. I could see the full shape on both sides. the pot of gold looked like it was at my house, sadly no gold. still a poor college student ;)

life as of lately

it's been fun, but busy, I'm ultra burned out with life, but only a year left til I get to work as an RN! I'll be an LPN in December. I'm so excited. I love what I do.