Alan used up another life!
- Claire
- 2 hours ago
- 10 min read
DISCLAIMER
This is not an easy thing to type or read,
(photos are at the very bottom - GRAPHIC )
Friday June 26th at 1.30am Alan started to get stomach cramps and nausea .. then started the vomiting with cramps becoming more severe. This was thinking more on the lines of food poisoning as previous night he and Jon (Son in law who now works for Rockhead) went to a fish restaurant for dinner - normal rule of thumb - can't see the ocean , don't eat it, but by 8am he is still cramping and retching and texted me saying he had rough night will see how it goes - 5 minutes later - text saying Jon is taking him to ER in Nogales. He was hooked up to IV and tested . the doctor then sent him for a CT scan
Alan had a perforated bowel - huge tear in the Sigmoid section of the colon
The hospital in Nogales could not perform this kind of surgery so he was taken to Tuscon and St Joseph's . Annoyingly the medivac was not available so it was ambulance for 70+ miles . This is deadly serious and time is a very quick clock
While waiting for the ambulance made 2 calls - one to me and one to Dori - basically a last video call . Jay was luckily at the ranch on break so i literally had to mad pack - not knowing any details or even how long and I got the first flight out of Denver that day. When I was traveling to the airport Alan had reached Tuscon and was being rushed into the OR
2.5hrs later - I'm boarding and the nurse calls me from the recovery room and he had made it through surgery but it was close Later the surgeon explained that he was in Septic shock, body shaking . She had removed 5-6" of colon, clipped off the rectum sphincter, made a stoma and Colonscopy bag and spent a long time cleaning all of his body cavity - which the colon had fully released all contents into - it was mostly seeds and grains
Undiagnosed Diverticulitus
this was sudden and totally out of blue - he was walking around the mountains the day before! Fit, healthy and zero wrong in the world
2 hour flight from Denver and Jon met me at Tuscon airport and took me straight to Alan at the hospital (He then went straight back to the airport and met Dori, who had gotten emergency Red Cross leave from the army for 2 weeks ) That night was a blur , I slept in Alan's room , the staff got me a recliner, it was busted but it worked for me sleeping upright - but I know not much sleep was had - through worry, stress and the CPT's coming in every hour to do vitals, meds, IV's - it was ridiculous He had 2 antibiotic drips, an IV fluids- dextrose drips, a stomach drain, a stoma and colonscopy bag and a nasogastric tube which goes thru his nose and down to the stomach . This is constantly sucking out black goop . And the wound is open to heal from inside out
I kept a full 24hr journal logging everything in detail - I'm still doing it now until this is all over next year maybe Saturday afternoon things took a turn for the worse - the stomach pump had reduced its suction and Alan was starting to fill up with black acid goop., in a couple of hours his Oesophagus was starting feel acid burn, acid reflux - he stated this countless times and asked for antacids but the nurse on duty said he hadn't and he was delusional because of the drugs and ignored his pleas and mine . This situation was getting worse by the hour till Alan started to choke and cough up chunks of it, Sunday night the pains were getting worse, his throat was swelling , the tube was hurting his throat and breathing labored . Early hours of Sunday the goop had gathered so much and the pump wasn't sucking that his body decided enough was enough and ejected it and he was violently ill by passing the nose tube , excruciating pain each wretch and cough . Plus with every cough the wound went into pain overload . Alot of upchucks of black acid, gown and bedding changes
Monday morning his breathing was getting worse , Luckily the day shift care team Rebecca and Anthony took over, Rebecca, the nurse, read the notes, instantly put in for CT scan for clots in his lung and GI inspection , she was horrified that the weekend crew literally caused this downward slide of lack of breath, 48hrs of black acid in his stomach building up and not draining and Anthony instantly checked the pump - which had stopped working , He instantly got us another room with decent pump suction, that all happened in an hour of them starting their shift .
The 2nd room had good suction but the AC was faulty and constantly on Max- it was frigid for everyone, except Alan, who also had to have heated pulsing leg wraps on so prevent dvts
The scan showed no clots but it show a huge air pocket - his body produced an Ileus - which is basically his own body paralyzing the intestinal motility because of the trauma, the additional negligence of the one particular nurse (Believe me I wanted to bitchslap her with a shovel, everything I said was ignored , but her arrogance made her deaf and nonchalant) She had caused his Oesphagus to be damaged, as he was 'delirious' when he asked for antacids all weekend - his body couldn't take anymore Rebecca then put in for Endoscopy asap for the position of the tube , had it moved from the violent vomiting and retching
Also the Ileus had caused the wound to start to separate and expand - over the next 3 days it was enormous. Alan had to have a larger binder as the restriction was becoming painful and breathing labored so there was no binder support
So from Monday night to Tuesday his body swelled, causing hid diaphragm to be pushed up resulting in his lungs being squashed in and up causing extreme breathing difficulties - shallow breaths , throat getting worse and Alan complained of something being stuck at the back of his throat and luckily Endoscopy was at midday and low and behold, Alan was right , his Oesphagus was burnt and inflamed due to the acid. Luckily Rebecca was with us on Tuesday again (they had zero continuity of staff / care per patient at all except for the last 3 days when the complaints to internal medicine doctor finally took charge of the disorganized nursing staff and admin)
Alan was still have major problems with his throat as if something was in there, it had gotten worse since the Endoscopy - Rebecca then tried adjusting the nose tube to try make it comfortable but that didn't happen. He also had constant hiccups for 2 days straight - restricted airway and Ileus
through these days Alan's potassium had sunk to below normal, so potassium IV and also from him being slightly diabetic, the IV fluids, dextrose had pushed his blood sugars up so high he needed several insulin shots a day .. everything was sugar. to keep him alive and stop his body shutting down
Tuesday night once I knew he would be ok and stable , Dori did the night shift and Jon took me to the house in Nogales so I could sleep , before we did the swap over we went out for a real meal instead of hospital vending machine crap - the cafeteria was basic , fridges, a kitchen area where they made junk food . So I chose Greek - of course !
Jon was amazing, he was keeping the drill program going and everything that needed to be done he was doing - in-between bringing Dori to the hospital - Dori was great and helping Jon out with all the physical stuff with samples and core . Everyone was where they needed to be - Jay watching and caring for the ranch, the puppies and horses, Dori and Jon keeping Rockhead going so everything was smooth
On Wednesday whilst giving Alan a wash down , i was washing his back and neck and to Alan's joy and shock - the nose tube fell out. it literally had worked its way up from the stomach, and so relieved when the surgeons message said don't reinsert, the goop is turning light green , all good to keep it out - yay
Thursday asked to go onto nutrition with the surgeon visit, agreed and also a Pap line going in , a PICC line - 3 tiny tubes go up the arm , up the shoulder into the vena cava . this is instead of having constant drips and tubes - 2 for inserting and one for drawing bloods. (as Alan;s arms were becoming bruised and sore , especially from Saturday night lab tech couldn't find a vein, kept wiggling and poking around.. this caused that arm to bruise badly and edema - that happened thursday afternoon with Kimmy - who rarely let me stay and help and she said i had become a good vigilant carer , so she had fun with me helping , she normally refuses others to stay and watch let alone help. also thurswday night we had to change rooms again. The AC was too much, esp now Alan had some internal thermostat again, Finally no more being wrapped in blankets while its 115f outside ! But the next room the AC didnt work at all so Jon bought the stand fan from Nogales thank goodness - one extreme to the other,, this ward is a joke for sure Friday was allowed to start clear fluids - the hospital was providing sugar water drinks - ffs - so we got him some vit zero sugar mineral /electrolyte drinks instead .. then 2 days later onto basic foods .. which at first was all sugar based.. the broth was ok, Ludo may have eaten it, the ensure drinks - 60% sugar followed by jello - its a joke, we finally got thru to them via the internal medicine doctor - diabetic and carb restricted. The food was still dire and grey.
By weekend (July 4th) Alan wanted to restrict the morphine and use tylenol instead . and use the morphine to sleep . and again thru the doctor, all vitals, IVs , tests to be done all at once instead of waking him every hour thru the night , swoon as one test is done, relax, drop off, woken up again It was ridiculous and not till the end of the 2nd week they got the picture.
On Monday the wound was stupidly big, even with the Ileus reducing a little, so the surgeon said a wound vac would be going in. So Mary the wound / stoma nurse came in and did that - wow , it was crazy to watch . layer of protective foam on the wound with black foam cut to size of the wound, then sealed with plastic- then a tube inserted then plugged in and instantly the foam shrunk in so sudden- Alan said he felt every angle of his insides being sucked in tight - painfully so but after half hour it felt better - no more dressing changes now till this wound can be safe enough for travel and getting him home
Tuesday (7th) Jon was heading back to base for a week so Alan got Dori and I a hotel room nearby so we could do one night on and off so getting a break , sleep alternately.
Alan was now on solids and the colostomy bag was in action and things were looking more positive - the blood tests and cultures were coming back negative. He was walking alot more and more alert after that first week where it was still touch and go . The 2nd wound vac went in on Wednesday morning and to assess the progress of the wound size reduction and plan to whether on Friday it was working enough or whether another one would be going in till Monday and assess his release - as the wound had to stable for a two day drive home Friday , i came in around 930 am , Dori went to get breakfast and Mary came in to deal with the wound change - but it wasn't another wound vac going in but a dressing. No consult or discussion with surgeon - the decision was made yet again without him. I asked Mary why a dressing as it still wasn't stable. Oh he's been discharged , all the paperwork has been done! WTH , both of us gobsmacked and so started the manic sorting out of everything. Packing up the room, sorting out the supplies - Dori and I went to the hotel to get our stuff and Alan waited to have the PICC line taken out and the stomach drain ..
by 12.30pm we were ready to leave and Alan was wheeled to the entrance
Annoyingly the road around and to hospital was closed so had to park off site a bit , so when we finally left the building I went to get BR3 and reversed up the road to the entrance
Then to Walgreens for pick up meds for Alan, then to Nogales.. were we would stay at the house , load up and leave in the morning . I am now his primary nurse for the wound dressings and stoma bag
We got home 2 days later on Sunday evening - very emotional for the puppies and for Jay too, the hugs were tight . Monday Dori and Jay went to town, to pickup Jay's truck and drop off BR3 . Jay left for Nogales Tuesday morning, Dori went too and he took her home to the base at Fort Riley, he got to Nogales on Thursday and Jon got back there Monday night to carry on rest of the drill program for Alan
Its been a week of being home. The puppies are very happy , that was the longest away we had been, (Bought Alan a kickboxing/ref body protection for the bouncing ) The wound is healing beautifully, he still has major sleep and back problems but home is a better place to recover than a unclean, chaotic ward . He sees our Dr G on Tuesday - plus hopefully she has his medical records as all releases were signed over for her before we left and we can organize the next surgeon - to reverse the stoma, in about 5-6months - then more recovery time after that. Long road ahead but he made it through the scariest life threatening experience to date
Pics are at the bottom so scroll if you want to look and are graphic so if screamish dont bother!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Comments