Our Journey With Patch's Eye

*I've been told these pictures are hard to look at, so be aware you may not want to read this post. Also, you may not want kids around to see the pictures.

I can't get the post and the pictures to line up, so you'll have to figure it out, but for the most part they are in order of the story.

So Saturday, March 12, I slept in Patch's bed with him because before bed he said his head really hurt and he had put himself to bed. He had a rough night the entire night, tossing and turning and he kept waking up saying he was thirsty and his eye couldn't open and he couldn't see. At one point he was crying and said, "maybe I'm blind!". I thought was cute and told him he couldn't see because it was dark and to go back to bed.

I got him a multiple drinks through the night and every time he woke he was still complaining. I didn't think anything of it because he had had fevers of 103 for a few days w/ the influenza. Around 4am when he woke up one of the times, I felt impressed to turn on the bathroom light and see what Patch was talking about, I also had the thought I may need to take him to the hospital, but I ignored those thoughts and wanted to stay in the warm bed and sleep. I had been up all night all ready and I was sure he would be fine in the morning.

I woke up around 8am and since Patch was still sleeping, thought I'd go for a run. Yes, it was Sunday, but with him sick all week I hadn't had a chance to get out and my insides were bursting for freedom. I needed to get rid of the crazies.

When I got home I started looking for some breakfast. I had the thought, "get in the shower" and I dismissed it. I just kept thinking I would shower in 1/2 hour after I ate. I started cutting a papaya and had the thought again, and again I dismissed it. A few moments later Patch called out and I sent Tyler upstairs to check on him because my hands were a mess. Tyler came running out of his room saying, "mom, is Patch's eye supposed to be swollen?" I ran upstairs with my dirty hands to see Patch a mess. He couldn't even open his eye and it hurt.

I changed my clothes and wished I had listened to those voices I heard through the night and after my run. I know it was the Spirit and I ignored it. I'm still kicking myself.

Chris and I left our kids and headed to Patch's Dr.'s office. They have a clinic that's open on Sundays. The doctor took one look at him and wanted a CT scan. I told Chris if there was to be any procedure we were going to Primary's. We headed to Jordan Valley Hospital and had the scan done. They were predictably slow and did a terrible job on Patch's IV.

Patch slept the entire day. It was so sad to watch him. He didn't eat a thing, which was good because we didn't know if he would need surgery or not.

We got the results back and headed to Primary Children's Hospital to start Patch on an antibiotic through his IV. Chris dropped me home first so I could shower and he headed off without me to get Patch started.

Primary's was fabulous. They are so kind and helpful. They took such great care of Patch, which brought me so much peace. I never know how he'll react and I know angels were with us through this entire ordeal.

This is Patch the next morning, the infection has spread bigger and he's still swollen. He had a fever until Wednesday, and we couldn't tell if it was from the influenza which he should have been getting better by then, or from the infection. Probably both.

When the swelling went down, Patch's eye leaked tears a lot, so he kept wiping his eye with a tissue. The stretched skin and the wiping made it so Patch's eye was raw and peeling.

After two nights at the hospital, we could see the infection spreading to the other eye, it was so stressful because you don't know what it's doing to his vision and it was really painful for Patch.

Wednesday Patch got a PICC line put in his arm so I could continue the antibiotics at home.

By Thursday we were finally ready to go home. I put Patch in the bath and packed our room, we were just waiting for the discharge papers and we were outta there! The nurse came in to change his PICC bandage and I noticed some hives on Patch. Then, seriously before my eye Patch's lips started blowing up and I could see his face start swelling. It was scary! It was also painful for Patch. The rash went all over his body, there were hives everywhere and he had huge welts on his knees. They had to give him multiple meds to finally get the swelling down, including a steroid.

It was amazing, one minute Patch looked fine and we were leaving and the next he was blown up and rashed and we were staying an extra night.

They changed his antibiotic and we got to finally go home Friday. Patch played with his Grandma when we got home and I dragged him to Tyler's hockey game. He started tiring in the car on the way to the game. I thought that was weird. He took an hour nap at 4pm, then when we got home he put himself to bed at 7:30pm. I should have seen the signs.

Saturday the 19th Patch woke up with his eye hurting again and it was swollen again. We headed straight to the hospital where they decided Patch would need surgery. We waited the entire day and Patch was starving! They finally took him back around 4:30pm. The doctors said the surgery was going to be about a 1/2 hour. Chris left for Tyler's hockey game and then he had one of his own. I stayed to be with Patch. Chris was hesitant of course, but we'd been through kids surgery before and I knew it would be fine if he left.

It was agony! I didn't get a call until 6pm that Patch was out of a sinus surgery that they performed and was now going in for eye surgery to drain the infection from behind the eye. I couldn't believe it took so long and that he still wasn't done. I headed down to grab some dinner, but couldn't eat, so I came back to the room to wait for some news.

Around 7pm the eye dr. came in and introduced himself and told me about how the surgery went. He said everything looked good and that Patch was in the recovery room. I asked if I should/could go be with him and he told me to wait at least half an hour because the anesthesia team would be with him while he was coming out. I then realized I should probably go eat, hungry or not, because I didn't know how the night would go and I was sure Patch wouldn't let me leave him.

I got to the cafeteria in a daze, grabbed some food and started eating when over the big PA they called for me to call the operator. Hello! Can you say PANIC?! I called and they wanted me back at Patch's room, that's all they said. I dumped my stuff and headed up.

Patch wasn't there.

The nurse was frantically getting the room ready, she wasn't expecting him until 9pm. It was 7:40. As we talked, she was a nurse from many nights before and we loved her, I heard this terrible scream from the hallway. I paused and asked her if that was Patch. I'd never heard him like that. We scrambled to the door to look what was going on and to see who it was.

It was Patch. He was flipping all over his bed in pain. I can't really talk about this because it still brings tears to my eyes, two weeks later. All I'll say is that he was in more pain than I've ever seen anyone, EVER!

We got him settled and he looked like hell. He had blood crusties out his mouth from the tube down his throat and blood crusties out his nose from the sinus surgery. His eye was swollen and black and blue.

They gave him morphine for the pain and he went right to sleep. The morphine was too much for him, so it slowed his breathing too much that his oxygen went down and kept setting of the alarm.

I was done, all I wanted to do was call Chris and have him come be with us, but I knew it wouldn't change anything and I would be a mess and I needed to be strong for Patch.

By Monday Patch looked great and he was responding well to the new antibiotic, so they sent us home. Patch has done great since. He had the PICC for two weeks and is now on an oral antibiotic. His doctor appointments have gone well and he'll be back to normal in no time.

I am grateful for this experience and all the love that's been shone to our family during this time. From the day we took Patch, until after we got home Shauna arranged for dinners to be brought every night. My wonderful friends, Heather and Emily cleaned my house, TWICE! They even mopped and did my laundry! Shauna and Leslie sat at the hospital with Patch so I could shower or catch one of Tyler's games. Ali drove carpool for school for my kids and made a surprise visit to the hospital with goody bags for Patch and me. My sil, Nicole sent Patch a care package and was there for advice for they eye surgery and really helped explain some of the worries Chris and I had. Teresa brought her girls up for a visit and brought Patch a treasured dinosaur. Jim and Teresa made a late night visit to help with a Priesthood blessing for Patch. So much was given in service, I am thankful to all my dear friends who helped us through this. There were so many who cared for us, I still am overwhelmed at all that was done for us.

It's all a blur now, it doesn't even seem like it happened. We're all back to normal, the kids are off track and we've done plenty of playing. I'm ready for them to go back!