shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

I know is pretty much for sharing photos, but I wanted to take a minute to ask for some serious prayers for our family. My husband, Brian, started getting sick last Monday evening with a bit of a cough, by Tuesday evening he said he felt like he had the flu. On Thursday morning he said our little girl, Cammie, was getting it, and then Thursday night he thought about going to the ER. I had him go to the doctor where I work and bring Cammie so they could both be seen. He was swabbed for the flu with a rapid screen (which aren't as accurate as actual cultures) and it was negative. The doctor said the even though it was negative, they both really LOOKED like they had the flu. He treated Cammie with Tamiflu, but Brian was out of the recommended 48 hr window, so he didn't get any. On Friday I was all sinusy and such, so I went upstairs too, and they swabbed me. I did test positive with the rapid screen. At that point we knew for sure that we were battling the flu. Starting on Friday he began getting a little short of breath, but nothing major. We really didn't spend a lot of time in the same rooms, so I had no idea how bad he had gotten until late Sunday night/early Monday morning. He COULD NOT breath hardly at all, and when I looked at his hands his fingernails were blue. I called an ambulance and took him to the ER where they found double pneumonia, low oxygen, and low blood pressure, which they were expecting. What they WEREN'T expecting was kidney failure from dehydration. They couldn't get his oxygen levels up with just an oxygen mask, so they went to a CPAP to force it into his lungs. That worked for a while, but when he got feverish again, his levels went down, so they decided they needed to out a breathing tube in and out him an the ventilator. He's currently in ICU on the vent and getting kidney dialysis, they say he's making improvements about the rate they expect, but he's no where near out of the woods yet. I took our little girl to the ER last night because she still has a cough that seems to be getting worse, and I wanted a chest x ray to make sure she wasn't developing pneumonia too. Thank the good Lord up above they didn't see any evidence of pneumonia, they say it's just a leftover cough from the flu, and to treat her with a humidifier and hot baths (she's only 3, too young for cough meds). Please remember my family in your prayers. I will try to give you guys updates as I can, I haven't been the best at making Facebook updates between being at the hospital, the doctor, and just handling everything that needs dealt with, but I've been managing to do one late at night, so if you don't hear from me for a little while, just know that I appreciate your prayers and that I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I WILL be back to let you know how he's doing. Thank you so much!

Sherry

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

You've got my Prayers, Sherry..
and A Big Hug..

shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

Thank you Marilyn!

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

[quote=shall1585]Thank you Marilyn![/quote

You are entirely welcome.
Wishing all of Gods blessings, that things change for the better of your family.
:)

carlysue Loc: Columbus

Consider me on your prayer team, for you and your family. Please let us know updates as time allows.

shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

Thank you CarlySue! I've been here at the hospital since about 2:30 today and I took a minute to grab a bite to eat. I forgot to tell you guys that not only was he positive for flu here, it's H1N1, the swine flu. As of today, his dialysis wasn't helping him as much as it could, so instead of doing it 3-4 hours once a day where they pull out large volumes of blood, they started him on continuous dialysis, where only about 120ml, about 4 oz, of blood are out of the body at a time. He's still stable enough for it the regular, they just feel like this will be better and more consistent at removing the fluid. So far they've remove about 9.5 liters off of him in 3 rounds of dialysis, and it looked like about 2 more on the continuous pump before I came to eat. The nurse practitioner says he's making baby steps in the right direction though, even with having to go to this type of dialysis. They've been able to lower the oxygen in his vent from 100% to 70% since Monday, so that's good news. Plus they've been able to lower a few more settings, and he's still keeping his oxygen level and blood pressure up, and breaths per minute down to where it's acceptable. They say he's making baby steps in the right direction though, so that's definitely a plus. Thanks again for all the prayers!

lacsar Loc: Columbia SC and Newland NC

On my prayer list. Just curious did none of you take the flu shots?

shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

I got mine, and I took our little girl to get hers, but the fridge they kept the vaccines in had gone down over the weekend, so she couldn't get it. We hadn't had a chance to take her back to get it. Although the flu shot didn't PROTECT me so to speak, between having had it and getting the Tamiflu within the 48 hr window, I'm already better. Our little girl got the Tamiflu in time too, and she's better with the exception of the post-flu cough. My husband is stubborn and refused to take the shot, says he had enough needles in the army.. I work in healthcare in the lab, and out of the last 13 yrs or so I've gotten my flu shot every year except one. Which means that I've been exposed to the H1N1 and been developing immunity since it reemerged in 2009. This is the second time in 3 yrs that I've gotten the flu (confirmed by nasal swab) even after having my flu shot.

shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

And now an update... He had a bad morning, his nurse noticed his oxygen levels down a bit, and his heart rate up some, and that he seemed to be really struggling to breath. When they did his chest x ray this morning the found that his right lung had collapsed, so they had to put in a chest tube. They now have to keep him not only sedated, but paralyzed as well. I guess now we just have to wait and see what the rest of the day brings.. :/ thanks again for the prayers, we sure need them!

carlysue Loc: Columbus

I'm on it, praying for complete recovery.

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

I'm with Carly and praying for a full recovery.

lacsar Loc: Columbia SC and Newland NC

Praying for full recovery for all of you.

shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

Well, it's been another not so good day. I slept in this morning, and as I was getting ready to leave our little girl started crying and begging me not to go :( I know my husband would understand me being home with her, so I decided I would stay home today (chances are good that he doesn't even know we're there). I had already talked to his nurse and she had informed me that she had tried to turn his vent back down, but ended up turning it back up because he just wasn't tolerating it. Even with the higher settings he still wasn't doing great, so she had them do another chest x ray and found that the top portion of his right lung had collapsed today, so they had to put another chest tube in. She called me back after they got done and said his blood oxygen levels were better and she'd been able to turn his vent down a little. On the kidney front, even with the dialysis his phosphorous level is still high so they had tried to do continuous dialysis for conistency. Where it's a slower type of dialysis, he kept clotting the machine up, so they have to go back to the normal type. His blood levels for his kidneys had gone down yesterday, but now they're back up. They're also checking him for an intestinal bacteria called C. diff, she really doesn't think he has it, but she'd rather be safe than sorry... The only changes for the better are the facts that he did make a little bit of urine on his own, and he only on a very small dose of medicine to keep his blood pressure up. So while those are very tiny positive things, I'm going to hold onto them for all I've got! Thanks again for the prayers!

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

Thank you for the update Sherry.
I expect its going to take a while for this all to be under control, and its probably at or close to the his lowest point before he makes an upturn.
Hang in there, we will keep praying for you all.
Hugs..

shall1585 Loc: Prichard, WV

I'm sure you're right. It's just so hard to imagine that he could possibly get any worse, and then something else happens. Thank you so much for the kind words and prayers :)