and then Tyler got sick.

Wow! What a month! I don't even know where to begin on this, so prepare to read a Novel if you dare! But Tyler got very sick in June and ended up in the hospital for about a week with a bad infection.

We moved out and headed to Utah May 31st, and June 1st Tyler woke up in the middle of the night with a very bad UTI/Bladder Infection. After going to an instacare he was given Macrobid, an antibiotic for a UTI, and started feeling a little better after a couple days. We went to Lake Powell June 6-13 (Friday-Friday), and on Tuesday he took his last prescription. By Wednesday afternoon his infection was back Full force, and with no Pharmacy for hours he started taking his mom's prescription for Cipro- another prescription for Bladder infections. He was feeling a little better, but not up to his full game. We got home from Lake Powell Friday night, and Saturday night Tyler and I headed up to Park City for our anniversary. By about 11pm that night Tyler was feeling a lot of pain in his lower back (Kidney) and had a really bad fever/chills. After talking with his mom we decided to go straight to the University of Utah ER, rather than the emergency room. That way we could get a urine culture done and get answers more quickly!

Doesn't he look super happy to be here? He was in a lot of pain, and after being sick for a full 2 weeks, wasn't doing so great! He ended up having a CT Scan done just to make sure it wasn't an infected Kidney stone. If it was one of those, they were going to have to surgically remove it. They sent us home with a different prescription of Cipro, with the instructions of what not to eat with it, etc... and would let us know when they got the urine culture back. We rushed back to our parents to pack up Tyler's things and then I dropped him off at the airport in a lot of pain, but he was starting his new job the next day. Eek! I felt so bad, but I really had no idea what we were supposed to do.

He started his new job the next day (June 16), but was just in so much pain and so out of it. At this point the pain/infection was starting in his testicle... Ah! So not fun! We called the Urologist in Minot and he wasn't going to be able to get in until the middle of July. Not good news. He took himself to the Minot Emergency Room Wednesday morning, with another CT Scan, and a sooner Urologist appt for Friday afternoon they sent him home. His pain just kept getting worse. Thursday morning he finally heard back about his urine culture from the U of U. They said that none of the prescriptions were kiling this bacteria, and he needed to get started on IV antibiotics asap. They asked how soon he could be up to the hospital to get these started. He then explained he was in North Dakota, so they ended up sending all of his medical info to the Urologist in Minot. I ended up figuring out that the Urologist was from Utah, went to the University of Utah, worked in Ogden, and was LDS in the other ward.... Small world! I called his office again and ended up getting the appt moved to first thing Friday morning. His new boss sent his home from work early because he looked so terrible.

Friday morning he went into the Urologist who immediately sent him the hospital. They have NO idea how he got this infection, and they said the only time they've seen an infection this bad was from drug users who share needles. (Come on Ty... do you have something to tell us? ;-)) It was an e-coli type/string of bacteria. They admitted him to the hospital early Friday afternoon. Tyler called me Friday morning as I was waking up and gave me the news. I was a mess! The poor guy has been staying in a hotel all week, all alone, so sick, and in so much pain! Luckily I have the best friends in the Universe! Cute Jaymie and Mark took Tyler dinner twice that week to his hotel room, and Tyler crashed their place Friday morning as well to organize all of his stuff and pack his hospital bag. 

After talking to Tyler's mom I decided to fly up to Minot. Luckily Bonnie had frequent flyer miles, and miraculously we were able to get a flight for that afternoon in just a few hours. I had the girls all taken care of between Bonnie, my mom, Amy, and Candace. I was on my way to the airport with no idea when I was coming back! And after I booked my plane ticket, and I called Jenny and luckily had a place to stay! (best friends ever!!) Jenny picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at the hospital. 

While I was on the plane Tyler had a PICC line put in- a direct line from his arm to his heart... Ah! He said it was super fun to get put in. They also started him on two different antibiotics. He was getting about 7 total IV treatments a day. He was not looking good. And I'm pretty sure every nurse in Minot had now seen his man-hood at this point. (haha...) Oh the poor guy! I felt so bad. I was able to hang out with him for a couple hours and make sure he was still alive. I got back to Jenny's house late that night. Seriously Jenny and David are the best. Jenny has been one of my best friends for a couple years, but they are just amazing. It was as if I had lived there all my life! They make you feel so comfortable, and I was so grateful to have somewhere comfortable to stay/sleep and eat. And not to mention have a best friend to talk to! Bless you Jenny! Jenny and I went walking/running the next morning early, and then it was back to the hospital for me. I felt so bad- Tyler was in so much pain, and one of his IV antibiotics was making him so nauseous/sick. He seriously had NO energy.  I ran and got lunch that afternoon after Tyler fell asleep. I was able to see Jaymie for a second and grab Tyler some snacks at Target, and pick up a movie. We watched 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' Saturday afternoon, and that was essentially the craziest thing Tyler did all weekend! He really had no energy to do anything at all. He probably slept for like 20/24 hours that day. And when I say slept, I mean, laid trying not to lay on his PICC line.  I spent all afternoon with Tyler and met up with Jenny, David, Mark and Jaymie for dinner at one of our favorite places by the hospital, Souris River Brewery for a quick dinner. I went back to get Tyler all tucked in for bed, etc.. 

I'm so thankful for these beautiful besties of mine! They take such good care of Tyler and I.

 The next morning, Sunday, I went straight to the hospital. Tyler had been in a shared room, but luckily had no in it all day Saturday. Sunday morning they moved in a super nice guy, but poor Tyler was NOT doing well. He had a horrible Migraine, and was no nauseous still from his medication. The nurses kept going in and out past his bedroom, asking the other patient so many loud ridiculous questions. I was so frustrated. Then I went outside and saw 2 empty rooms across the hall! Each with 2 beds! What the heck? I was so frustrated. I went to the nurses station and asked them why he had to share a room and they just said that the ER was full, so those beds would be filling up soon. Whatever! After about an hour this poor guy next to Tyler was trying to sleep and Tyler was doing awful. Before I knew it Tyler was in the bathroom throwing up everything he had probably ever consumed in his life, and sounded like some type of dying animal. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. At this point Im feeling bad for Tyler, but seriously I was feeling SO bad for this poor guy laying in the bed next to Tyler trying to sleep. I walk into the hall and there was STILL two empty rooms. I was FUMING! I went to the nurses station and was so angry. I asked and calmly/nicely and as sternly as I could if there was anyway we could move one of them because there was still two empty rooms and this was ridiculous, etc... etc... Needless to say. Tyler left the bathroom in disarray, and we were moved into an empty room. Woot woot! I went to our home ward that afternoon for sacrament, and then was back at the hospital. Our awesome bishop, David & Noah came that evening to give Tyler the sacrament. It had been a few weeks because of Lake Powell and our previous ER visit in Utah, so I was so thankful for our awesome ward there.

Peace out Room 479. I hope your bathroom got cleaned well... Eeek.

 His infectious disease Doctor was able to switch him from the medicine that made him so nauseous- that he was having 4x a day, to one that made him actually way more sick, but only once a day. It was still rough taking it, but only once a day made it way more manageable. We were hoping he could be released from the Hospital Monday, but he was still not doing very well and still in a lot of pain. We were able to talk to the Urologist and explain our situation (no home, children still in Utah, etc...) After hearing that he ordered another CT Scan, rather than the ultrasound they were planning on doing, just to make sure there wasn't an abscess, or really anything else alarming. We got the results back Tuesday morning and everything looked good. The doctor just said that it really could take up to a month for everything to get back to normal, and everything looked good on the CT Scan. He gave us the clearance to go back to Utah and finish the IV antibiotics with Home Health Care. I was able to change my flight from Tuesday to Wednesday morning with no problem and get Tyler a flight booked. I was a little nervous as he would be flying with his PICC line in, and the most activity he had done was walking up and down the hospital hall- about 100 ft- once a day. But I was so excited to get home to our kids! 

 Ginny- our home health counselor, and the hospital was so helpful. And had everything set up for us when we got to Utah. We made it home- with luckily a very uneventful airport trip! We immediately went to a Doctor here in Kaysville to get a referral for our home health care. We picked up his prescriptions and that night a delivery of his IV stuff came and a nurse showed us how to get all of these fun antibiotics done. They changed his Amikacin dose to twice a day, and his Ertapenem was only once a day. So from starting a 7x a day, to 3x a day. This seemed totally doable. Tyler was still pretty exhausted and under the weather for the remainder of basically that whole week. He went to church with us on Sunday and lasted the whole 3 hours. Woot woot! He was doing a lot better Sunday night. Monday my family was going to Bear Lake and he was really trying to decide if he should come or not. He ended up coming up Tuesday morning and we left Thursday night. He was doing so much better, and at this point was a serious pro at giving himself all of the meds. And me too! Sterilize the tube, Pull-back, Saline, Start the Meds, Saline, Heparin, etc... etc... 

 Tyler ended up being in Utah from June 25-July 6. The girls were SO happy to have their dad there! It's crazy to see how awful he was doing to now. He flew home last Sunday and was feeling 100x better. He still has his PICC line in, but is down to only one IV at night before bed. He just has his 2 foot long tube sticking out of his arm all wrapped up in his little net. 

 He made it back to Minot and stayed with Jenny and David again for a couple of nights. Jenny's girls were pretty intrigued watching Tyler do his IV! Haha. 

Tyler's new job has been absolutely incredible. I mean it's amazing enough that he still has a job after all of this! He missed really 3 full weeks of work. He went back to work last Monday- the 7th and is doing well. He is supposed to get his PICC line out on Thursday- the 17th. That makes 4 full weeks of having the PICC line in. I think he is terrified to get it out, but it will be such a relief to be able to use his right arm again fully! He also has a follow up appt on Thursday to make sure all of the bacteria is gone, so cross your fingers!

So basically nothing this summer has gone as planned. We were really moving to Utah for summer with the hope to save a LOT of money and hopefully put a down payment on a house this fall. Tyler was planning on working a ton, long hours, and hitting this new job full force! He was planning on renting a room in Dickinson starting in June, and just barely ended up being able to start living down there this week. 

Tyler's mom recently wrote a blog post about all of this, and it really got me thinking. Tyler and I were able to go to the temple together in May before we moved. Tyler had already started working at a different job started May 1st- it was more Oil Field experience, and was potentially more money, but this other job was recently just put on the table. It just seemed more stable. I just kept thinking that Tyler should probably take the more stable job. Especially after we went to the temple. It wasn't a big deal, it just seemed like the stable job made more sense. Even if the money might be less. Looking back it was such a blessing. That other job Tyler did all through May was a lot of physical labor mixed into it, and there was NO way Tyler could have worked at all even these last couple of weeks for them. No benefits, etc... It's funny how when you think you've got things all figured out, that nothing goes according to plan. Even last fall I was really wanting to get pregnant and was so baby hungry. I just kept feeling like it wasn't the right time, which made no sense. I'm on my parents insurance until I'm 26- which is next month! So I could have had the WHOLE pregnancy/baby paid for completely. But it just didn't seem right. I would have been having a baby right in the middle of being a single mom with my husband in the hospital homeless! Ahhhh!! I definitely had never had big spiritual impressions, but I am so thankful for the small promptings of the spirit that have obviously been leading us in the right direction. Sometimes adult life is so weird. This fun is obviously not over, lots and lots of fun medical bills are to come, but it really could have been so much worse. I'm just so glad that things are looking up, and we are planning on being back in Minot in August for Lucy to start school. And we'll go from there. This summer has been wonderfully fun and exhausting. I'm sure we will look back on this summer as quite the adventure! Bring it on!