Tuesday, February 21, 2012 began like any regular day. Justin had not felt well the night before and had gone to bed early, but other than that, it was business as usual the next morning. Justin complained of a little abdominal discomfort that morning but thought it was something he had eaten the night before. He headed off to work, I took the boys to school, and then I went to work.
Halfway through the morning, Justin called to tell me that he still wasn't feeling well. Not nauseaus per se, but just had a really bad stomach ache and it seemed to be getting worse, not better. He told me that he was going to finish his route as fast as he could and then tell his boss he was heading home. He hoped to be done by 1 or 2. When I leave for lunch at noon, I always call Justin on my way home. It gives him a way to gauge his day - 'Am I ahead or behind of where I usually am when Mandie calls?' He said he was doing what he needed to do but he wasn't sure he was going to make it through his entire route. He thought he may need to call his boss and say he needed someone to come carry the rest of his route because he wasn't feeling well. He told me to call him when I headed back to work (as I do everyday around 12:45).
At 12:35 my phone rang and it was Justin. He told me in a pinched voice to not go back to work because he was on his way home and he needed me to take him to the Emergency Room. WHAT?!? Not only does Justin not like going to the doctor, he never goes to the ER willingly. One time I actually had to call a friend over to help me convince him to go.
I waited five, ten, fifteen minutes and then I began to worry. What was taking so long? Did the pain become so bad that it caused him to wreck? Was he having a heart attack? Just as I was getting in the car to go find him, he pulled in to the driveway. He could barely walk as he got out of the car and literally stumbled into mine.
I asked him what was going on and he told me that "something popped". He said he had leaned down to get something and it felt like something inside him exploded and then pain ripped through his abdomen and up into his left chest and shoulder area.
As I drove up to the ER, I asked him if he wanted to me pull up right to the ER doors. He said that was dumb and just go park the car. This didn't turn out to be the greatest idea. As we're walking from the parking lot to the ER entrance, Justin started to get lightheaded and dizzy. He kept saying he was going to pass out. It had started snowing that morning and all I could think was he was going to pass out, I wouldn't be able to catch him, and he'd fall on the snow covered, wet ground. I asked him if he wanted to sit and I'd go get someone and he said no, we needed to just keep going.
As we walked in the ER doors, there was an ambulance parked outside and an EMT standing right inside the doors. He took one look at me trying to hold Justin up and Justin's pale face, and said, "You don't look so good buddy. What's going on?" I explained Justin's symptoms and Justin just kind of grimaced at the guy. The EMT supported Justin and walked him right into the triage room. After about 1 minute of asking Justin what he was feeling, the EMT yelled over his shoulder, "I'm taking a room NOW and I need help."
He got Justin back to his feet and walked him down to an exam room. Within minutes Justin was hooked up to every machine in the room, had IVs running, and oxygen going. They made me go out to give the lady our insurance information, etc. and by the time I got back to Justin had already had the EKG machine hooked up and running. The doctor asked Justin about a small bruise on his left abdominal area, but Justin said he didn't know what it was from. Justin did say that the pain medicine they gave him was doing nothing for the pain and he was getting extremely cold. Justin kept saying, "I feel weird. I feel really weird. You need to get someone." I got the nurse's attention and she came in. Then he started to lose consciousness. Machines were buzzing, alarms were going off, and I had no idea what was going on. Wasn't this just some bad abdominal pain? The nurse told me that I needed to keep him awake. Whatever I had to do, just keep him awake. I gently smacked his face and said, "Come on J, wake up. Please stay awake." The nurse looked at me gently smacking him and said that wasn't going to work. I needed to smack him and mean it! Looking back now, that might have been my finest hour. What wife doesn't want permission just once to smack her husband : )
Around that time, the doctor came back in and they were getting his shirt off to get him ready for a CT scan, . When they pulled his shirt off completely, the doctor asked him if he'd been in an accident (which we had said no to previously). As I looked over, Justin's entire abdomen was now yellowed and bruised. I saw the look on the doctor's face and knew instantly that this wasn't going to be a 'get checked at the ER and go home kind of thing'. The doctor told the nurse to clear the CT with whoever was scheduled to be in it because Justin was going now and there could be no delay.
Justin wasn't even back from the CT area before the doctor came to see me with the results. His spleen had ruptured and it was bad. He was bleeding internally and he needed surgery soon. The doctor said that they had a surgeon on call, but didn't know if he could get ahold of him. He said our best option was to get the lifeflight crew in asap and get Justin to Pittsburgh fast. By then Justin was back in the room and his heart rate, which kept plummeting along with his blood pressure, suddenly skyrocketed. I looked at the doctor and told him it wasn't the wisest thing to talk helicopters with Justin in the room. The doctor looked at Justin and asked him if he wanted to live. He told Justin this was his best option to get to the hospital and get the surgery he needed. I looked at Justin and said, not so nicely, "I don't want to hear a word from you. You will get in the helicopter and you will not put up a fuss and I don't want to hear anything more about this." Right about then his blood pressure bottomed out again (top number was 47) and I was back to smacking his face to keep him awake.
Units of blood had already been ordered and a rush was put on them. They hooked up 6 IV units of saline with pressure bags. They needed to get something moving through his system since he was bleeding internally and fast. They needed to get his blood pressure up before he could leave via helicopter. I honestly felt like I was suddenly on a tv show watching nurses and the doctor run around yelling things as more needles were stuck in Justin's arms and then the units of blood arrived, so those were added to the mix.
The folks from MedStat arrived around 2:20 (we'd been at the ER for about 80 minutes at this point). They took over quite a bit in working to get Justin's BP higher. There was also some confusion about which hospital he was being transferred to. At first it was he was going to AGH, then Mercy, then Presby. The flight crew was certain that they were told Mercy, while the ER doctor told them, no, he was sending Justin to Presby. I didn't care where he went as long as the trauma surgeon was ready for him.
Justin's BP was still not where it needed to be by about 2:45, but the lead guy from the MedStat crew told us he didn't feel comfortable waiting any longer. He said he would continue working to get it up once they were in the air. When they transferred Justin to the helicopter gurney, it was like putting a giant on a tricycle : ) Helicopters were just not made for football built men. They wrapped him up like a burrito, had me sign some papers, gave me directions to Presby, and told Justin to tell me he'd see me in a bit. And away they went.
I can say that I've always known that God will give me the strength to endure anything I encounter, but that day He gave me an extra portion. I hadn't cried until they took Justin out to the helicopter because there just wasn't time. I knew if I completely melted down then Justin would too and he was in no condition to get any more upset than he was currently. God gave me strength to be there, to do as I was told, to listen closely to what was being said, and He gave me the understanding that it was all going to be okay because He was in charge and it is He who has ordered our days. I had such a peace around me and I know Justin saw that too and that calmed him.
I had talked to my mom once or twice as I learned new information, but only when Justin was taken by MedStat and I was sitting in the car watching did I allow myself to break down and really cry. My mom told me that I needed to get myself together and think of what I needed to do next. As I drove home, things were racing through my mind - clothes for Justin, school for the boys, the dumb dog and six puppies that now occupied our basement...and then I looked at the seat beside me. Hayden's school fundraiser was Daffin's candy and he was so excited at how much he (his mom) had sold for him and was excited about the prize levels he had achieved. The order was due on Wednesday. I knew I had to get that order form turned in that day because I didn't know what the next day held. I changed course and headed to the school. I didn't have the order tallied and I hadn't written a check for the cash paid orders. I walked into the school secretary office and Peg Williams asked me what I was doing. She attends church with us and sings in the choir with me. I told her, between crying sniffles, that I needed to bring Hayden's fundraiser in and I didn't have it done and Justin's going by helicopter to Pittsburgh... I was a blubbering mess. I asked her for a calculator so I could figure out Hayden's order. She told me I shouldn't be there and she would take care of it and it wasn't important at this moment in time. I handed a blank check to her, signed it, and told her that the cash needed a check written for it. She came around the desk and prayed with me, which was just what I needed that that time, but hadn't even needed to ask.
I headed home and packed a bag of things for Justin. (It was only later that night that I realized I hadn't packed anything for myself.) I headed for I-79 and by that time my whole body was shaking as the realization of what had happened over the last two hours set in. As corny as it sounds, I turned on K-LOVE and just listened as the music spoke of praising Him and trusting Him at all times. Also about that time, the church Worship Director called me and said she'd just talked to Peg Williams. She asked if she, too, could pray with me. With the radio now off and speakerphone activated, she prayed over Justin and I, that His will would be done in our lives, that His strength would be ours, that His peace would encompass us. I could feel the resolve in me to stay focused and strong coming back. As we disconnected our call, I was thankful for her and thankful to Peg for calling her. And I became very thankful for cruise control.
I made it to Seven Fields where I picked up Justin's mom for the rest of the trip into Pittsburgh.
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