We arrived at the Emergeny Room entrance of UPMC Presbyterian Hospital at around 4:30. There was a social worker there to meet us and more forms to fill out before she took us up to the surgical waiting room where we met Justin's dad. We were told that Justin had been taken into surgery at about 4 and the surgery was anticipated to last 90 minutes. I'm not a very good 'sitter' and I was still trying to process all that had happened on our "normal" Tuesday. I wasn't ready to talk through it yet. I headed to the bank of computers in the waiting room and put my first message calling all my prayer warrior friends to pray. I already knew that God was in this situation, but I wasn't about to limit the number of prayers being sent up.
We were told at about 5:40 that the surgery was about over and the doctor would be out to meet with us. We were led to a small conference room and waited. Dr. Watson came in and just had a way about him that we were put at ease. He told us that surgery was successful, the spleen was out, and that Justin was being closed up by his resident and would then be moved to the Trauma ICU. Then Dr. Watson got down to the nitty-gritty of it (which I respect because I'd rather be told in black and white what's gone on).
He asked why the ER was not notified of the severity of Justin's condition before he arrived. I told him that the doctor in Grove City told me that the hospital had been notified and that a doctor would be waiting for him upon his arrival. He also guaranteed me that the CT scan reports had already been sent down so they knew what they were expecting. Apparently there was more than just a mixup with what hospital the MedStat folks were told and there was a doctor somewhere in an ER in Pittsburgh waiting that night for a MedStat helicopter that never arrived. I don't doubt though that God put Justin at Presby for a reason.
Dr. Watson said that when Justin arrived, his BP and heart rate again bottomed out. He said that the MedStat folks had told him they were able to keep getting it back up as needed while they were in route, but started to lose it again when they were landing. Dr. Watson said that the MedStat team had a copy of the CT results with them and he was able to quickly review them. He told us that it is very rare that he will take a patient into surgery without doing his own scans just to be sure he knows what to expect when he opens up a patient. But because of Justin's decrease in BP and heart rate, in addition to the scans from GCMC he knew he didn't have the time to do his own tests. Justin was transferred within minutes out of the ER and into Trauma 1 surgery.
Dr. Watson said that a splenectomy can either be done laparoscopically (sp?) or by opening up the abdominal cavity. Because they needed to address the severe bleeding and do so asap, they had to open Justin up. The doctor said that the bleeding was profuse and Justin's blood pressure continued to drop and his heart rate decreased significantly. He said the bleeding continued until they actually pulled Justin's spleen out of the cavity and clamped it off. He said after that is was just cleaning up the blood that was pooling throughout. He told us that over 65% of Justin's body's blood supply had been lost and was pooling in his abdomen. He told us that Justin would be in ICU at least for the night because of his low blood pressure concerns, but he hoped to move him to a regular floor the next day. He said he would keep him in the hospital for 3-5 days based on recovery and that home recovery would be about 6 weeks. Again shellshocked by all the information we had just heard.
We were led next to the Trauma ICU waiting room where we had to wait until Justin had been moved there to see him. We were finally able to see him around 6:30. He was sedated and still had a breathing tube in, as well as a feeding tube down his nose. He looked terrible for sure. Justin's dad took a picture, but that's not exactly blogging material. Justin has seen it and was shocked at how terrible he looked. His head was restained in a neck collar so the breathing tube would stay in place and his arms and legs were restrained as well. They planned to keep him sedated, but in the event he did wake up they didn't want him to panic and start pulling at tubes. We were only able to stay with him for about 30 minutes before the quiet hour of shift changes from 7-8. All visitors to ICU are asked to leave during that time. Justin's parents, sister, and I headed down to the cafeteria to get a little dinner during that time.
While we were eating I saw one of Justin's fraternity friends walking toward us. I got up and he gave me a big hug. He said he was working the ER when he saw Justin's name come across the entering patients to the ER roster. (I knew Paul worked at a Pgh hospital as an RN, but didn't know it was Presby). He said he was about to ask about Justin since he didn't think the name 'Justin McCreadie' was too common, but got called to help with an incoming stroke patient. He said by the time he came back to see where Justin was, his name was off the ER roster. He said no one ever gets moved off the ER roster that fast unless there's a huge problem. He said he usually wouldn't ask, but he got permission from his supervisor to access Justin's record to see what was going on and where he was. I told him what I knew too and Paul just shook his head and said, "It was bad, real bad." I was really thankful for a familiar face with encouraging words.
By the time we got back up to the Trauma ICU waiting room it was about 8 and we were expecting to get right in to see Justin again. It's a secure unit and you have to call in via a call box and state who you are and who you are wanting to visit. We called back and they told us that we'd have to wait. While we were waiting and waiting and waiting some more to get the word to head back, the doors opened and out came a gurney with one guy pushing it and the other guy working the air bag, squeezing it in perfect rhythm. None of us gave it much notice until Justin's mom yelled, "That's Justin! What are they doing to him?" We knew they were planning to do another full body CT scan to check for any bleeding in his abdomen, as well as any potential clots. We just weren't sure what time they planned to do this. After a quick call into the ICU, we were assured Justin would be back as soon as the scan was over and we could see him then.
They ended up backing the sedation down when they did the CT, so when he was brought back and we went in to see him, he was awake and we were able to talk to him. He seemed aware and blinked answers and squeezed our hands. (However, when we talked to him the next morning he didn't remember us being there and talking to him.) I was just so thankful to see his eyes open and looking around. They increased the sedative again and we left.
Thankfully God is again creative. Paige was in Pittsburgh doing the conversion of a bank branch FNB had just bought, so she was staying in a hotel about 2 miles from the hospital. She graciously offered for me to stay with her and I was so thankful not to have to drive home that night. The boys were having a rough time of going to sleep and were scared and unsure of what was going on, but my mom and her back rubs are always the winning combination. I got to Paige's hotel and after a quick talk, we went to sleep. Breakfast in the morning was good and definitely needed for energy for another day.
I got to the hospital at about 8:30. I called in and they said to come on in. When I passed the nurse's desk, a nurse stopped me and introduced herself as Justin's nurse for the day. She said she was actually about to come looking for me because Justin kept asking when I was going to get there. I knew they were planning to wake him up that morning and take out the breathing tube, but I didn't expect it that early. It was so incredible to walk in there and see him sitting up, not tied to the bed, and with no more breathing or feeding tubes in. Praise the Lord! It was a complete 180 from what we saw of him the night before!
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