Sunday, December 31, 2017
2 ER visits last week
You can tell you spend too much time somewhere when you walk in and they know who you are and remember your name. When the nurse came in she remembered Mike and after asking what the issue was she went straight to the Doc. He came in and because he only had 10 minutes left of his shift he didn't want to start the procedure and then hand it off to the new Dr. We have been so blessed to have such wonderful staff at the Dr, it makes going there and being there so much better. I am so grateful for the Dr's and nurses that are away from their family on holidays and weekends so we can go to the hospital to get the help he needs.
The new Dr came and put in the Catheter, hooked him up to the vacuum bottles and had to leave to see other patients. The nurse kept us company changing the bottles when needed. They took 4 liters from his abdomen this time.
The second visit was on Wednesday, I was sick and Mike promised me that I could stay in bed and he would take care of the house and the kids. Mike and the boys were leaving to run some errands when Ryan came in, he told Mallory to leave and then told me Mike had fallen down the outside stairs at our house and he thought he broke is arm and ribs. I hurried out the door to find him crying at the door. I helped him in the house he was sitting on the stairs. I ran in to change and get my stuff so we could leave.
I went into Mallory's room, she was having an anxiety attack. I spent a few minutes calming her down. This is one of her biggest fears that Mike will fall and hurt himself. We talked for a few minutes, she was mad the boys weren't right there by his side. She is always there at his side to watch him and help him. She is so sweet and worried about her dad.
The nurses joked with Mike that he was there for something besides his Liver! Thankfully he didn't have any broken bones but he was so MAD because it hurt so much. The Dr. said sometimes bruised ribs and sprained arms hurt worse then broken bones. I am grateful there was no broken bones but my heart hurts for Mike he is in a lot of pain.
My sweet Hubby needs to live in a BUBBLE!
Thursday, December 14, 2017
I am a horrible wife part 2
I am writing this post from Mike's hospital room. The loopiness continued to get worse until I knew I had to take him to the hospital. It took me 40 minutes to get him out of the bathroom and into the hall, I had to call his brother to come help me get him out to the car. It took both of us to get him down the stairs and to the car. I have never seen him this bad! I was very scared. We got the the hospital and his ammonia level is at 186, his normal level is 90, and the average persons ammonia level is at 15-30.
Our sweet little girl (Ok not so little anymore) was so scared to see her dad that way. At 13 i dont think anyone could really understand what is happening to their dad. We finally called her mom and she came and got her and took her home. She had been staying with us because she is sick. Her deepest fear is that her dad is going to die! Which with the way he was last night could to her seemed like a very real fear or thought to have.
Mike has had one good moment today and that is when I told him that I was going to our youngest sons Christmas concert he got very sad and told me to tell Tyler he wishes he could have been there. After I left and the CNA came in, he told her he felt so bad that he was missing the concert. He doesn't know who I am but he remembers who Tyler is.
They have mike down in the ultrasound dept, they are removing the fluid from his abdomen. They are doing several other tests as well to see if they can figure out why he got so bad so fast.
This blog has been a great place for me to put down my thoughts.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
I am a horrible wife!
I am a horrible wife! I completely lost it on Mike tonight! Mikes toxin levels are very high right now and that makes him loopy as I have said before, when he gets like this he gets cold so I told him to turn off the ceiling fan. He got up and turned off the fan and turned on the light. He told me he needed to turn on the light, I told him it was already on and he told me he needed it off so we turned it off. This went on for awhile and then I lost it!
I started laughing and couldn't stop! I was trying to explain to him what I thought he was trying to do but I couldn't stop laughing. He was getting so frustrated with me, Mallory heard the commotion and came to see what was going on. He started trying to get her to help him but he was asking for something he had just done. He was trying to turn the fan off but kept telling us he needed to turn off the light. He needed to permanently turn off the cold. I wish you could have been here to see it, it's like one of those stories that isn't as funny when you try to tell it again.
You probably think I am a horrible person. Who laughs at their husband when he's sick? Apparently me. I think I was laughing because I really wanted to cry.
He has been talking to me all night about his feet. He needs a right foot. He needs 2 right feet. From what I can piece together his right foot is itchy and he can't find the words to explain this to me. He just keeps telling me he needs a right foot.
He is finally asleep and i had a chance to talk to Mallory, I asked her if she was ok, she said she was, but I know how hard this is on her to see her dad like this. She is stressed. It is draining to deal with him when he is like this. I told her this is why I ask them to help around the house more then they would like, it's hard to try to deal with him all day and then try to keep up the housework also.
I can't wait for the resurrection when both Mike and myself will have perfect bodies again. The struggles we face now will not plague us then. I look forward to that day!
Sunday, December 10, 2017
U of U liver clinic visit
The Dr did say that Mike's liver is getting worse but he are still a ways from dying. The Dr took blood work to see where Mike's levels are at. There is a thing called the MELD Score; it stands for
Model For End-Stage Liver Disease. The way you find your MELD score is to take the following blood test results and enter them into a MELD Calculator and it will give you your MELD score. Mike's MELD score is at a 20. For 5 years he was Keeping his MELD score around 12-15. since July it has been around 18-20. At 20 you qualify to be put on the Liver transplant list. Unfortunately in the state of Utah they are doing transplants with MELD scores around 30-40. We are going to be meeting with the U of U team once a month now so they can get the needed information in order to do the transplant.
Hospital Visit Nov 25th.
We knew this visit was coming. we could tell he had been filling with fluid but we were hoping he could wait until Monday when we could get the parenthesis done at a clinic and not the Hospital.
we play this game: how many liters are they getting out this time. I guessed 4 the nurse guessed 3 Mike guessed 5 and the Dr guessed 4.5.They pulled 4 liters out of his abdomen this time. I won!!
You know you spend too much time in the ER when the Nurses know who you are and give you hugs when they see you. the nurses are wonderful and the hospital we go to and I am grateful that we have gotten to know the wonderful Nurses and Drs that are helping us through this crazy life we are living.
The Dr looked at Mikes totals and told us that with Mikes numbers he thinks Mike only has a few months left to live if he doesn't get a Liver! Talk about scaring us! We left the hospital in a daze rather than feeling better due to the help he received.
The next day was a very emotional day. I couldn't stop crying! all of the wonderful people around us were amazing and very supportive.
We have a Dr appointment with the U of U clinic on Thursday so we will know more then.
One of Mikes symptoms
Mike's Hospital Visit
On Monday Nov 13 i noticed that Mikes was starting to show the signs of having to much Ammonia (Toxins) in his system. He wanted to go to the hospital but I talked him into staying home and just taking more Lactulose a medication that is used to remove the ammonia from his system. if we went to the hospital they would just give him large doses of the medication. Mike had a procedure the next day and so I thought we could just treat him at home.
Monday, November 13, 2017
Mikes Liver
- Bile production and excretion
- Excretion of bilirubin, cholesterol, hormones, and drugs
- Metabolism of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates
- Enzyme activation
- Storage of glycogen, vitamins, and minerals
- Synthesis of plasma proteins, such as albumin, and clotting factors
- Blood detoxification and purification
Cirrhosis is a complication of many liver diseases characterized by abnormal structure and function of the liver. The diseases that lead to cirrhosis do so because they injure and kill liver cells, after which the inflammation and repair that is associated with the dying liver cells causes scar tissue to form. The liver cells that do not die multiply in an attempt to replace the cells that have died. This results in clusters of newly-formed liver cells (regenerative nodules) within the scar tissue. There are many causes of cirrhosis including chemicals (such as alcohol, fat, and certain medications), viruses, toxic metals (such as iron and copper that accumulate in the liver as a result of genetic diseases), and autoimmune liver disease in which the body's immune system attacks the liver.
*Cirrhosis is a complication of liver disease which involves loss of livercells and irreversible scarring of the liver.
*Alcohol and viral hepatitis B and C are common causes of cirrhosis, although there are many other causes, as well as Fatty liver and Medications. Fatty liver is the top cause of Cirrhosis now.
*Cirrhosis can cause weakness, loss of appetite, easy bruising, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), itching, and fatigue.
*Diagnosis of cirrhosis can be suggested by history, physical examination and blood tests, and can be confirmed by liver biopsy.
*Complications of cirrhosis include edema and ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, bleeding from varices, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatopulmonary syndrome, hypersplenism, and liver cancer.
*Treatment of cirrhosis is designed to prevent further damage to the liver, treat complications of cirrhosis, and preventing or detecting liver cancer early. *Transplantation of the liver is an important option for treating patients with advanced cirrhosis.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Mike's health issues
One day Mike's sister-in-law commented on how yellow he looked. we made an appointment with a dr for that afternoon, while Mike was waiting for the Dr he passed out and fell off the table hitting the wall, the Dr. and nurse came into the room to find him on the floor. they came and got me to go back leaving the 3 kids in the waiting room. they told me they would not touch him and we needed to go to the hospital. I called my sister, dropping the kids off with her until Emily could come get them. we headed to the hospital only to find out that his liver was bad. His bilirubin was really high hence the yellow skin. there is nothing as terrifying as finding out your husband has a bad liver, that seemed pretty final to us. We went full force into meeting with a Gastroenterology Dr. his numbers had gotten worse in the few days it took us to get into the Dr. they then referred us to the Liver transplant clinic at the IMC in Salt Lake City. this was such a scary time for us. all the test and all the statistics on how bad this disease can be. Now fast forward to today.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Our Story
To start off I will give you some back story. Mike and I met when we where 13 and 15 yrs old. we dated off and on for 3 years and then we both served missions at the same time. He was the reason I went, but that's a story for another day. We reconnected in 2009, he had been married and had 3 kids and was going through a divorce. He had been in a car accident 2 yrs before and was disabled due to severe migraines. Mike walked in the Seagull Book I was managing and asked if I would be his friend, he had lost most of his friends when he separated from his wife. I knew right there that I still loved him and always had. I had never gotten married, I guess I was waiting for him. I was afraid of men, i have always wondered if I had been hurt by someone sometime. Its amazing how Heavenly Father works. He knew that I was afraid and so he made it so Mike and I fell in love with each other without the physical stuff. We started out as just friends. I would go visit him at his parents house and he would fall asleep after not very long and then i would stay there late into the night talking to his mom! He jokes that I fell in love with his mom long before I fell in love with him. Heavenly Father knew I needed to fall in love that way, I had to learn to trust him before we could move forward. By the time his divorce was final we were both in love but hadn't done anything yet. Our first kiss was March 19th the day his divorce was final. He proposed to me at the Manti Temple on May 9 2010, Mothers Day. We were Married on July 1 2010. Everyone thought is was too quick or that we had done something while he was still married. I told him I wouldn't do anything to lose my temple recommend. We had loved each other so many years ago and those feelings came back. I knew were were supposed to get married. Life is so interesting, the expectations in my mind always had me getting married in the temple to a wonderful man, have the nice house with the picket fence and the 4-5 kids that I always wanted. that's not what I got. My expectations almost ruined my marriage, its hard to change your expectations into the reality of life. I love Mike, but it was so hard to go from being single to being married with 3 kids a sick husband, a crazy ex-wife and the fact that I have to work the rest of my life, and living with Fibromylagia. We have now been married for 7 years. we have had our ups and downs, our struggles but we love each other and that is the most important thing. His health is getting worse and so is mine. we fight everyday!!
The little things
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I think I am ready to try to tell our story! It is been very overwhelming and has taken awhile to process. but here we go...... June 3rd J...
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The Lord works in Mysterious ways. I GOT A JOB! I lost my job back in Sept 2017. I cant say I'm sad to lose the job, i didn'...
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Mike had his TIPS procedure done on April 5th 2018. We went up to the University of Utah to the Interventional Radiology department to ...


















