I was asked tonight to lift special prayer for a very special little boy, I pulled up his facebook page and began reading and I began to cry, by the end of the read I had cried so hard that I had a lump in my throat and was in a full blown sob...I am so saddened by this story, my heart is aching for this little "cowboy" and his family. I am standing on my faith that he will make that year and many others. Please if you will join me in prayer for this sweet family, get on bended knees with me and pray for a miraculous healing....
Father we come to you on bended knees asking that you take this sweet, spirit filled family into your arms, pull them close to you Father and allow your heartbeat to be the strength they need to fight this battle, pass out your swords to each of them and equip them with the muscle they will need to fight and fight hard. Father we know the odds are not in Paytyn's favor but we have seen time and time again when the incurable have been healed completely leaving the Dr's with open mouths and no explanations...Father we have seen miracle upon miracle and are expecting no less for Paytyn. We know that your will WILL be done father and we know that Paytyn is literally laying in your hands, if it be your will to bring him home to paradise so that he can begin his work there in heaven, we ask that he has no pain nor suffering, take him in a way that his passing is not one that the memory of pain will overshadow the love filled life that he has lived, take his pain and replace it with only joy. Father if it be your will for Paytyn to stay here on earth and make his mark in the world, begin the healing now, take the pain and turn it into determination, take the prognosis and make the Dr's eat their words, leave them with gaped open mouths and even more faith in miracles than they have ever had. We are standing obediently Father, standing with our hearts open to you, standing with our faith laid out before you, standing with all of the love we have in our hearts asking you to have mercy on this family, asking you to take away the pain, to take away the sadness, to take away the what if's and to take away the why's....if nothing more we ask for you to give the family the "how's" to get through this time, the "how's" to understand and to persevere, the "how's" to have confidence that you will never leave nor forsake them and that you are gently holding their hands and leading them through this storm. Bless all of the children and staff at Paytyn's school, bless all who know and love him with the love and peace that only you can provide. In the name of Jesus Christ we seal this prayer up marked special delivery, place it diligently into the hands of Jesus Christ knowing that it will be delivered to you Father. We love you and we have faith in you always, Amen
Battling for a Cure!
Join Paytyn's Army and give this boy a chance to fight for his life
Description
A Fathers story. My son, Paytyn Squires, has been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer; it is Ponain Gleoma with drop matatis throughout the spine. The doctor said he has a 10% chance to make it a year. I don't agree with this “assumption”! Our faith in our Heavenly Father will see us through.
A month ago, my son and daughter were playing and doing cannon balls in a bounce house. Today he is lying in a bed with his hair falling out.
I was on a trip in TX when my wife called and said "I think there is something wrong with our son". Jeanna took Paytyn to the pediatrician's office and they said he had strep throat. The next day the symptoms got worse. He started throwing up and saying his head and knee hurt. Jeanna took him to the emergency room; after eight hours they said nothing was wrong.
The great motherly instinct said she needed to do something else. The following day, Jeanna took Paytyn to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. They said he was dehydrated, gave him some fluids and sent him home. At 9:00 PM that night our son was in so much pain, he couldn’t handle it any more. Jeanna rushed him back to the emergency room and demanded they find out what was wrong with our beautiful son. The doctors gave him morphine and began tests on him. I arrived back to UT at 2:00 PM, March 6th, and drove immediately to Primary Children’s Hospital.
I found my wife in the waiting room of the Imaging Department and she ran into my arms in tears. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law had driven from Reno to help. They took my daughter on a walk so we could talk. The doctor came out and told us Paytyn was almost done and was coming out of the MRI. He had to be sedated to keep him still because he was in so much pain.
About an hour later, Paytyn was wheeled out on a bed and said we could follow them back to his room. They told us a doctor would come up and talk to us in a few minutes. All the thoughts running through our minds as we try to console our son screaming in pain on his bed with IV lines and wires coming off him. A nurse was in the room talking to us and watching Paytyn as he was coming out of sedation. Two doctors knocked on the door and it opened; I looked up in a joking manner and said “only come in if you have good news”. Both of their heads dropped and they look at the floor and said "we're sorry, we have none". The first doctor walked into the room and took a seat; the second doctor grabbed a box of tissue and placed it on the foot of the bed.
Our stomachs dropped; they refer to a computer screen and say “your son has a brain tumor”. My wife screams; our worst nightmare has just been told to us. Our hearts break; he said "there is more"; we found a tumor on his spine as well. My wife is crying uncontrollably; I'm trying to hold it together. Ruth (my mother-in-law) is crying holding my wife, and Angie, (my sister-in-law) crying at the foot of the bed. And I stand there feeling helpless as my son is still screaming in pain. My world stopped! I'm trying to hold my wife as we are both crying telling her “it will be okay” knowing deep down in my heart I don't know if it will be. As I look up, I see the nurse crying in the corner saying “I'm sorry” offering a hug of condolence. My wife and I are kneeled at my son’s bedside crying and asking “WHY?” “WHY OUR SON?”
A second knock at the door and the neurosurgeon offers his opinion, which was not wanted at this time. He said it was a brain tumor and Ruth asks "is it curable?". He said we don't know what it is yet but I believe if it is the one I’m thinking of, it is very tricky and aggressive. Another punch at a wounded family trying to hold it together the best we could.
My parents were already on their way from Reno, about four hours into an eight hour drive. The physicians leave saying if you have any questions they can come back. Do we have any questions... yes, but we are too scared to ask and too scared to know the truth. The nurse was still in the room crying with us, watching our son lying on the bed. I looked at my wife and said "he needs a blessing". With no cell service in our room, I had to walk out with my wife on my arm to find cell service. I called my best friend, Brandon Neff. It was 9:00 PM +/- at this point. Brandon picked up the phone and I couldn't talk; all I could do was my best to breathe without crying uncontrollably. I take a deep breath and say with tears running down my face and the feeling that I’m going to throw up, “My son needs a blessing, he has... a brain tumor”. Saying it for the first time makes it real; I begin crying again. My friend says he's on his way and he'll be there in an hour.
I hang up, turn to my wife and hold her, not knowing what to do or say. I told her that I needed to tell my parents. We both thought it was not a good idea because they were on a long drive trying to get there to a sick grandchild. I was finally able to control myself enough to make the call. "Hello, hi Dad I need you to pull over for a minute; I need to tell you something” he said okay, go ahead “Paytyn has a brain tumor” the tears begin to flow again hearing the fear in my Dad’s voice, I knew it was true. He said okay, Son, hang in there we will be there as soon as we can. I quickly got off the phone because I could hear him beginning to cry. I lost it again and held my wife, my beautiful and scared wife.
We walk back into the room, back to the side of the bed where our son was now sleeping. I looked at my wife saying we need to say a prayer, we had not prayed together for quite a long time. We knelt down and began to ask for our Father in Heaven's help in healing our son. A nurse come back in to check the vitals on our son and says I’m sorry, is there anything I can get you guys?
All I can think to myself is "yes, please heal my son, and we say "no, we are ok, thank you". A knock on the door and it's my friend Brandon, his wife, and his Dad. I welcome them in not knowing what to say; I thank them for coming. After a little while of talking, they offer our son a blessing as they lay their hands on Paytyn's head. I try not to lose it listening intently for what is about to be said. After they are done I ask if they would give my wife and me a blessing. They leave and my wife and I are sitting in the room alone not knowing what to do or say. Our precious son waking up every 10 minutes screaming, arching his back in pain; the alarm on his heart machine going off every other minute because his heart rate drops below 50 beats a minute.
My aunt Carol, and her husband, Jerry, came down from Ogden to comfort us and give us support until my parents arrive. Ruth and Angie have taken our daughter home because she was not able to be on the floor where Paytyn was. At 1:30 AM my parents walk in to the room. I'm trying my best to keep strong and hold it together, they kiss Paytyn and Jeanna and I walk them outside to talk about what we know thus far. After an hour of constantly checking back in the room on our son, a nurse pulled me aside and asked Jeanna and me to follow her. She walked us down to the chapel; she says it’s a quiet place to sit and talk.
We find ourselves in the chapel a lot kneeling and praying. We keep asking WHYOUR SON, and it would not come until a few days later. It is not for us to ask why. It is our responsibility to take every minute, ever second, and cherish what we have now.
It is now day two; Paytyn is on a morphine drip with oxycodone, steroids, zantac for his stomach, Gabapentin for nerve pain, and a few others for who knows what. Paytyn wakes up saying he can’t see the TV in the room; that there are two TVs and he has to shut one eye to see it. We informed the nurse. The neurosurgeon arrives stating that the tumor is putting pressure on his optic nerve causing him to see double. The neurosurgeon called in a specialist from the Morgan Eye Center to perform an eye exam. He verifies what they had assumed. They will go in on Tuesday, March 9th, and do a biopsy of the lower tumor on the spine and put an EVD (external ventricle drain) in.
We had a great couple of days over the weekend. Paytyn felt good enough to take walks, riding in the wagon, and relaxing; his double vision went away and he felt good. You would have never known he was sick unless someone told you. Paytyn was putting on weight and eating like a horse due to the steroids. We continued to give him blessings and would go to the chapel to pray many times a day and night. Tuesday, March 9th Paytyn woke up about 3:00 AM saying he is starving. I have to tell my five year old son who is on steroids that he can’t eat; it is like pushing water up hill.
At 10:00 AM, the nurses arrive to take Paytyn to surgery. We walk down with him holding back our fears of the unknown; trusting our only son's life in someone else's hands. Not an easy thing to do for a father. We meet with the anesthesiologist and discuss the way he is going to put Paytyn to sleep. He proceeds to tell us all the risks involved and then asked me to sign this form releasing him from any liability. Are you kidding me? Okay, we don't have a choice, so I sign. Jeanna and I walk him to the end of the hall holding his hand reassuring him everything is going to be okay. We kiss him and say a quick prayer. We walk to the waiting room. An hour passes, the nurse called me to the front desk; stating everything is going good we should be done in an hour. We wait, looking and watching the front door. The neurosurgeon walks in and asked to speak to us in a private room. We walk in and sit down, “everything went smoothly”; they took out a small amount of the tumor at the bottom of Paytyn's spine, but were unable to get it all out because it wrapped itself around a nerve. The surgeon said they would send the tumor out for pathology to find out what we were dealing with. He said they put in the EVD and relieved the pressure. Keep in mind that with the EVD, you cannot roll over, sit up, or move your head. More emotions we now have to deal with. We have to keep this in for 4-6 days. Paytyn wakes up in recovery from the anesthesia and the first thing he said to Jeanna is “where am I?” Jeanna said “you are at the hospital.” Paytyn looks at her and says “Mom, I’m starving, when can I eat?” It put a smile on her face for the first time in a week.
We find Paytyn and Jeanna waiting for us to head back up to his room. We look at my son’s head that now has a tube poking out of it. We are headed to his new room; the third room in a week that we have been moved to. Boom, the nurse hits the door jam with our son's bed and jolts him; he lets out a moan. Boom again, another door. Finally, we make it into his room. The nurses were rapidly hooking Paytyn up to different machines insuring his EVD machine is level with his tube. He is starting to wake up and starting to feel the pain from the surgery to his lower back and his head. The doctor has ordered morphine. Paytyn calms down and starts relaxing again. They have a catheter in because he cannot get out of bed and is not able to move, and he starts feeling the pain from the catheter. We ask for it to be removed; he can let us know when he has to go and we can catch it in a bed pan. There is no reason for him to be in pain. They finally agree and remove the catheter. Using the restroom has now become a major ordeal; bedpans are not as easy as one may think.
My wife and I have been at the hospital for seven days now sleeping side by side on a bed not big enough for one let alone both of us. We woke up every few minutes to tend to our son; this occurred all night and every 30 minutes when the nurses come in to check Paytyn's vital signs. Seven o'clock in the morning arrives before you know it; and the doctors are there wanting to talk to you about the things going on. It is hard enough to understand doctor terms when you are wide awake let alone with no sleep; stressed out of your mind!
My Mom needed to return to Reno to take care of her other granddaughter. My Dad stayed to give us support. Jeanna’s brother and Dad had shown up a few days earlier. We had the room on a constant rotation of visitors with the hospital only allowing two other people in the room besides the parents at any given time and no kids under the age of 14. This was especially difficult for us as our daughter could not see her best friend, her brother. We would take turns going down to the lobby to visit and love her.
It was now Friday morning and the doctors came in at 7:00 AM and told us they were going to clamp the drain on Paytyn's EVD. They had been raising the pressure in it since Thursday and he was able to manage it on his own. Friday, they noticed his EVD was leaking a little out of his head and they needed to put another stitch in to hold the pressure. This was not a fun thing for a little boy to go through. They applied numbing ointment, and by the way, Paytyn said it didn't work. They sat him up in bed and begin; they take a needle and thread deep into his skull, under the tubing and back out tying it tight in the top. After the pain subsided, Paytyn was sitting up and able to go the bathroom with our help. Not a bad day at all. Saturday came and he was willing to take a walk and sit in a wheelchair. We walked the halls with him and relaxed. Paytyn was still eating like a horse and using room service to his full advantage. A good day. At this point he had gained 8 pounds.
It is now Sunday morning, and the doctors came in to tell us they were going to remove the EVD today. This was great news; one step closer to going home; being able to see the outside of this 10x10 room; showering in a community shower. The nurse arrives and rubs the numbing ointment on Paytyn's head; they let it sit for 30 minutes. The nurse returns and cuts the sutures and pulls the tube slowly out of the top of his head, then quickly plugs the hole so not to lose any spinal fluid. Next, the doctor placed four new stitches back where the tube was.
What a strong cowboy! Not a tear in front of the nurse. But once it was just son and dad, he had a few tears. Monday came and went with no issues. Tuesday, the day we are supposed to hear the report on the pathology biopsy; no news. Doctors come and go nothing is said to us. Every time the door opens our hearts drop thinking it is someone that is going to tell us what our son is afflicted with.
Finally someone with an answer; two doctors from Huntsman Cancer Hospital arrive. They asked us what we knew thus far, and we tell them. We tell them we are still waiting on the pathology to come back to see what we are fighting. ..They say okay, we are going to start radiation on Monday almost a week away. They will fit him for his mask and put tattoos on his chest to see where they are going to aim the radiation so it can be precise every time. They then excuse themselves leaving us sitting in the room just as worried and confused as before. We sit and talk for about an hour thinking okay, we just need to do radiation and we can beat the cancer; we can win!
The oncologist arrives and asks if we would follow her down the hall to talk. Jeanna’s parents are back in the room with Paytyn, and we excuse ourselves. We walk down the hall to a room; waiting for us are two doctors and a social worker. We know it can’t be good if this is what we are walking into. We take a seat; the oncologist states they have the pathology report back. Okay, what are we dealing with.... she looks at the floor and says Ponain Gleoma that is matatising through Paytyn's spine. Okay, how do you beat it? She says well...it is tricky and usually can’t be beat! She says she has a couple kids that have made it two years from diagnosis, but that is not usually the case. Jeanna is crying uncontrollably while I’m trying to stay strong to ask the questions that need to be asked. She says it is the most aggressive and hardest cancer to beat. She says we need to treat every day as if it is the last and cherish every moment. Not knowing what to say or what to ask I hold my wife in my arms and try and tell her everything is going to be fine. The doctor tells us they are going to start radiation Thursday after the fitting on Wednesday. They stated we can't wait; we need to get very aggressive with this. She says she would like to keep us in the hospital until then. I told her, after hearing the outcome that we are going home to spend time with our love ones and will drive back for the treatment. She gave us both hugs and says “I’m sorry” and yes, you can go home.
Jeanna and I stay in the room talking about how we are going to handle this. We decide we are never to shed a tear in front of our son; we are to stay strong and optimistic; we can beat this! We head back to the room and Jeanna takes Paytyn for a walk. I have the task of telling the grandparents the news that their first grandchild is in a fight for his life; having to face and talk about it again. I attempted to hold it together, but losing it. I tell them the news and what the outcome may be; they let out an anguished cry “NO, GOD NO, WHY?” We gather in a circle of comfort for one another. I tell them our son is a fighter, the toughest cowboy I know and if anyone can beat this, he is the one to do it.
On our trip home, my Dad and I rode home in our car and my wife and her parents drove home in theirs. Being away from my son, even knowing it was only 100 yards between cars, I felt as if I was alone. I broke down to my Dad crying asking how am I to deal with the possibility of losing my son, my only son, my precious son. I was going to be his soccer coach this year; his first year in playing soccer; now we are facing a battle of a different sort.
Our first night home was a whole different stress. No longer do we have the nurses to come and check his blood pressure, and his heart rate, checking his temperature, and it is now all on me. Having to become a doctor overnight, having to show the confidence that I know what I am doing, will hopefully take some of the stress off my wife. We wake up every hour and check stats, my son sleeping in the bed with my wife so she can keep an eye on him, me on the floor next to the bed. "Daddy I need to pee; Daddy I need a drink; Daddy I need to roll over; Daddy I’m hungry”. He wants macaroni and cheese at 3:00 AM. Anyone out there who may think it an easy thing to make, try it after not sleeping more the 30 minutes at a time for over two weeks and making it in the middle of the night. So, I did it and he said it was the best mac and cheese he has ever had. He had me convinced! I will make him anything he wants at any hour. We made it through the first night. We wake up at 6:00 AM to start our day and he wants breakfast; I am unable to feed him because he has to be sedated for his fitting for radiation, and he has to fast. Try and tell a five year old boy on steroids he can’t eat for 8 hours... are you kidding me?..... you would have a better chance watching pigs fly.
We made it through the eight hours of agony and drive an hour back to Huntsman Cancer Hospital; we check in and go back to a room. A doctor comes back and explains to us what is going to happen. They make a mask to hold Paytyn's head still for the treatment and make a body cast so he is in the same position every time; and he is getting five tattoos on his chest and belly. I sat on a bed with my son in my arms, and they tell me how I need to hold him while they give him laughing gas and then watch him fall asleep. That is a tough thing to do; hold your son while holding a mask to his face and watching him drift off. A very, very difficult thing to take part in. I am asked to head back to the room and wait.
The oncologist/ radiologist who is the head of the team at Huntsman come in. The doctor begins by asking what we have been told thus far. He looks down and said “I hate to disagree with my colleagues but I want to be real with you, your son won’t make it past a year. He has a 10% chance of making it to the year mark.” Jeanna started crying I hold her hand and tell the good doctor I’m sorry but we don't believe you. We have faith and we are optimistic. He continues to tell us the dangers of the radiation, there are too many to list. About two hours later our son came back, waking up from sedation; he is confused and surprisingly hungry. We head out to get some food and spend time with our family.
That night the same routine starts, food, worry, and a little sleep mixed in. Thursday morning back to Huntsman an hour away. Same procedure to sedate him, hold him until he falls asleep. Then the radiation treatment, about 40 minutes later, they bring him back in. Paytyn is asleep lying on a bed with an oxygen mask on. We wait 30 minutes for him to come to. We give him something to eat and we leave. Heading home to spend time together; Friday; morning back to more radiation, same procedure.
After radiation we head over to another appointment at Children’s Primary with the oncologist. We get to the hospital and head up. They come in and do the basic tests on him. Then they start talking to us about a PICC line; that he is going to need a PICC line is (peripherally inserted central catheters) or a permanent IV. We are told he is going to get it tomorrow at 3:00 PM. Another day of fasting for a 5 year old on steroids. They tell us that we are going to have to care for this line at home and flush it twice a day. They also tell us we will have to take a class on the care and maintenance of the line. We continue talking and they say he is going to need chemo to help fight his cancer. I say “Okay, we need to do whatever it takes to beat it.” The doctor replies with a “we will have to see what your insurance provider says about giving you the chemo.” No, we don’t have insurance; I will have to pay cash. The doctor “well I don’t think he will be able to take the pill then.” WAIT A MINUTE because I have to pay cash we can’t have the same treatment an insured patient can have. I demand that if my son needs the chemo; he will get it and to give me a price on how much it is. The doctor agrees and has the social worker go check the price in the pharmacy for us. The doctor tells us we will have to take it for 42 days and then take a break and start it again. Okay, that is fine I say. The social worker comes back and tells me it is $3600.00 for a 20 day supply. CODE RED! I think I am going to have a heart attack. She then says that the hospital is going to just put it on our bill for right now and we can work it out later. Wow, that is good. We get our drugs and head home ready for tomorrow’s adventure. That night same routine starts, food, and a little sleep.
The next day is torture for the poor kid not being able to eat all day, waiting to go in for the PICC line. Finally, 3:00 we are back at the hospital. I tell my son that this is the last IV he is going to have to have. He has had over 15+/- IV’s in the past month, he looks like we have been beating him with all the bruises he has. They tell us how it is going to work and the IV team comes in. They pick a vein in his hand; they are going to attempt placing the IV for the procedure. She pushes the needle into his little hand, tears start to flow; she digs and pushes with no luck; she pulls the needle back and gets ready to try again. I tell her to “wait.” I look at the two techs and ask which one of you is better at placing IV’s? The male nurse answers “well I am better, I’m training her today.” ok with all due respect, my son has been poked enough; please will the more experienced tech please place the IV? He agrees and places it in his mid-forearm. They start sedating him and I leave the room. They place the pick line and 40 min later his is done. The nurse comes out and tells us he is done and he says he is hungry. We start laughing and say that sounds like our son. Good thing, Jeanna was thinking ahead and got him a turkey sandwich before he was done. We walk in and see our handsome son sitting up in bed. Around 40 min later they tell us we can leave and that a home nurse will be over tomorrow teach us how to care for the line. Sunday morning the nurse comes over and teaches us how to care for the line it is about an hour and a half class. And I think I am almost a doctor by now. We had a good day l went for church with my mom and dad. After church they left and went home. They said bye to everyone and drove home it was hard because I needed the support from them, but I understood they had things they had to take care of back in Reno.
Monday my first day back to work; a very hard day for the whole family. It is a very emotional morning having to leave my son. It was hard for Paytyn having his Dad, the one that he goes to for everything, leave to go to work. Monday same thing radiation and chemo, I met them at the hospital, there is no way I’m going to miss my son’s appointments. Tuesday morning Paytyn wakes up with a headache and eye pain. We give him some Tylenol and he heads to treatment. We tell the doctors about his symptoms and they say just to keep an eye on it, it could just be some swelling from the tumor.
Tuesday night he goes to bed still saying his head and eyes hurt. About 2:00 AM, he wakes up crying about his head and eyes; Jeanna and I console him and get him back to bed. About 3:00 he is back up, we give him some Tylenol and he sleeps until about 3:30. We give him some Motrin, as directed by the doctors. 4:00 ARE the pain is getting worse, we give him Oxycodone. At 4:30 pain has worsened; we call the hospital they tell us to give him another dose of Oxycodone. 5:00 AM he wakes up throwing up. Jeanna and I get dressed, wake up her mom to watch Brya, our daughter, and rush him to the emergency room. We call ahead and tell them we are coming. We get there and they take us right in, he has thrown up four times by this point. They give him some Morphine and get him back for a CT scan. Twenty minutes later a neurosurgeon comes in and tells us he is going to need a shunt, a cerebral shunt; it is used to treat hydrocephalus, the swelling of the brain due to excess build-up of cerebrospinal fluid. This was not what we wanted; a surgery in the middle of treatment.
10:00 AM, we are headed back into surgery. This time it will be a little easier because it goes in the same place the EVD came out of, meaning there will be no need to drill a new hole in his skull. An hour later the good doctor comes out and tells us he is done and Jeanna goes back to be with him as he comes out of sedation. Thirty minutes later we are headed back up to his room; they are going to keep us overnight to observer him and watch his vitals. It was a rough night for the little guy, he was very sore from where they ran the tube under the skin of his head, behind his ear, down his neck, across his chest and into his stomach. The doctors come up from oncology and from Huntsman and decide to hold on Paytyn's radiation treatments until Tuesday. It will give him time to heal from surgery. Thursday around 3:00 they give us the okay to go home. Paytyn is very tired still and not talking, it is hard for him to move his neck and he can’t lay on his right side. I think at this point he is starting to get scared. Every time he starts feeling better it is back to the hospital. He is a very tough and resilient boy though.
The next couple days are hard on him; he is still not talking much and is in a lot of pain. Sunday comes and he wants to go fishing, which is what I wanted to hear. After church, Jay (Jeanna’s dad) and I pack up the truck and drive to the reservoir to drop a line in the water. We had a good time just sitting in our chairs eating lunch and hoping for a bite. No luck catching fish but that’s okay; we had fun. Tuesday we start treatment again and all goes well. Thursday after treatment my little cowboy feels good enough to go to Cal Ranch, a local farm store. He wants some new spurs for his cowboy boots and needs a new cowboy hat, for some reason his head has grown and his old one is just too small. We find him a new hat and he loves it, and I get one to match. We had a fun day.
Friday we do our treatment and head to the hospital for our weekly check-up. They tell us that they want to give him an antibiotic that lasts a month intravenously; this will be safer while on chemo and radiation against getting sick. We agree and are sent to the room to wait. It takes two hours for this stuff to go in and we are told about the side effects that may occur and that they will be watching him. We finally get done, and are headed home. We make it down to the car and Paytyn says his stomach is hurting, I say "it is probably just hungry" and we will get you something on the way home. He agrees. We make it about two miles away and it is getting worse. We call the hospital and ask is this a side effect we need to watch for? They look it up in the book and say yes, but he should be fine. Give him some Tylenol and watch it overnight. We agree. We keep heading towards home when the pain gets even worse. We are about five+/- miles away and decide to go back. We run back upstairs to the clinic and they are closed. I walk in and go to the back and find a doctor and tell them he is having an allergic reaction to the drugs. Eight nurses jump on him hooking up to monitors, giving him drugs to counteract the antibiotic. He is starting to break out in a rash on his chest. At this point, he is feeling nauseous. They hook up fluids to him and keep pumping other drugs into his little body. About an hour goes by and everyone but one nurse has gone back to their reports. When all of a sudden his heart rate drops for 120,110,100,80,60,50, Jeanna yells at the nurse, “look at his heart rate!” 40, 30 the nurse takes off running and yelling “GET ME THE CRASH CART!!!” I grab my son sitting him up in the bed, I start rubbing his back vigorously and talking to him “Paytyn are you okay?.... I need you to listen to me, stay with me, you’re okay, just breathe.” Jeanna is crying; she is scared; the nurse comes back with four others in tow. Paytyn's heart rate is coming back up 30,60,70,90,120. He is back with us. What a scare!! About another hour passes they give him morphine to cope with the pain and tell us we are free to go home, just keep an eye on him. Jeanna doesn’t want to leave understandably, but I tell her it will be okay, we just need to watch his stats closer tonight. And that we did! Everything was fine; I gave him more medication around 10:00 PM and he slept all night. A good weekend was had by all; Paytyn and Brya talking and enjoying each other’s company.
3 Nephi 18: 20 – 21 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and children may be blessed
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