How it began..

My wonderful mother flew to Utah on May 9th 2014 with the intentions of spending time with the family and helping me get the last minute details of my wedding together. On May 12th we had just gotten her hair done for the wedding and were shopping at Michaels when she doubled over in pain. Initially she thought that she was having a diverticulitis attack so I took her into her doctor to get some antibiotics thinking that we'd be on our way in no time and she would be good as new in just a few days. Her pain doubled within the time we were there and at that point they knew it was something more serious than diverticulitis. My dad and I rushed her over to the E.R. and there we waited for hours... She was quite possibly the funniest person when they initially gave her morphine but that quickly ended when the pain was too much even with the morphine to dull it. After testing they found that she had two serious infections, one in her intestines and a second in her colon called C-diff. For those of you who don't know what C-diff is...
The average human digestive tract is home to as many as 1,000 species of microorganisms. Most of them are harmless -- or even helpful -- under normal circumstances. But when something upsets the balance of these organisms in your gut, otherwise harmless bacteria can grow out of control and make you sick. One of the worst offenders is a bacterium called Clostridium difficile. As the bacteria overgrow they release toxins that attack the lining of the intestines, causing a condition called Clostridium difficile colitis.
She was in the hospital from Monday evening to Friday evening and she slowly progressed. Luckily she was released late Friday evening and was able to be there with me during my wedding which meant the world to me. Although she was still in a lot of pain, she was still trying to be helpful, happy and her usual goofy self. I can always count on her for a good laugh! She flew back home on Monday May 19th where she met with surgeons and doctors in Texas. She was told that she would have to have part of her intestines and colon removed from the infection so she was trying to decide if that surgery was something she would like to have done in Texas so she could be home to recover or if she would have the surgery in Utah where she would have her family to help her recover but she would need to take additional time off work to fully recover before going back to Texas. They also would lose my dad's income if they decided to come to Utah for the surgery. She had such mixed feelings about it at the time. I know she wanted to be with her family while recovering but she knew she wouldn't be able to afford the extra time off and second income lost for weeks.
During this time, she was having some issues with digestion and bloating so she went to a gastroenterology doctor which she flat out said that she was afraid something was going to burst because she was so bloated. The doctor laughed at her comment and started making jokes...he prescribed her a pro-biotic and murilax for the bloating and sent her on her way. Four days after that, her colon burst. She was at home when she told my dad to call 911 and get an ambulance out there. She tried to stand up and fainted from pain. The EMT's did an x-ray and could tell that her colon had ruptured. She was rushed into surgery to flush everything out and she has two more surgeries to undergo, however she's having so many issues that they cannot perform the second surgery quite yet. Her heart rate increased and her blood pressure dropped drastically, she's on so many fluids that she's swelling and she's not able to fully breath on her own so she's on a ventilator. There are so many additional risks like pneumonia from all of the fluids or her being swollen when they close her up and it could cut off her blood flow... at the moment she's also fighting off Sepsis, her hand is turning blue and she could lose some of the skin off her fingers. Sepsis is a serious medical condition caused by an overwhelming immune response to infection. Blood clotting during sepsis reduces blood flow to limbs and internal organs, depriving them of nutrients and oxygen.
I was camping on Friday and we came down into town to watch the fireworks when I got my dad's message saying that mom was in the hospital and she had to have most of her colon removed because it ruptured. My heart dropped! At that time, Stephanie already had a flight booked to get out there first thing Saturday morning (a huge thanks to the Blackburns!) so I waited. I tried to enjoy camping but felt completely helpless as she was sedated and trying to stabilize. I came down 3 times each day to where I could get cell service to check on her and make sure things were okay. On the way home from camping I picked up my phone to send her a picture of Miss while we were camping to tell her how well she had done and how much she loved it only to realize she wouldn't be able to read it just yet. She is a fighter and I know she'll do anything and everything she can to pull through!
A lot of people have asked if there's anything they can do, at this time we are thinking about putting together a fund for mama so they don't have to worry about money once she's recovering. I will post updates frequently, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.