{rhiannon's} trip to urgent care.

well after a three-week long headache, i headed into urgent care today.  i've been traveling to houston quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, so i haven't been in town to get into see the doctor during the week.

it wasn't one of the worst headaches i've had, but after having a headache every.single.day for three weeks, i just couldn't take it any more.  i start to feel completely worn down, worn out, and exhausted, mentally and physically. so, to the local urgent care i headed this fine saturday morning.

sometimes travis and i get completely fed up with the urgent care by our house -- they're the doctors who kept telling travis he was constipated and that a laxative would help.  they also said they couldn't see anything in his mouth when he kept complaining of terrible pain in the back of his throat.  when we got home, travis shined a flashlight into the back of his throat and both he and i could see a really large, really painful looking ulcer (another symptom of chrone's). 

this time was not like our previous experiences at all.  dr. bushyhead came into the room not long after i arrived and spent almost an hour with me talking about my headaches, how they present, what i've done, how long they last, how they make me feel, etc.  he was wonderful.  he did some blood work as well and wrote a prescription for a heavy-duty medication that should help my headache until i can get in to see the neurologist again. when i thanked him for spending the time with me that he did, he said "you don't get into medicine for the money.  you get into medicine to help people.  and if something i do for you helps you, you'll share that knowledge with others, and hopefully make a difference in their lives as well."  an altruistic doctor.  how wonderful!  he encouraged me to get out and look at the sky at least five minutes a day, so i'm going to try to take that recommendation.

it always makes me a little sad when i find a doctor i like who doesn't have PCP hours.  hopefully this medicine he's given me will be able to break this headache, and i can start to feel a little better.

dr. lajara {new neurologist}.

today i went to see a new neurologist. my headaches have gotten pretty intense again lately, and i decided i couldn't wait any longer.  i've been seeing the doctor at work, and he ordered a CT scan for me. it came back clear, but my headaches still haven't cleared up, so he referred me to doctor lajara.  dr. lajara is  a neurologist in bartlesville.  

when i went in today, he agreed that i've done a lot of what he would recommend.  i like that he took the time to listen to my full history, ask more questions, and then start making recommendations.  some doctors seem so ready to just get you out of their offices.

he's started me on a new preventative - topamax.  hopefully we'll find that it does its job and keeps me from having these massive, never-ending headaches.

i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

travis's trip to the er.

we came home last night, and travis just wasn't feeling well. we waited it out for a bit, and then finally had to head to the hospital.  we went to st. john's by our house.  it's just right around the corner and is so much more conveniently located than st. francis at 61st. 

he was just in a lot of pain.  the blood has never gone away, but we started seeing a lot more of it over the past week.  i was so nervous that our trip to mexico caused this, but dr. volak cleared him for it and really thought he would be ok.

it may sound silly, but we love st. john's hospital.  it's incredibly clean, the staff are some of the nicest people i've ever met, and everyone is very attentive.  they immediately got travis into a bed and started on a bag of fluids and pushed some dilaudid.  he started feeling better and was able to rest.

they took him back for a CT scan {and i started wishing i had gone ahead and grabbed my pull-over.  it was 100 degrees outside, but pretty chilly inside the hospital, so even though i was wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt, i was a little cold.

we waited to get the results of travis's scans, and the dr. was pretty alarmed when he saw it.  we had given him travis's history but he said he had never seen a scan that looked that bad, so he called adult gastroenterology for a consult.  he was able to talk to dr. clark {the very first doctor who saw travis} so he was familiar with travis and told him this was to be expected.

the hospital pushed another dose of steroids (120! -- he's still on 30) and started him on an antibiotic.  they also asked that he get into see his GI before the end of the week, so he'll be following up with volak before the end of the week.

thanks for thinking of us!  people have said they didn't realize he didn't still feel well.  i don't really post about it when we're not at the hospital because it's a lot of the same thing every day, but he's really not a whole lot better than the day we came home from the hospital the second week in april.  i have slowly seen tiny improvements, and right now i'm taking the small victories.  so again, thanks for continuing to pray for him and think of us.  

haley & dee's road trip to edmond.

This weekend Haley went to Edmond with Dee to visit Sue and her family.  The story has a happy ending ... but the beginning didn't start off so smoothly.

Dee called Travis earlier in the week and asked if Haley could take a trip with her to Edmond.  She was out of school on Friday for an unused snow day, so it would be a long weekend.  Travis told her we were fine with it, and let her know we would talk to Haley about it.  When we first ran the idea by Haley, she immediately turned it down.  She knows Travis's mom and has hung out with her several times already and has even spent time with Sue when we went to spend the weekend at her house.  She didn't think she wanted to go this weekend, though.

We asked her to think about it and told her all about the fun they would have, including learning how to make Sue's infamous cinnamon rolls.  We asked her not to make a decision right away.  Sue called me and asked me for Haley's number later in the week and began texting her about the plans for the weekend and everything they wanted to do.  She said the girls would be there and Haley would fit right in.

On Friday morning, Haley still didn't think she wanted to go.

"Do you have your bag packed, Haley?"

"No, what for?"

"My mom just left Muskogee and will be here in about 30 minutes."

"I thought I had a say in this!"

"Well, you did, and we listened to you, but we really think this is a great opportunity that you're missing out on and something that you really need to try.  It's something you'd regret down the road if you didn't give it a shot.  So many fun plans have been made for you."

I remember my parents having me do things because they were the right thing for me, so I hoped that while Haley was a little frustrated at first, that she would come around in the end and really have a good time.

And it turns out that she did!!  Dee let her plug her iPhone into the car on the drive to Edmond so she could share her music with her {including songs that are special to her because her dad picked them out for her}.  Each time we texted to check on her, she was having a great time, laughing, playing with the boys, holding Bella, and baking.  Sue and Ashley both sent me pictures of her hanging out with everyone and she seemed to be coming out of her shell more and more each time.

They spent a full day shopping {and even got home late tonight because of a last minute shopping trip to Target by our house}. 

I sent a text to Sue while Dee and Haley were on their way home thanking her for hosting them this weekend and for being so warm and accepting of Haley.  Sue's response was so sweet, "She is a love and a member of our family now.  I even added her to the birthday list this morning ... She smiled her beautiful smile.  I think she was pleased."

When Haley walked in the door, she couldn't stop talking.  I thought Dee must have given her Mt. Dew directly to her bloodstream she was so hyper and giddy!  She told us Ashley had taught her how to open the door with her feet {but she didn't think it would be appropriate to do coming back in the house for the first time all weekend}.  She, Dee, and Sue had a fun girls' day shopping {so she showed us all her new gifts}; she'd gotten to meet Tabitha and the boys; she loved Ashley & Bella; and just couldn't quit talking about what a fun trip she had.  She also came bearing treats - Aunt Sue's cinnamon rolls that Travis loves.

Travis and I couldn't have been happier to hear that she had opened up, let down her guard a little bit, and had a great time with the family.  And she even said she would want to go back!!

I know our families are great, but I've been impressed with the way everyone embraces Haley as if she has always been part of the family. Thanks for helping make this transition a little easier.  We love you. 

It was a good weekend for Travis and me as well.  We were able to get some rest and unwind just a little bit.  It's been just a little over three weeks since Travis was released from the hospital, but he's still not doing a whole lot better.  His pain is more controlled, but it's still a waiting game of when the medicine will kick in and really start pushing this disease to remission.

We visited with Haley and Dee a little bit, but then we had to hop in the car to meet the Loves.  Haley came with us so she could babysit Levi and Asher while we were on our date night out at Los Cabos.  She was already in love with the boys, but after Asher told her she's pretty, she can't wait to babysit them again.

All in all it was a great weekend for our little family.

cinco de mayo.

Travis and I had our first official outing this weekend for Cinco de Mayo.  I was so excited.  He's starting to get a little coloring back in his face {slowly but surely}, but I knew we would still need to take it easy. 

Last year he and I had a lot of fun on the patio at Los Cabos, so we invited the Loves to join us there this year.

Things got a little hectic, babysitters were running a little late, and so we ended up driving out to the Los Cabos on the Riverwalk.

This was Travis's first trip out, so I wasn't sure how it would go.  I had one margarita while he stuck with a Dr. Pepper.  We didn't get to sit completely outside, but we did get to sit in the sun room right off the patio, so we could still people watch and enjoy the live music.

We were both pretty tired, so we didn't stay out too late, but we enjoyed catching up with the Loves and feeling halfway normal again. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo from the Lears!

bloodwork for rhiannon.

Do you remember when I said I feel like we spend all our time at the hospital, ER, or doctor's office?  Well, it still continues to be true.  Today I went in for a CT scan.  In July 2011 I was diagnosed with migraines, but the preventatives I was given never seemed to help.  When I do get a headache, we still haven't found something that will help take the pain away.  Travis and Haley have both gotten used to me coming home, flopping into bed because I can't hardly think, and falling asleep with ice packs on my head in an effort to get some relief.

I kept putting off and putting off going to the doctor, for several reasons, really.  I didn't like the doctor I was seeing in Broken Arrow.  He would never go a scan and didn't really offer any other advice except to keep increasing my dosage of the preventative -- I got to where I was taking it six times a day with no results.  Then we were going through the ConocoPhillips/Phillips 66 split, I was busy working a lot of hours to help clone our systems and get everything online in time.  Then I was adjusting to a new team, a new company, a new boss.  Then planning a wedding.  Then everything else that has happened in the past six months since our wedding.

Things have slowed a little {or maybe all the craziness is just my new normal, and I've learned how to cope with it}; and I decided that I shouldn't wait any longer to get into the doctor.  I started seeing the doctor at the clinic on-site at work.  He tried a pain medicine, but didn't really have a preventative solution.  When I went in for a checkup and let him know I was still getting headaches and that the pain medicine wasn't really working, he suggested we get the CT scan. 

So today Travis and I found ourselves sitting at the Diagnostic Center in Bartlesville.  They started an IV so they could take scans with and without dye.  Being the "scans" pro these days, Travis texted me while I was back waiting to be scanned and asked if I peed myself.  What??? I asked if he was joking and he said, "no, the dye makes you feel like you peed yourself; you get very warm." Excellent.

Was that too much information?  Probably.  I live with Travis and two teenage girls these days.  My filter is a little broken.

My scan was pretty eventful {given that I was able to control my bladder}, and once I was on the CT bed, everything went pretty quickly.  I did have flashbacks to my childhood when the doctors were trying to diagnose my cancer and determine what all parts of my body might have been affected.

The visit was taking a little longer than it should have, so the tech wanted to go out and let Travis know that everything was going well so he wouldn't worry.  The exact opposite happened.   Poor Travis.  The guy walked up to him very quietly and said, "I need to talk to you. I don't want you to worry." In the brief pause following "worry," Travis immediately thought the worst.  "WTH ... we just came in for a CT!!!"  Before he could freak out outwardly, the tech finished his sentence "we're just running a little behind." 

UPDATE:  We got the results of my scan back and everything is in the clear there ... so my doctor has decided to refer me to a neurologist.  Their office couldn't get me in immediately, but I have an appointment in late July.  Stay tuned for more as soon as I know more.

staging consult.

we're selling our house.  have i mentioned that? we have it listed and will hopefully be able to move to bartlesville before haley starts school.  i know that's a little bit of wishful thinking on our part because it can take quite a while to sell a house, go through closing, close on land, and build a new house.  even if we decide to purchase an existing home, the process can still take some time. so keep your fingers crossed for us. 

in the meantime, a woman named amy came to the house on friday for a staging consult.  we have the house listed, but the photographer hasn't come to take pictures just yet.  we were waiting for amy to come by and tell us what to do.

everyone warned us not to take anything she said personally - that she's a pro at telling people what to do so their house appeals to a lot of people.  i gave myself a pep talk and braced myself for the worse ... but surpringly enough, it was painless.  i thought she would have lots to say about our house, but everything was positive. 

she mainly just wanted us to open the shower curtain up part of the way for pictures, remove anything that might normally be hidden by the shower curtain, and put away a few things from our kitchen counter tops and our nightstands.  everything else was good to go. 

whew.  hopefully this means everyone will love our house and it will sell quickly.  here's hoping.

an afternoon nap.

Travis hasn't really been able to make it into the office because of the pain and other symptoms he's still experiencing.  We're only two weeks into the 6MP, so we know it will still be a while before he starts seeing a real difference.

When he is at the office, he typically drives us home from work; but today he barely made it through the day, and he messaged me at work to ask if I could drive home.  We had hardly gotten into our drive before he was fast asleep.  

People aren't checking in as much because they know we're not in the hospital any more {thank goodness}.  But they also don't realize what all my guy is going through.  When we were released from the hospital last week it's because they had been able to get Travis's pain under control and had also managed to help back off the bleeding a little. They can't really keep him for six weeks until everything gets completely better. 

So he toughs it out each day.  Poor guy.  He's home, but he still looks like a patient to me.  

Even though I can tell he's not feeling well, I love this picture.

 

look who's coming home.

I am so thankful to report that Travis was able to come home late this afternoon. Thank you for all your prayers - the medicine seems to be working! 

We got his {8!} prescriptions filled this afternoon and got him into bed. He caught up on the DVR a bit, and we scheduled out when he needs each of his medications. Please pray that he medicine continues to work. He started to feel uncomfortable about an hour and a half ago. 

I would also ask that you pray for healing and also additional research for the many people who struggle with this disease. Thanks for all your encouragement the past couple of weeks -- it means so much. Sweet dreams.

tuesday night update.

travis has been doing much better as far as his pain levels go, and we thought he might get to come home tonight.  we just talked to the doctor, though, and she wants him to stay at least another day.  they've switched a lot of his meds over to pill versions, but still have his steroids in his IV.  they will switch those to a pill form tomorrow to see how he handles it.  if he doesn't have another flare up as far as pain goes, they will likely release him.  he really wanted to come home tonight -- especially with the storms headed our way.  

haley wants to "kick those doctors' butts" because he doesn't get to come home. 

travis and i went for a walk this afternoon when i got here to the hospital.  a very slow walk, but a walk nonetheless to get some fresh air he was pretty tired once we got downstairs so we took a twenty minute break and then headed back up.  he promptly fell asleep -- but not before requesting a watermelon slush from sonic.  i grabbed a slush for him and an orange dream machine for me from jamba juice.  we've spent the rest of the evening in the room. 

i got a little nap on the couch before dad stopped by with the maker's diet.  it's a book written by a man who has crohn's.  dad went to see bobi raney today to see if she had any patients and/or treatments she could recommend.  she sent him home with drops for travis to use to help heal his intestines and this book for us to read and learn more about treatments that worked well for the author.

everyone is so worried about my guy.  i'm so glad there are people who care about us.

thoughtful friends everywhere.

i keep bringing this up, but our friends and family have been such an encouragement to me over the past few weeks.

a while back travis came up with a lovely term of endearment for our friend tasha.  he calls her a krod {dork spelled backwards}.  he's been calling her this for months and each time he does, she forgets what it stands for or where it came from. 

yesterday, she wanted me to send him a thoughtful message ...

i love our friends.

rhiannon's biometric screening.

Today was my biometric screening.  All of my numbers came back normal {except for my triglycerides – they are still a little high, and they were high last year}. 

The wellness coach mentioned, "you flag a little high for stress."  The survey they give asks if you’ve experienced a death in the family, divorce, marriage, birth of a child/adoption, change in job, work stress, serious illness in the family, personal health issues etc. in the past year.  I could say yes to all of them on the list – and they have all taken place in the last six months.  I explained the situation and that the stress isn’t anything that can be controlled – I can’t bring my uncle back; I can’t make my parents get back together; I can’t heal my husband’s disease; I am trying to control my migraines and manage other health issues, etc.  

 

There are good stresses, too, like the introduction of a kid into our lives.  Sure it’s not always easy, but it’s something else that happens in life, and a lot of good comes from Haley around, even on days when it’s tough for her.

 

He agreed there is little I can do and to continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle as much as possible.

tuesday update.

Travis is still in the hospital, and I'm working in Bartlesville today. I can't explain how difficult it is for me to not be at the hospital with him. A little bit ago I received a text that he had good news. When I called him, the good news was that he had a quote for guttering on our house and it came in well below what we thought it would be. Haha! Crazy guy -- he just doesn't know how to be still. I'm glad he's at least staying occupied while I'm gone, but I hate not getting to talk to the doctors. Sitting for hours and hours in a room alone can't be a whole ton of fun either. Keep praying that he'll feel better soon!

missing him.

I sent this to Travis today.  It's tough being home without him, and I hate not being able to be at the hospital with him all the time.

transitional diet.

they didn't keep travis on a liquids-only diet for as long this trip.  today they moved him back to the transitional diet.  that means he gets to eat things like mashed potatoes, jello, etc.

the presentation cracks me up.  it looks like a full meal under that lid ...

... and then you get this:

my poor guy.  i am excited that he's eating actual food, though.  even if it's very bland and not much.

we have color!

today travis looks so much better.

last night was my first night to sleep at the house instead of the hospital.  we were worried about haley and wanted to make sure she knew everything is really okay with travis. 

i spent the morning cleaning our house {and putting a way the millions, or so it seemed, of pill bottles, boxes, and concoctions that haley and travis have been prescribed over the past few months}.  i put a lot of things into the recycling bin because it felt like paper was stacking up all over the house.

i made french toast dumplings and scrambled eggs for haley and fixed myself a shake.  i miss my shakes.

i headed back up to the hospital a little later and was excited to see that travis finally has a little color.  i had a picture i was going to share, but deleted it by accident.  i'm just so glad to see even tiny bits of improvement with travis.

thanks to everyone who has been thinking and praying for us.  please continue to ask that travis would find relief from the pain so that we can be back home. 


**Sunday night update: Earlier today the GI on-call let us know the meds aren't working the way the doctors would expect them to work and Travis's pain level is much higher than they would expect. This doesn't mean anything is wrong -- all of his tests come back fine. They are still taking good care of him, and he is comfortable. It just means we have some important decisions to make over the next few days concerning his treatment moving forward and have a little bit of studying to do. Pray that we will make the best decisions for him. I know I've been bombarding you with a lot of updates over the past week; thanks for checking on us and praying for us.

The doctor who came in today actually got Travis really upset.  His bedside manner was nothing like the other doctors who are part of Adult Gastroenterology.  Travis's blood pressure went up and he told the nurses not to let that doctor back in his room.  It was the same guy I talked to on the phone Saturday morning to find out if we should have Travis back in the hospital so soon, or if he was experiencing symptoms they would expect him to experience.  He was so rude and condescending during that phone call as if I was wasting his time -- which is exactly what I was trying to avoid.  I didn't want to have him at the hospital, if they were going to send him back home.

haley and the loves come for a visit.

After getting Travis settled back in at the hospital, I went back home to get Haley.  There's a Starbucks in Kingspointe Village just across from the hospital, so we stopped in for drinks.  It was nice enough for us to sit out on the patio, so we grabbed a table and visited for a while, mainly about school. {I'm grateful for patio weather.  Maybe a little fresh air will do some good for me}.  I was anxious to get back to the hospital to see Travis, so we didn't stay long.  We hadn't brought Haley to the hospital at all last week.  With the trauma of her dad so fresh in her mind, we really weren't sure bringing her up to St. Francis was such a great idea.  She hadn't gotten to see Travis, though, all last week or even in the short period of time he was home on Friday, so she was anxious to get to the hospital to see him, too. 

A little later in the afternoon, Matthew and Crystal brought the boys and came to see us. Haley hadn’t met them before, so I was excited she not only got to spend some time with Travis, but that she got to meet the Loves as well.

Asher’s birthday is Monday – he’ll be three.  His birthday party is tomorrow at Chuck E. Cheese, but we won’t be able to make it this year.   

We wished him a happy birthday and let him know we were super excited for him, and that we were sad to miss it.

I’ve been so worried about my little family.  I know this can’t be easy for Haley.  She’s been worried about Travis and I don’t have a lot of answers for her, just that he is okay and is going to be better at some point.

My dad has been incredible to stay with her throughout the week and make sure there is someone home with her every night.  I hate not being there to drop her off at school (even if I’m not a morning person, I’ve already gotten used to seeing her each morning and dropping her off). 

Hopefully we’ll have some answers soon about how quickly Travis can start feeling better.

It’s weird going about my week as if everything is normal.  I worked from the hospital all last week, but didn’t feel like I could do that for another week.  This must be similar to what it feels like for Haley – going about like everything is normal when really everything has been flipped on end.

I’m grateful we are a family and have one another to get through the tough times.

back at st. francis.

when travis and i got home last night, we got him ready for bed and all tucked in and comfortable. i was so grateful to be able to stay in his room at the hospital this week on a couch that converted into a bed.  there isn't any other place i wanted to be, but it didn't make for good rest at all. every time we would fall asleep, someone would come in to ask travis a question, take blood, do a shift change, etc.  so we never had uninterrupted sleep.  i was grateful travis had medicine and was able to get some relief and rest even a little bit, because he hadn't been able to at all at home.

i woke up this morning to travis asking me to wake up.  and if i'm honest, i was a little cranky.  i didn't say anything mean, but i felt like i was being dragged back to the surface from a million miles away.  i groaned and tried to just roll over and fall back asleep.

"rhiannon, baby, wake up.  i need you to take me to the hospital."

okay.  i was awake.  groggy and still in a fog, but awake.  and concerned.  i sat up immediately and started questioning what was wrong.  he was in a lot of pain and had just passed out in the bathroom for a short period of time because the pain had gotten too great.  i asked why he hadn't woken me sooner, and he said he had been trying to.  great.  worst.  wife.  ever.  ever!  i felt terrible.

i quickly got around, re-packed my bag with a book, our phone chargers, and a hoodie and got dressed it what i now refer to as my "hospital uniform" -- navy sweats and a white long-sleeved t-shirt.  i started making all the calls to everyone and we headed to the hospital.

travis got very familiar with the hospital's pain scale and the definitions associated with each level.  when we arrived back at st. francis they took him back for triage and then allowed me back.  they got him hooked up quickly to an iv and started administering dilaudid and fluids.  they took him back for another scan.  {i don't think i mentioned it on the blog, but the last time we were in the ER, travis was so thirsty.  they of course wouldn't let him have any liquids, regardless of how many times we asked.  then, his favorite person of all time came through the door.  i don't know the guy's name, but he was bearing a crystal light with the dye that travis needed to drink before his scan.  he still talks about how good that crystal light was}.  before they took him back, he asked if he was going to get to have another crystal light -- unfortunately for him, not this time.

we told them he was still passing a large amount of blood.  when the dr's and staff saw the amount that he was passing {and that was all that he was passing}, they said he had no business being at home; additionally, they agreed that we would never be able to manage his pain at home.  they admitted us to another room.  this time in the orange section of the building.  we had gotten so used to the nurses on green three, {as i'm writing this, i was just transported back to my favorite super summer trip at obu -- green 3! green 3! green 3!} i was sad to not go back to the same floor, but knew it was unlikely that his room was still available.  we were just grateful to have a room and have him back on steroids and dilaudid.

i love my husband so much.  i pray he starts getting better quickly. 

going home!

Guess who was released from the hospital today!  Travis has been dying to go home {and I'm been dying for him to come home, too}.  Lying in a hospital bed since Monday has not been fun for him.  Poor guy.  He keeps joking that he has never been hospitalized and then he has his 27^th birthday, and it’s all downhill from there.  I tried to snap a picture of him coming out of the hospital, but he was too quick for me.  As soon as he saw the car, he was making his way out of the wheelchair and climbing in, ready to be home.  I hope he starts feeling like his old self soon.

As happy as I am to be home, I also know the steroids they give him and the dilaudid help him feel a million times better, and he starts getting antsy.  They have started him on 6MP to treat the Crohn's.  It will take about six weeks for the meds to get into his system and for him to start feeling a difference {and hopefully be symptom-free}.

I'm just so grateful to have my little family under one roof again.

special delivery.

 

today we received a special delivery at the house for travis.  his boss and the guys at work sent him flowers.  

 

 

 

we have had so many people reach out to make sure we're okay.  it means so much to us that people are thinking of us and praying for us.  hopefully we'll be back home soon.