Amy's Big Adventure
or How I
survived a simple wedding!
On a sunny Thursday our daughter Amy, son-in-law Jim, and two granddaughters Maddie (9) and Ashley Jordan (5) took off for Northern Kansas to a small town called Concordia. Jim's mother passed away the day after Ashley was born and he was a only child. His father had left the family long before and Jim had no idea where his relatives were except for a few great aunts. A few months after Norma's passing he received a call from a cousin called Terry. Her mother and Jim's mother were sisters. Because of a family feud when their parents had passed away these sisters had not spoken and neither had any of the cousins. When Jim and Terry spoke they thought it was time to put away the past and try to salvage what family they could. A few years ago they had a family reunion where Jim was re-acquainted with his first and second cousins who mostly live in Kansas. When one of his second cousins decided to marry they asked Jim and the girls to be in the wedding.
Amy and Jim were so happy about having this last get-away before fall when school activities would keep them close to home. They left on Thursday to have an extra day and also avoid "Labor Day" traffic. When they arrived on Thursday night Ashley was having trouble breathing so they took her to this ER in Concordia. It was just a upper repertory. They gave her some antibiotics and they got back to Jim's cousins and tried to sleep. Amy started having pain that would come and go on Thursday before they left but she thought it was something she had eaten. All the rushing around getting a wedding present and shopping for the perfect dress to wear. **explanation** Amy had recently lost quite a bit of weight and was working out so she wanted to really show off all her progress. She found the perfect "little black dress" that everyone dreams of and never gets rid of.
As the pain got worse early Friday they went back to the ER and they started and IV and pain medication. That's when I got the call that things were not going well. I tried to tell her she would be fine once the doctor (yes, they had one doctor) figured out what it was. A call came a bit later where Jim told us they thought it was appendicitis. She didn't want Jim or the girls to miss the wedding so she told them to go to the rehearsal dinner. She was now on morphine and I was quite worried. I talked to her nurse and she said they would run more tests the next day. Saturday afternoon Jennifer, Amy's sister, called up to the hospital and was surprised that Amy was so out of it. I waited until 9:30 that evening and the called. The wedding was over and Jim had left the girls at the reception with relatives to get back to Amy. He had his laptop with and showed her pictures from their digital camera. She was most upset with the fact that he had changed out of his tux which she wanted to see and of course the fact that the women in our family always takes lots of photo's and she had not been there to take the ones she would have. I tried to find out from her what she though was wrong and she said something about this ovarian cyst. That sounded plausible because she had one back in high school and another in college. I asked about them doing a laproscopic surgery like they had done then and she stated that all of Jim's cousin went to Selina about 85 miles south for anything other than stitches or a cold. They would pack everything up and then get Amy and drive down to this regional medical center the next morning. The newlyweds had decided to postpone their honeymoon for a month because of time off from work. They lived in Selina about 3 blocks from the hospital. The girl spent Sunday evening with them. Can you imagine the second night after being married and you have two little girls who have been all over the place and are worried about their mommy staying with you?
After talking to Jennifer we decided to pack up the SUV and hit the road early on Monday. I had to get to Amy and also get the girls who needed to go back to school the next day. In the meantime, they had called in a gastric surgeon who ran his own tests and determined that Amy had a partial bowel obstruction. This can happen to anyone at anytime. An area of the bowel can collapse or telescope on itself. They were getting Amy up to walk every hour and had her sitting up in bed. She was going without some of the pain meds because they slow down the system and they wanted it to speed up.
We left the next morning for Kansas in pouring rain. Our other daughter and son-in-law Jay and Kristen had made a perfect map with all sorts of details on where to turn off and where good places were to stop which helped a lot. Jen and I had both been to Oklahoma City and through there several time son our way to visit relatives in Chicago and Jen had gone that way many time to see her friends from U of O. We made good time despite the rain and it was great for Jennifer and I to catch up on all the things we never have time to talk about. It was actually a lot of fun. When we hit Wichita the sky cleared and the weather was so much cooler then in TX.
We got to the hospital and Amy looked awful. They had a NG tube in her nose going to her stomach to pump out fluids because she could not stop throwing up. She was pale and looked weak. We walked her one time and I though she would surely fall over. This great trip to a wedding had turned into a nightmare. I spoke to the nurses again and they said that if she didn't improve they were planning a more extensive test the next day to see just what was going on. The girl were so glad to see Grandma and Aunt Jen. I think they know when we show up things will be okay because we are always around them. The newlyweds (who were so nice) looked relieved to see us too!
We had reservation at a motel and took the girls back there where we had a slumber party. Jen and I were so tired. I stayed in the room at the Fairfield Inn and helped the girls make cards and pictures for mommy. (They had a Walmart where we bought paper, markers, glitter and snack food) We painted toenails and after showers and finally got to sleep at about 1am. It broke my heart when Ashley whispered in my ear when we were in bed that she thought some really bad was going to happen to mommy. I told her no and we prayed another of many prayers we had said that things would all work out. She slept in my arms all night, hardly moving at all. All I could think of is Amy. Ashley looks exactly like Amy did at that age and acts like her mommy did too. I knew then we had to get the girls out of that atmosphere. They were getting so scared. Jim was so tired as he had not left Amy's room sleeping in whatever chair their could arrange.
The next morning we called the hospital and Amy was worse. They had started this sets of x-rays with contrast and a second NG tube in her other nostril. We needed to get on the road to get back to TX but the girls wanted to give their mommy the cards. When we arrived at the hospital, Jim went back to our motel to take a shower and change. They told us we could go down to the radiology department to find Amy. The nurses and staff were so very nice to all of us. We found Amy sitting up on this table. They had taken two of the 6 x-rays they needed to get the full picture. It was so horrible to say leave. The girls both started crying. Then Jen and I had tears in our eyes trying to control our emotions. The head of radiology had a tear in her eye. She hugged us all and took me aside to tell me that they would take very good care of Amy and that she had ordered pain medication but Amy had waited until the girls came because she knew it would knock her out.
After only 15 minutes on the road the girls crashed inthe back seat watching a video. They slept for the next 5 hours which really helped. We got a call on Jen's cell phone from Jim telling us that Amy had a partial bowel obstruction. If they did surgery there it would be open with a 4-6 inch opening because this doctor was not comfortable doing it with the laproscope. Jim was deciding whether they should stay there and have it done. Amy would not be able to travel for two weeks if all went well or to risk the drive back to the DFW area.
We arrived home at 10 pm Tuesday night absolutely exhausted. The Jen helped me get the girls in bed. My husband (Dave) was waiting at their house to bring the luggage in. He went back to out house and I fell sound asleep.
The next morning Jim called at 5:30 am wanting Amy's doctor from a previous surgery. He then called back at 7:00 and said both doctors had consulted and Amy chose to have Jim drive her back. The doctor gave him a special letter in case he was pulled over for speeding. The didn't need it) The hospital in Kansas had contacted hospital all along the way to alert them to the fact that this very sick woman might end up at their ER. They even made a prayer circle with all the nurses before they left, praying for the safety of both Amy and Jim.
I kept Ashley home with me that day because her cold was worse. After Maddie was in school we both took a shower and were brushing our teeth when I heard noise in their foyer. I told Ashley to wait while I went to see who was there. I walk out in my sleep-shirt (UT of course) and their is a woman and man in the living room. I asked who they were only to be yelled at by this woman because she had been stung by ants walking along the yard with this potential buyer. (Jim and Amy are building a new house so their house is on the market.) I told this woman who I was and she stilled showed the house. I asked why she didn't knock or ring the bell. She said, "She thought she had." The man with her said he was sorry and that she had not rang the bell or knocked. Ashley Jordan, was used to the house being shown to people so she proceeded to point out all the good things!
All day long we Jim called as he was driving. In the back seat Amy was zonked. He only stop twice for gas and other things. She was at Zale Lipshy in Dallas at about 4:30 and they began their own test. This hospital is part of UT Southwestern Medical School and is big. I was so tired from getting their house put back in shape. When I am nervous I clean. About 6 Jennifer, Brian (our son) and other relatives we all gathered at Jim and Amy's. We were getting ready to send out for some food. Then Jim called and said she was going into surgery in an hour and we should get up there. Kristen watched the girls and the rest of us hurried over to Dallas to the hospital. Thank God they had valet parking. We were all so worried about Amy. By the time we got their they were done and she was in recovery. It was done with a lap-scope and ended up being a partial obstruction by scar tissue from some earlier surgery she had done last at the beginning of the year. He doctor had seen it many time before and knew exactly what to do. He was worried about how weak Amy was being at two other hospitals and being in the car for 6 hours (a time record for Jim) so they kept her in the hospital for several days.
We knew she was okay when they brought her from recovery to her room. She started cracking jokes about her "perfect black dress" and all of us looking so tired. As I write this she is still getting her strength back and is not planning on going back to work for two more weeks.
I guess the whole lesson in this is how great it is to have family around who will go the extra mile to do whatever it takes. That's our family and I am very proud all of them. I think Jim is still a little tired. I don't think they will be going to Kansas anytime soon. They day after Amy's surgery we thought it was important for the girls to see that their mommy was okay. I told them to get cleaned up and I would fix their hair so we could go see her. In unison they said, "Do we have to go all the way to Kansas?"