Gratitude and pictures

I thought I would update this post. I guess I didn't really go into the details about exactly how Broden hurt himself. I didn't see it happen, because I don't have magical eyes and can't see all my kids at the same time:) I am at peace with the fact that sometimes bad things happen and even I would have been standing right next to Broden, it still could have happened. So, that being said, this is what I understand from Broden. He was getting on the teeter-totter, standing on the end and jumped to sit down. Just when he jumped Remi got off the other side and when it dropped he fell on the handle, right on his belly. It is the same injury people get in car accidents from seat belts. It makes me cringe just thinking about it.

Broden watching a movie after his operation.

This is Broden's button. When he was in pain he kinda panicked if he couldn't find his "button." It would give him some morphine when he pushed it, then time out for 5 minutes before he could push it again.

Blowing bubbles for the Physical Therapist

Alissa visiting Broden and bringing the card she made him.

Broden's first time walking after surgery. The physical therapist is giving him a pep talk. This is the day he was ready to just give up on ever moving again and just wanted to stay in bed the rest of his life.

Walking down the hall. It is surprising how much we take for granted walking. He had a very hard time walking. He would tip over and it was very slow small steps. It reminded me of when my grandpa lived with us when I was a teenager and we would help him walk to the bathroom or to bed. It was so sad to see a 6 year old like this.

Feeling a bit better hanging out in the playroom

Playing on the Wii with new friends

Messy play time in the hospital

Parker playing in the play room

Alissa, Broden and Remi hanging out in Broden's hospital bed playing games.

Remi watching Broden play games on the ipad

The surgical site. This is Saturday, 10 days after surgery. They had just removed the drain. No stitches at all on the outside. Just steri strips.

Remi and Broden playing with plastic bubbles.

Remi's huge snot bubble(out of plastic)

Broden's certificate for doing so good when he got his PIC line

He was in ward D2

This is his IV stand. He did have another one on the IV stand when he had his morphine. So there were 4 machines on the stand and when he was getting his other meds he would sometimes have a 5th on the shelf behind the machine. Sometimes it was difficult going for walks with Kelsi in the stroller and having to drag this huge pole with all these machines and make sure Broden isn't tipping over, or stepping on his lines, or that I'm not wheeling over his lines, or that he isn't  going to fast so it is pulling on his lines and hurting him. It was always an adventure! We were excited when the one on his food got removed especially. It was really short and would barely reach the ground from the pump.

This is a close up of one of the TPN machines(there were 2). When they put in his PIC line it was right in the kink of his elbow. So if he ever bent his arm an alarm would go off and the screen would say downstream pressure exceeded. We got to the point where we would just tell Broden to straighten his arm and we would just push the orange button 2 times. Then it would restart and the alarm would stop. That was our joke after Broden had all his IV's removed. When someone else's alarm would go off we would say Broden straighten your arm:)

He even came up with ideas so he wouldn't have to hear the alarms. When you have 5 machines attached to you for IV's and 1 for Oxygen, the alarms are almost constant. He thought the machines should have remote alarms things that the nurses wear in their ears. Then when the alarm went off they would hear it instead of him. I thought it was a good idea! The nurse didn't seem to like that idea though.

Two cuties I'm sure any nurse would want to take care of.

First fluids!!! He was really excited to have more than just a drop of water. He even got to have squash(Kinda like cool-aid)

All ready to go home!!!

One of the bulletin boards in his ward.

So through this trial we went through there were so many things I was grateful for. I am going to try to list them, but I'm sure I will forget some.

I was grateful when Broden threw up that I started feeling better almost immediately and could clean it up. Blake can't handle cleaning up throw up and it obviously needed cleaned up. 

I was grateful I had the inspiration to look into abdominal trauma. I'm glad I didn't brush that thought off as being a worrisome mom.

I was grateful I had the inspiration last minute to switch to the double stroller so Broden could ride in it.

I was grateful someone could watch Parker. 

I was grateful the doctor could see us earlier than our appointment and that they were quick in assessing him.

I was grateful the surgeon could come down and see Broden.

I was grateful and comforted knowing the surgeon was LDS.

I was grateful the doctor was so understanding about me needing to make arrangements for our other kids.

I was grateful the assistant was willing to hold Kelsi when I had to take Broden to the bathroom(I think he was a young single guy with no kids)

I was grateful the doctor let me use her office phone when I didn't have service.

I was grateful I knew the nurse that was with us and that she could help with Kelsi and was so happy to help and was very sincere in her caring for Broden and willing to help in any way she could and saying that she would pray for him.

I was grateful the bishop was available.

I was so grateful for the blessing given to Broden and for the knowledge that through his faithfullness he would be healed.

I was grateful Blake was here in England with us and not in the states at any training or deployed.

I was grateful for all our friends who were willing to pick up our kids at school, take them to school, let them sleep over, feed them and us, Bring presents to Broden, visit him in the hospital, hold Kelsi for me so I could have a break, encourage me to take a break and go to craft night with the women in the ward, give hugs and words of encouragement, clean our house, fold our laundry, clean our yard the list here goes on and on. 

I was grateful I could swallow my pride and let people clean my messy house and put food in our messy fridge

I was grateful I didn't have to worry about food the whole time Broden was in the hospital. I got some basic groceries the first day(bread and eggs) and after that food was brought in every night and it lasted through lunches too. Someone even brought us pancakes that lasted the week for breakfast.

I was grateful the nutritionist at the hospital understood that I was breastfeeding and said that I would get hospital food because breastfeeding moms get hospital food.

I was grateful the PICU allowed me to be with Broden even though I had Kelsi with me. Also that the ward allowed me to be there with her. I was so worried driving up to the hospital that they wouldn't let me in with Kelsi. The hospital was 40 minutes away, so I would have had a very hard time leaving her with a babysitter.

I was grateful for the man who told me how to get to the hospital and where to go. 

I was grateful for the nurses who took good care of Broden and were a huge help to us too.

I was grateful that Blake's work gave him almost 2 weeks off to be with us.

I was grateful Broden's school was so understanding when we would come a little bit late to school or when Alissa didn't want me to leave her or when I brought cupcakes and they let me go in her classroom and help her hand them out and stay with her for a while.

I was grateful to the primary for making cards and a video for Broden.

I was grateful to Broden's school class for making cards.

I was grateful to the "Playteam" for helping Broden have things to do in the hospital.

I was grateful they had a "school" at the hospital and a teacher would come sit with Broden do school work with him.

I was grateful that Blake could get a blessing of comfort.

I was grateful I could get a blessing of healing and another one for comfort.

I was grateful that all along we knew what was going on with Broden. We didn't have to wait days on end for tests and wonder and worry. We knew what was wrong and knew he was going to be ok. This was a huge comfort to me. I know that my Father in Heaven blessed me with a peace of mind. I didn't once worry that Broden was going to die. I knew what happened was very serious, but I also knew Broden would eventually be ok.

One night when I left the hospital to come home the road the GPS told me to go on(a highway) was closed. I followed the detour signs and they just took me in a complete circle. I had no idea where to go and it was 11:15 pm. A man got out of his car and came and told me where he was going to see if there was another way around the closed road. I followed him and eventually my GPS picked up a different route that would get us home. I was grateful I had someone to follow. I was a little worried about following a man I didn't know on some back roads into the middle of nowhere, but that was just my mind worrying. I knew in my heart he was sent there to help me. Then I was even more relieved when we stopped once to talk about where to go that his wife was in the car with him.

I was grateful for all the modern technology for pain meds, nutrition, anesthetic, the list goes on and on.

I was grateful I could meet other people in the hospital. It made me grateful our children have been born so healthy. I am grateful we have never been in a serious car accident. One family was there with there little girl. The girl and dad had been in a head on collision and she had been in and out of consciousness. They life flighted her to this hospital and put her in a medically induced coma. She got to go home 1 week after she got there and was doing great. Just black eyes, no other injuries. Her mom was so grateful and amazed. Another little boy there had 2 broken legs and a big cut on his head. He also had been in a car accident and both of his parents were killed in the car accident. It was heartbreaking, but he had so much family there supporting him. He was probably only 4 years old. It makes me so grateful for eternal families.

I read this quote this morning and thought it applied It is an important part of our life’s experience to develop the strength, courage, and integrity to hold fast to truth and righteousness despite the buffeting we may experience.-President Uchdorf 

I am so grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that my parents taught me to be where I should be NO MATTER WHAT. They taught me to keep the commandments and always go to church. When I was a teenager I didn't always want to go to church, but they made me and now I am so grateful. I never would have gained a knowledge of my Savior had I not been to church. The strength I receive from going to church and taking the sacrament is beyond words. I know it is not because I am week that I go to church, but because I need the strength of the blessings I receive when I go and I need the strength of Jesus Christ.

I also read this quote off my friend's blog, "We know that the Savior has power to calm our storms, but sometimes He calms our souls instead." This is truly how the atonement works. I experienced this over the last 2 weeks. For some reason our Father in Heaven knew we needed to have this experience. We may not ever know why, but I know as I knelt in Prayer and asked for the strength to get through this hard time our Heavenly Father blessed me with strength and especially with a calm soul. Some people may think I didn't feel pity, or sadness or grief for Broden or what happened to him. I did to an extent, but I was blessed from the very beginning with a calm soul.

I am beyond grateful that Blake is in the Air Force and that all medical expenses will be covered.

I'm grateful the surgeon at our hospital told me that the hospital we were going to "Addenbrooks" is like the Harvard of England. That was comforting because I have never dealt with medical care over here except for on base.

I was grateful for the technology of cell phones and facebook so we could keep in touch with each other and family.

I was grateful a friend offered to make Alissa's birthday cake so I could take care of other things that needed done.

I was grateful our friends made Alissa's birthday special for her, even though it was a special day for Broden too.

I was grateful for our friends who brought movies and a portable DVD player for Broden.

I was grateful for Blake and how good he was with dealing with Broden even when he was feeling down and that he was willing to come be with the other kids so I could be with Broden during the day and that he was willing to stay the nights with Broden. Some of the other kids in the hospital were all alone at night and I thought it was so sad. I am so grateful our friends and ward family over here made it possible that one of us could always be with Broden. It was comforting to know that we were there when he would fall asleep or wake up in pain, or need to go to the bathroom, or anything he needed we could be there for him. There is no way we could have made it through this experience without all of our friends who helped us out here and all the prayers of our family and friends all over the world. 

Blake said it great when he said,"LOVE MY KIDDOS and MY WIFE! Hurray for God, Family and Friends the only things important in this life!

I agree, I love my kiddos and my husband. I am so grateful for God, Family and Friends, they are the only important things in this life!

Broden's Accident part 2

Thursday morning Kelsi woke up at 6:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I figured I might as well get up and make our house livable again. I went downstairs and it was totally spotless! Someone had come into our very, very messy house and cleaned it! This was such a blessing. The last think I wanted to spend my time doing at this point was cleaning the house. So I ate, showered and went back to bed as soon as Kelsi went to sleep.

Lauren dropped Remi off at school and I took Parker from her and let Alissa go play with Livi some more before school because I wasn't really willing to put up a fight. I was teetering on the edge of loosing it. So Parker and I headed to the store to get some basic groceries. I knew we needed food and I needed to still be a Mom, but I really just wanted to be back at the hospital with Broden. We got to the commissary and Kelsi was screaming and Parker was crying and I was about to break down in tears. A lady asked if I was ok and I lied telling her I was. She helped me get a cart and walked away and the tears came. I turned around and there was a friend from volleyball. I dried my tears because I didn't want him to see me crying. He was very kind and concerned about Broden and making sure we had what we needed. When I finished talking to him there was another friend from our ward there to talk and comfort me some more. Parker and Kelsi were calmed down now too, so we continued our shopping trip, still kind of in a haze.

After shopping we finally got to talk to Blake. He said Broden woke up and was doing really well. They said they would probably move him to a children's unit because he was doing so well. PICU was more for unconscious patients, so Broden seemed very healthy compared to the other babies there. That sounded great! He wasn't hungry anymore either, just thirsty. He wasn't allowed to drink though. Just a tiny sip every couple hours. So sad. But he was awake and seemed to be doing well.

So, I picked Alissa up at Ingersolls, and took her to school. Whitney, another friend from the ward was a lifesaver, again, (her and her husband cleaned the house for us) and came to our house to watch Parker and be there to get the other kids from school and be with them until Blake came home. I gathered anything I could think of that we might need at the hospital and headed up there.

Blake sent me a text saying they already moved Broden into the regular ward! That's great. I got there and It was so good to see Broden alert. He was getting a little bored though, in his awake time. He couldn't really move. He could lift his arms a little, but that was a struggle for him. So we talked to him, I told him about school, funny things that Parker had said, about all his teachers who were concerned about him and all the people who were praying for him. We would play a game where he would make a little mark on our little dry erase board and I would turn it into a picture. Sometimes he would fall asleep while I drew pictures. Or he would ask me to sing to him so he could fall asleep. Whitney had gotten him a monkey at the store and he would cuddle it while I sang to him and seemed comforted. Sometimes in his sleep he would jump. It was like he was remembering what happened and it would wake him up. Then he would want to push his button and go back to sleep.

The weather outside was beautiful, so we had the nurses help us wheel him, his bed, and IV stand outside to their garden/play area. They had a giant connect 4 game. Blake and I played eachother, then Broden played Blake. He couldn't get out of bed, or even sit up, so he would just tell me where to drop the pieces. After a while Broden started to get tired. Kelsi was asleep in her stroller, Blake fell asleep on the grass, so I climbed in Broden's bed next to him and sang to him until he fell asleep and then I fell asleep. We woke up when some visitors came. The Hartvigsens came to visit Broden and brought cards and legos for him. It was fun to see how happy Broden was when his got visitors. He did get tired fast though, so they didn't stay too long. It was so nice for Broden to see friends and know people were thinking of him and praying for him.

I stayed that night in the hospital with Broden and Blake went home to sleep. It was a long night with Kelsi waking up and Broden waking up. He would need his button pushed, or need to go to the bathroom, or the alarms on the IV pumps would go off, or 1 of the babies in the room would start crying. (He was in a room with 3 beds in it, divided by curtains, the other 2 beds had babies in them). When he needed to go to the bathroom we would just do it in a bottle thing in the bed. The first time I tried helping him I did something "wrong" and it hurt him really bad. He cried and hit my hand away from him. I felt so bad that he was in that much pain. I was just pulling his gown up and it caused so much pain. It took me a few tries, but I finally figured out how to do it without causing so much pain. He would go pee into a little bottle thing. Then the nurses would take it and measure it.

The next few days were spent trying to keep Broden comfortable and entertaining him. He could sit up a little more on Friday, but couldn't put anything on his tummy to color, read, play on the IPAD, or sit up enough to play games or use a table. The doctors said he was doing well, but did talk about the risk of getting an pneumonia because after a surgery like that kids don't breath very deep because it might hurt them. So they don't clear the fluid out of their lungs and could get a pneumonia. So when the Physical Therapist came the first time on Friday he helped us get Broden sitting up in a chair. Very painful and uncomfortable for him. Then he taught us some different things to get Broden to breath deeper. He had an oxygen monitor on and his oxygen kept dropping below 90, so they would put him on oxygen for a while. I would try to remind him to take deep breaths if the monitor didn't say 100 on it. But the therapist made it more fun! He got a bottle with water in it and some soap and set it in a bowl. Then he gave Broden a long hose that went into the bottle of soapy water. Broden would then  blow bubbles. His goal was to blow so many bubbles they would overflow into the bowl. It took him about 15 minutes, but he did it! It was very hard for him to blow that much. Another game we could play with him was to fold up pieces of paper and have races blowing them off a table.

Over the weekend Broden improved a little. He would get into his chair 1 or 2 times a day for about half an hour. His fluids coming out his nose, from his stomach was a little less, and a little lighter on Monday, which were good signs. The bile from the intestine was coming up instead of going down, which was what was causing the dark green color. We wanted it to turn light and not be so much. They were sucking out the drain in his nose every 3 hours and getting a couple hundred ml of bile and fluid. Sunday morning it was dark green and lots of it.

We also brought the other kids to visit over the weekend. First Parker and Alissa and he was so happy to see them and they were so happy to see Broden. The happiness didn't last long though. He was too nervous having them close to him. With IV's in his arms and a huge cut on his tummy he was too worried they would hurt him. So their visit was short. Remi got to visit after school on Friday for a while and again on Sunday after church. He liked visiting with her because she understood not to touch him, not to move the bed, or touch his IV's. He was still sleeping a lot though, so visits with visitors were short. Happy for Broden, but short.

During the week we worked out a schedule. Blake would stay the night in the hospital, then I would come up after I got the kids up and ready for school. I would drop Parker off with Hartvigsen's and go to the hospital and trade him. He would come back and either run errands or get Parker and go home and get things done around the house and maybe sleep some if he was lucky. After school he would get Remi and Alissa, play with them, do homework, dinner and bed time. Then random, amazing people would come to our house at 8:30pm so Blake could drive back to the hospital and trade me. We would trade shifts and tell eachother all the info about our "shift". Then it would all start again.

Tuesday Marked a week with no foods and they were still pulling out too much bile and fluids from his nose drain, so a PIC line might be a possibility to give him more nutrients. Then a little bit later a doctor came down and had me sign paperwork for a PIC line. He had no manners.  He just said I need you to sing these papers so we can do a pic line. No intro, or anything. So, my reply was, they are going to do a pic line? They said they might, but I thought someone would actually talk to us instead of just asking for our signatures. This was the only doctor I had a problem with the whole time. The rest of them were very good at explaining everything and answering any questions. Very good bedside manners. I signed the papers, which was scary without having Blake there with me. To do a Pic line they would have to put him under again and thread a tube up a vain in his arm to a major vein near his heart to put the nutrients through. They would have to intubate him too for the surgery.

This whole day Broden was so down. He was very discouraged about everything. He didn't want to try sitting up or walking, or getting in a chair because everything hurt. He didn't want anyone to poke him anymore either. He was just done.

They took him upstairs at about 4:30 and let me come with him. A nursing assistant was very helpful and watched Kelsi because she wasn't allowed in. So they got him all ready and gave him the medicine. The plan was to put in the PIC line, change the tube in his nose to a smaller one and change out his IV so none of this had to be done while he was awake. He was tired of being poked. By this time he had had 3 IV's fail and had to have blood drawn daily. For some reason the nurses couldn't get blood out of him. I'm pretty sure one of them even tried getting it out of a tendon in his food. Poor boy. His least favorite though was when they tried getting enough blood out of a cut on his finger, the kind they do to new born babies to do their blood work. He complained about that one until the day he got out of the hospital and always made sure if anyone was taking blood they weren't going to cut his finger.

When he got out of surgery at 6:00 I got to go to the recovery room to be with him. The surgery had gone well. He had his Pic line which was great, but they had put his IV in his foot, right in the vein that runs over your ankle bone. Of all the veins I'm not sure why they chose that one. Especially since the physical therapist wanted him walking. He did get a new smaller tube in his nose though, which would be less irritable for him.( hopefully he would leave this one in. He had pulled the other one out one night I think in his sleep) Broden was sleeping, but not very restfully. He was very agitated and not quite with it yet, and in pain. It was sad to see him like that again. Eventually he woke up a little more and needed to go to the bathroom. Then he fell back asleep more peacefully this time. While he was sleeping the surgeon came in who had done his big surgery. He talked to me for quite a while about what to expect now and in the future. He basically said he likes his patients who get this surgery to go home 7-10 days from surgery, which was the coming weekend. When they go home they may still have some pain, but they need to be eating and drinking and getting enough nutrients without a pic line. After the discouraging day we had I had a hard time seeing that weekend as a reality of going home. It would be great, but I was discouraged.

We moved Broden back downstairs as soon as he was stable. He slept peacefully for quite a while. Then they came in and hooked up his new bags of "food." His TPN was a special formula of lipids and electrolytes to provide the nutrition he needed to get better. When Blake got there we traded info and I left feeling kinda down. I came home to a clean house and folded laundry, another "angel" had folded our laundry.

The next day when I got to the hospital I was so pleasantly surprised!! Broden had all kinds of energy and was feeling so much better. He was up and walking around and ready to play games. He really got better overnight! So, the rest of the week was spend playing snakes and ladders, watching movies, playing games on the ipad, coloring, drawing, legos, and other games they had in the hospital play room. Thursday he was finally allowed 10ml of fluid an hour, or 30 every 3. This is about 1/4 a cup of fluid in 3 hours. He was really excited about that! Friday afternoon they extended it to 20 ml an hour, then that night they said how ever many clear fluids he wanted!

Friday night we decided he was feeling well enough to bring all the kids up again. They were all ready for some family time. So we tried what a friend had suggested when she had a child in the hospital for 6 weeks. We had a movie night at the hospital. We sat in the play room and watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and enjoyed popsicles with Broden.

Saturday they were still pulling out fluid from his nose tube, but the doctor felt like things were going down where they were supposed to, so he said Broden could eat whatever and if he didn't get an upset stomach we would shoot for being released on Sunday! Good news!

So Saturday I took up a bunch of different foods I knew he would like. We weren't sure if he would like the hospital food. So I took Jello, Mac and cheese, pudding, peas and cheese sticks. They wanted him to eat as much as he could, to make sure his tummy was ok and also to start getting him nutrition from real food instead of the TPN. He did great and didn't get sick at all. They removed his nose tube and his drain from his abdominal cavity that afternoon! The one in his side was crazy. It was hanging out of his side about 3 inches. When they pulled it out there were about 10 inches more inside of him. Just a white rubber hose about a cm. across. The tube in his nose he pulled out himself. It was pretty crazy watching him.

Sunday was Alissa's birthday, but we both felt like we should be at the hospital when they released Broden. So we decided to have the other kids stay the night with friends so I could be at the hospital first thing in the morning. Alissa got to stay with Ingersoll's with Livi, her very best friend. We were so grateful that they made her birthday morning special. Remi and Parker stayed with Hatch's and we invited them all to our house for cake and ice cream at 6:30.

When I got to the hospital Sunday morning the surgeon made his rounds and said everything looks good. We should be able to go this afternoon. He did all his paperwork and we got all our stuff packed. Then the nurse informed us it wouldn't be until 6 that we could leave. They would need to slow down the TPN, then stop it and see how his blood sugars did on just food, no TPN. Bummer. We only had 1 car at the hospital and didn't want to delay Alissa's bday party because she was so excited for it and had already had a hard couple weeks. So We thought and thought about how to get Blake from the hospital to our house. Luckily one of the people he works with was in Cambridge for the day, so he rode home with them!

At about noon they took him to a treatment room and removed the IV from his hand(They had changed it on Thursday to his hand instead of foot) and removed the  PIC line and steri strips from the incision. YAY!!! I think Broden ran out of that room so excited to be free of any more connections. All he had were bandaids!!!

At 2:00pm they tested his blood sugars and again at 6:00 pm and both times they were great! So we said bye to all our nurses and the staff that took such good care of Broden and headed home. We got home at 7:15, just in time to enjoy a fun birthday party with family and friends.

Alissa was so excited Broden came home on her birthday. She still says thank you for that in her prayers. It is so cute.

At the hospital Broden looked so healthy and energetic. When we got home though, we realized that he is still pretty sickly. He lost a lot of weight and still doesn't have lots of energy. The ride home kids wiped him out. He was good at staying inside his own limits though. He went upstairs with friends then after a while Blake carried him back down the stairs and he just kinda watched everyone play after that. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we just took it easy at home and went to the doctor on base just to check in. The surgeon looked at the abdominal drain site and said it looks great. It is still like an open wound, but we just keep a bandaid on it.

Thursday he started school half day and did great! He came home and we ate lunch and ice cream(He has this about 2 times a day along with anything else fattening we can get in him), then we went to take naps. He stayed in bed for about half an hour and never fell asleep. So, his energy must be picking up! Next week we will start full days of school and see how he does. I kinda just want to keep him here with me where I can keep an eye on him and protect him all day every day, but I guess we will try getting things back to normal.

I have been so amazed with Broden through this whole ordeal. He has been so patient and had such a good sense of humor through all of it. We actually had some good bonding time in the hospital. We have been through a lot, but we are so grateful for so many things! I'll do a separate post about that.

Broden's accident part 1

Last Tuesday, the day before school started again I wasn't feeling well. We had just gotten home from camping the night before, so everythign was a mess. I helped the kids go through thier school clothes and helped them get things ready for school. Then I needed a nap. y tummy was really yucky. Some of the people we were camping with had been sick too.

When I got up I got dinner in the oven real quick and took the kids to sign Remi and Broden up for soccer at the Mildenhall Youth Center. I signed Blake up to coach Remi's team. Then we headed to the park to celebrate the last day of summer break. Parker and Kelsi were both sleeping in the car, so I sat in the car with them. After a while Kelsi woke up, so I fed her, then Remi came over and said, "Broden got hurt."(My kids tell me this all the time)

So I said my normal reply, "Tell him to come here." Generally when I say this they either ignore me and keep playing or if they are hurt and need comforted they come to me. Sometimes I can really tell they are hurt and I will go check on them. A second later, Broden came over running, stomping his feet, screaming and holding his tummy. He was out of breath too. He explained that he got hurt on the teeter totter. I figured he had the wind knocked out of him. So we went home.

When we went home Blake got Broden to calm down and lay down in our bed. He seemed exhausted. I didn't want him to fall asleep without dinner and so early, so I had him come downstairs. He didn't want to eat, chich was odd because we were having tator tot casserole, his favorite.

Eventually Blake left for the stake priesthood meeting and Broden fell asleep on the chair in our living room. I got Alissa in bed and was trying to clean up dinner and Broden threw up all over the floor. That explained the not wanting dinner and being so tired. I got hime a bowl and he fell asleep in his bed on the top bunk.

At 1:30am he started throwing up again. I had him come in our bed and Blake slept in with Parker. In the morning Broden came downstairs hungry, but didn't want toast, so he had some applesauce. He stayed home while I took Remi to school. He slept off and on, but he would jump in his sleep and was in pain when he would move. More than someone would be with the flu. I got worried and started looking up info about abdominal trauma. I read that if someone has abdominal trauma(usually from a car accident) and they throw up and are in pain and have a fever they should be taken to the Emergency Room. I was a little worried, but we had all been sick. So I tried to get ahold of the nurse advice line. No luck. Then I tried calling to get a doctor appointment and they had one, which is very rare. It wasn't until 1:45 though and I would need to pick up Remi and Alissa at 3.

So I took Alissa to school at 12:30 and got everything ready so we could go to the doctor, just in case. The whole time I was getting ready to go I was thinking I should leave Parker with someone, but couldn't think of who. Just as we were walking out the door I got a comment on Alissa's first day of school picture. It was from a friend in our ward and I though, she would be perfect to drop Parker off with. So I called her literally as we were getting in the car and took Parker to her house on the way to the doctor. When I dropped him off I explained I didn't know how long the appointment would be, hopefully not long.

I got to the hospital/doctor at 1:10pm and went to the pediatrician just to see if they were running on schedule, or if I should just go to the ER.

When I was getting Broden to the car he could hardly walk. I carried him and he was in a lot of pain. Then in the car he perked up and seemed happy, so I started thinking I was over reacting. I feel bad taking my kids to the doctor to be told they have a virus or cold and they can't do anything for them. Especially when it hadn't even been going on 24 hours.

Broden couldn't walk into the hospital, but I had traded the single stroller normally in the car, for the double jogging stroller. So I loaded him and Kelsi in it to go into the doctor.

The lady at the front desk said the doctor was already with the patient before us, so she should get to us quickly, so I could be done by 3. I told her I needed to get my girls from school at 3 and she said she would explain that to the doctor.

We walked into the waiting room and the tech immediately called us back. He got the story and took Broden's vitals. His temp was normal(I had given him Ibuprofen in the morning when he had a fever and to help with the pain) The tech was writing really fast, which concerned me. He left and the doctor came in right away. She had Broden climb up on the table and did an exam. Then she told me there was definitely something wrong. She wanted to have the surgeon come exam him, get x-rays, blood and possibly a cat scan. She knew I was trying to pick up the girls at 3 and said I should probably make other arrangements. She went to call the surgeon. After she left Broden said he needed to go pee. I went to her office and told her, just in case she wanted him to do it in a cup for tests and she did. So we got a cup and I wheeled him in the doctors desk chair to the bathroom while the tech held Kelsi. She was only in a diaper by this point because she had exploded and I hadn't had a chance to get her dressesdagain.

I had been in touch with Blake to try to see if he could go get the girls from school. He was supposed to deliver mouth guards to the football team at 3, so he couldn't get them. I wanted to be there so bad to get them on their first day of school. Especially Alissa. It was her first day of real school ever, in her whole life, and I felt bad missing it, but it wasn't going to happen.

When we got back from the toilet the surgeon came in. He did some listening and feeling of Broden's tummy. He would tap on his abdomen and it would cause a lot of pain. The surgeon told me he though Broden may need surgery, but he would at least be in the hospital overnight. He wanted a cat scan and blood work. I got teary at this point and he asked if I needed anything. He had to go back upstairs, but would be back in a little while. I asked if someone could find Dr. Boden and have him come.(He is an allergist, but also our bishop) The surgeon said a little more privately to me, I am a hight priest in the Bury ward, so if you need me to help give a blessing to your son I would be happy to. There is something comforting about being with other members of the church. Especially when it is the doctor taking care of your son.

After he left I used the doctors office to call Blake and tell him to come to the hospital and change the mouth guards to a different time. He had a patient sedated in his chair and had to take care of them, then he would come. They I arragned to have Remi and Alissa go to the office after school. Then called the friend who had Parker to see if she could get Remi and Alissa after school. She has a 12 year old, so she doens't have to be there when all her kids come off the bus. So, they were all taken care of.

While I was on the phone the nurse held Kelsi. It just happened to be the burse I had taken tennis lessons with the last 2 years. When I got off the pghone we got Broden noved into a treatment room and the nurse came in and drew blood and left in the cannula. Then Blake came. The doctor was there and explained things to Blake. Blake was still hoping it was just the flu. He didn't realize Broden had been in so much pain. Radiology was then ready for Broden, so they started wheeling him in his bed out of the room, but it wouldn't fit into the hall. So they got a wheelchair and Blake sat in it and held Broden. As they were walking out the door the bishop came in. He went with them to radiology for a cat scan.

When they got back from radiology the bishop and Blake gave him a very comforting blessing. Afterwards the surgeon returned and after having looked at the cat scan and the blood tests he was pretty sure there was a hole in the intestines and most likely the duodenum, the first part of the intestine. If Broden had been an adult he would have opened him up right then and done th esurgery, but because of the follow up care he wanted him at a bigger hospital. So they wanted to transfer him to Addenbrooks in Cambridge. They would coordinate everything with the surgeon and get an ambulance.

While they were doing this Broden was given some morphine through his IV to make him more comfortable. He had been so tough this whole time, but was starting to be in more and more pain. After a few minutes his pulse shot up and he became really hard to wake up. We shook him and the nurses and doctors all came in. They started pumping fluids through the IV and almost immediately he perked up and his heart rate dropped. It was still high, but not as bad. We aren't sure if he was just really dehydrated or starting to go into a septic shock.

Finally the ambulance came and all the coordinating was done. I left in the van so I could be there when they came. A nice man at base hospital told me exactly where to go to park and where to go into the hospital.

On the way to the hospital I arranged for the other kids to go to Ingersolls to stay the night.

When I got to A&E(British ER) There was a long line to get in the door. Blake had texted me saying they were there. So I walked past the line, then there was another line. I could see them bringing Vroden in from the ambulance, so I just walked past the line and to the double doors and told the lady as I walked past that I needed to go through to get to my son. They took him straight upstairs to the PICU.

The nurse in the PICU was awesome! she was a little old lady and so sweet to Broden. She would talk to him and explain things to him and keep him as comfortable as possible. The doctors looked at his charts and vitals and didn't really see an urgency. Then they looked at the cat scan and didn't see what the other doctor had been talking about and thought whatever it was may heal itself. Then they took the cat scan down to radiology to view it again or see if they needed anew one just to be sure.

When they came back they said they could see a lot more on the bigger screen and they said Broden definitely had something going on and they would need to open him up to see exactly what it was and fix it. He explained to us how the stomach connects to the duodenum and that he thought the tear was somewhere on the duodenum. He hoped it wasld be the 3rd portion of the duodenum because the 2nd portion has lots of important blood vessels, etc. connected to it.

He explained in the surgery they would sew the hole, hopefully without making the bowel smaller. They would also put a tube down his nose into his stomack to drain his stomach after surger because it and the intestine would shut down after surgery and nothing would go into the bowel, past where they did the surgery, so it would all drain out his nose. They were also hopin to get a feeding tube down the other bnostril past the hole in the duodenum to feed him and get butrition in. If that didn't work hopefully things would move along quickly and he could eat sooner than later or he would need a pic line for food because they can't get enough nutrients through a regular IV line.

After going through all the risks of surgery and anestesia then waiting for an available theatre(operating room) they finally took him in for surgery. By this time it was 11:30 at night.

Broden was such a trooper through all of his. When they started his IV he didn't even cry. He even watched. The only thing he complained about was that he was so hungry. He wasn't even complaining about the pain from his wound, he was only noticing the hunger pain from not eating. I knew the surgery was necessary, but by this point I wanted him to get it, just to relieve him from the discomfort of starving.

When they took Broden back to Theatre(surgery) Blake went with them to where they put him to sleep. I stayed in the hall with Kelsi, because she wasn't allowed back there. Then the waiting started. We were both exhausted and starving by this point, so we headed to the cafeteria and grabbed some sandwiches and drinks. Then we sat in the PICU parent room and waited. We both drifted in and out of sleep, until the doctor came in at 2:30am. He said the surgery was successful. They repaired the hole and it was in the duodenum. It was in the 3rd part, so they didn't have to deal with all the major blood vessels. They were able to repair it without making it smaller, but because of the inflammation they weren't able to put a feeding tube through his stomach past the injured portion of the intestine. So they hoped he would recover fast and be able to eat sooner than later. He did have a drain put into the abdominal cavity to drain the fluid and a drain put down his nose, into his stomach to drain his stomach and give the intestine time to heal. It would also serve as a way to monitor the amount and color of what was in his stomach and know when things were working again and passing through the intestine. This was all great news. What a relief that things went so well!

After a little while they brought Broden back to the PICU and we got to be with him again. He was pretty out of it. I stayed until he was awake and I could say bye to him. He was out of pain from his wound, but in a different kind of pain from the major surgery he had just been through, so he had a button that he could push that would give him morphine. He had a constant background of morphine too and they would give him paracetemol through his IV too. It was so hard leaving Blake and Broden in the hospital, but I was so tired and knew we still needed to take care of ourselves and the other kids or we would all get sick and make things worse. I finally got home at 4:30am and got Kelsi back to sleep and fell asleep.