Things Will Work Out

I think that I can honestly say that this past week has been the most difficult week of my life.....well, to this point, but considering all of the other things Cam and I have had thrown at us, that's saying something.

Ok, let me give you a little back story here.  My mom has been sick for a long time.  In previous blog posts, I have talked about her having Cancer, the Cancer coming back a year later, and the struggles that she has had.  In November two little ugly sores appeared on her legs, by Christmas, the sores had multiplied and spread across her lower leg.  It was decided just before Christmas, the doctors told her that they thought she had an autoimmune disease that was causing Vasculitis (for those of you that are wondering what vasculitis is http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vasculitis/DS00513) and that she needed to go to the Mayo Clinic in AZ to see if we could get some answers.  In March she and my Dad made the trip to Mayo, and it was an absoutely HORRIBLE experience.  The Dr. she saw told her that she wasn't even sure why she was there and that she couldn't help her with the Vasculitis at all.  My Mom was so discouraged.

  When she got back to Blanding, the Dr. sent her to a Dermotologist in Provo who immediately began to search for answers.  At the beginning of April, the Dr.s told her that she was starting to have renal failure and that they wanted her to come see a Dr. Assiago in Cedar City.  Last Thursday my Parents and my super fantastic husband all went and saw Dr. Assiago, and right now, I can not sing his praises enough.  He was caring and understanding and very very knowledgeable.  He took some cultures of the sores on her legs, and in paticular one very large sore on her right thigh and sent them off to be checked for MRSA (for those of you who don't know what MRSA is, it is a very aggressive form of Staph that is extremely resistant to antibiotics and can kill you).  He told them not to expect the results for 48 hours and that they should get more blood work done in Blanding.  He called us back the next day to tell us that she had MRSA and needed to go to the ER.  It took some convincing, but we finally got her to go to the ER.  They gave her IV antibiotics and told her to come back the next day.  

  By Sunday, she was so groggy and sick that we convinced her to stay in Cedar at Hillary's and convinced Dad to go home and do the paper and then come back and get her.  She wasn't happy about it, but she agreed.  We took her to the ER on Sunday and they referred her to a Family Practice doc so that she could be sent to the IV clinic and not have to come back to the ER (which we were extremely grateful for.  On Wednesday she was supposed to go to St. George to see a Hematologist but didn't feel well enough to go, so Dr. Assiago ordered more tests and blood work.  Around 4:30 p.m. he called me and told me that Mom was having significant kidney failure and needed to go to the Hospital immediately.  He told me he would call and have the room ready so that all we had to do was take her straight to the room.  That night, he came in and explained that her kidneys were doing much much worse than they were in his office on Thursday, and that they needed to do a biopsy to see if the Vasculitis had spread to her kidneys, but she needed to see a hematologist first so that they could make sure she didn't have a blood platelet disorder.  

  The next morning the Doctor had her transported to St. George.  They attempted the biopsy on Friday, but mom was shaking so badly that they couldn't get the sample they needed.  They will try again on Tuesday.  In the meantime, they have started her on dialysis, and are monitoring her urine output closely.  They told her to plan on being here for a while, which for those of you who know my mom well, was extremely difficult for her to hear.  So here we are.  Cam and I are currently in her hospital room with her for the night.  Dad is heading back to Blanding tomorrow to do the newspaper and then he will head back.  I really don't have a whole lot of definite answers.  I think Dad said it best, "in the past few weeks our whole world has been changed."  

  In addition to all of this, Cameron and I received word yesterday that we can't get medical insurance, which means we can't adopt a baby.  I can not even explain to you how difficult that is.  We know that it isn't completely impossible, but we know that it will be many years before we will get to have a child, if we get to have one at all.  I don't think that I have ever been quite so grateful for Cameron.  He just held me and let me cry and told me repeatedly that he doesn't care if we ever have children, that he is happy just to be with me, and I know that he means it.

  I found a quote last week that I printed off for my mom last week by President Hinkley, "Keep trying. Keep believing.  Don't get discouraged.  Things will work out."  And I guess that's what we are all going to have to do right now.  Those of you that read this, if you would please say a special prayer for my mom, I would be eternally grateful, and she could use them.