One More Time. . .

I guess one LifeFlight just wasn't enough for Brendan.  He decided to do it again today. . . Only this time, I got to go with him. (And he doesn't remember a thing.)

Things got a little crazy at 4:30 a.m.  Brendan woke me up saying he felt like he had a rock in his stomach.  He got up to use the bathroom, but minutes later was crying and screaming.  The pain in his left side got intense.  We ended up in the Logan Emergency Department a few hours later after talking to the doctors at Primary's.

 Loren was in the neighborhood (next door with his new baby girl and wife) so he dropped in to visit. Brendan was headed for a CT scan, so they had given him some pretty heavy duty pain medication and he was a bit drowsy.

 I turned on the TV for Brendan while we waited for scan results.  When the results came in, the Dr. wanted to send us to Primary's by LifeFlight. The scan showed fluid in Brendan's abdomen.  They were afraid he might be bleeding or "leaking" blood into his abdomen.

 Brendan was terribly afraid of the pain he would be in when they moved him to the gurney for the helicopter ride.  He was in excruciating pain every time he tried to straighten out his legs or lie down. So he just stayed in his wheelchair the whole time.  They dosed him up pretty good to move him.

 And we were on our way.

 I got to ride in the front seat, while Brendan took the back.

 I definitely had the better view!

 I see LifeFlight fly over our house almost every day.  It was a different viewpoint seeing the view from the top down.

 Flying over the mountains between Logan and Salt Lake was an incredible experience.  For me, it was extremely calming and peaceful.

 Brendan was pretty "out of it" and slept most of the way there.  He received a unit of blood and another bag of platelets on the way down.
Here's another view of the hospital I'd never seen before.

 We made it to the Emergency Department where he had to move beds. Everyone tried to make it as easy on him as possible.

 Brendan slept off the medicine while the surgeons discussed his situation.

 When pushing on Brendan's stomach, the surgeon was extremely concerned about the stiffness of Brendan's abdomen and the severity of the pain he was in.  She said they usually do emergency surgery when they see that as it indicates a catastrophic event in the abdomen.  But after looking at the the CT, the scans showed fluid in Brendan's abdomen but no other cause of the trouble and pain.  On the scans, they also saw that the cancer has metastasized to Brendan's liver and spine, and his ribs are covered as well.  The fluid may be linked to the tumor and the pain may be referred pain from the tumor around his spine, but all of these things are merely hypothesis and nothing is certain.

After talking about the risk of doing surgery with low platelets and the bleeding risk, as well as Brendan's inability to recover well, we opted not to do the emergency surgery.  They pointed out that he would probably be put on a ventilator and not have the ability to come off of it.

 With such an uncertain time frame, we've moved Brendan to the ICS unit (his home away from home) where they can set him up with a pain pump and keep him comfortable.  Before we moved, though, for a few moments, Brendan was alert and wanted to see out the window.  He also wanted me to update the blog.  Then he went back to sleep.

We were moved out of the Emergency Department. . .

 . . . and into his room in ICS.

It was great to see all of our favorite nurses and friends there.

 They set up his pain pump.

 Then, the kids all came to spend the evening with Brendan.

 And I got to spend extra time with our new little granddaughter, Allison, and think of all the comings and goings . . .

They are giving Brendan more platelets and more steroids and anything else they can to make him more comfortable.  The "goals" on the board in his room says, "Control pain -- Enjoy Family."

We have no idea how much time Brendan has left here.  We just know time is getting short.  We are seeing the stress upon his body from fluid around his lungs -- it is making it difficult for him to breathe easily.  His heart rate has been elevated with the pain.  The pain is more than he wants to endure.

It kind of feels like we have come full circle.  Back at Primary's.  Another LifeFlight.  More uncertainty.  We will keep everyone updated.