The purpose of this blog is to keep family and friends updated with the most recent news on Matthew. It will also document his biggest trial to date and serve as a reminder of how many people love and support him, and how much the Lord loves him when he has beat this terrible disease.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Tubes Gallore

Matthew through us through quite a loop last night. Around 11:30PM last night my mom called me in a panic because dad called her saying that T was unresponsive and was heading in for a CT scan. The nurse that put the feeding tube in his throat gave him an xray and saw that the tube wasn't in far enough. She pushed it in another four to six inches, did another xray, but saw that it hadn't moved and that it was coiled in his throat like a spaghetti noodle. The nurse was really concerned because he wasn't gagging or anything over it. The nurse did a few simple tests on him like squeezing his finger, but she still wasn't getting any kind of response from him. The nurse went down and got the lead doctor on the ICU floor for a second opinion. The doctor came up and did a few more tests like the nurse did. He actually yelled his name really loudly in his face, but Matthew gave him absolutely no response. The ICU doctor looked very nervous about this, so my dad told him to take Matthew down to the ICU.

Matthew had an army of doctors and nurses around him moving him down to the ICU. When he got there he had about 15 people frantically putting an oxygen tube and a pick line in him. Dad said they were going crazy trying to fix him and get him hooked up to everything. It was probably the scariest night that my dad has ever had in the hospital.

My dad called and texted my mom, but got no answer, so then he called David Layton. He got no answer there either so he called his wife, Joanna. Joanna picked up, so my dad told her what was going on and asked her to go get my mom and drive her to the hospital. Joanna rushed over to my house and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. All of the bedrooms are in the back of the house so that would be hard to hear. Joanna then rang the door bell over and over so the dogs would bark, and that woke everyone up.

Joanna Layton drove my mom to the hospital and dropped Hannah off at my house on the way so she could spend the night. I could not calm my mind to go to sleep that night, and so I was up until Joanna texted me and told me what was happening. By the time my mom and Joanna got there, T had already had his scan, and the results came back saying that there was no bleeding on his brain. Thank goodness. Joanna told me that he was back in his room and looked comfortable. He was a little more responsive, but had a bed sore on his bottom so they ordered a waffle mat to put under him. He was stabilized, and there were still a lot of doctors coming in and out, but they were calm.

I'm at the hospital right now, and he is getting ready to go in for another surgery around 1:00 or so to put chemo in his spine and to put in a line to give him dialysis through. This is a very high risk surgery because his platelets are very low and they are worried about him bleeding too much. We're all very scared for this surgery, but the doctors are really great and we know that they will do a great job. The doctor who is performing this surgery came in and told us that they would all treat him as if he was their own. That's really comforting.

The doctor who is performing today's surgery also told us that they don't know why Matthew is so sleepy. He said that his sleepiness could be caused by 1 of 12 reasons. It could be caused from one of the medications, which is what we're hoping for because that would be the easiest thing to fix. It could also be the cancer attacking his brain, or it could be the chemo therapy affecting his brain. Last night they were afraid that he had a seizure or a stroke, but the doctor said that they didn't see anything like that on the scan, which is very good news. They will run the tests to see why he is sleeping so much starting tomorrow, and we should have those results in the next 48 hours.

We love visitors at the hospital, and we know that Matthew can hear everyone. However, we are only allowed to have a certain number of people in his room on the ICU floor, and kids under the age of 13 aren't allowed. So please call before driving all the way down to Phoenix to make sure there is room. I'll post results about his surgery and consciousness as soon as I get them.

Mom Kissing T:

T's current condition:

The bundle of cords on his chest is like a train station of IV lines. I have no idea how they keep track of every little tube. It's insane.

These sensors attached to his head are for an EKG machine. They read his brain activity. These sensors  alone cost over $1500!

EKG monitor

T's Tower of Meds. Each little monitor is a different med being pumped through its own IV.


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