Holidays = Trips to ER

In the last 5 years, David has gone to the ER 3 times. Each time we arrive at the ER it is in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday. The first 2 times were Thanksgiving - 2 years in a row - and I would then have to call my dad at 7:00 am and cry and tell him that we wouldn't be able to bring the mashed potatoes because we were in the ER and David was being admitted into isolation because he had bacterials meningitis. They then discovered after he had been in the hospital for three days that he was leaking spinal fliud from a hole at the base of his skull. Surgery was done to fix it and we thought the weirdness was over. That was year #1. The next year almost to the day (Thanksgiving again!!) we were in the ER at Dallas Presby being admitted with a serious case of osteomyleotis, or as Dave refers to it, bone rot. He had a staph infection in his collarbone that had spread to his sternum. After some harrowing surgery, they deemed him well and we skipped Thanksgiving that next year and just ate Mexican food. I also have had David go in for a full body checkup every October to catch anything that may be brewing.


His last Thanksgiving episode was three years ago, so imagine my surprise when at 4:00 am on the 4th of July we found ourselves in the ER again - on a holiday!! This is like a crazy episode of House. What we thought was an asthma attack turned into a large mass in his chest next to his heart that was preventing him from being able to breathe. After 3 days in ICU, the doctors finally started to piece everything together. Turns out they hadn't gotten all the bone rot last time and it had been festering for the last 3 years and came back with a vengence. It really went to town on poor David. After another harrowing surgery, we are waiting for surgery #2 to remove the cement and pins that are holding his collarbone and sternum together, and replace them with a muscle flap. Here are some pictures from our medical travels the last 5 years. The saran wrap is because you can't get the incision or his permanent IV line wet, and it being around the holiday season, all I had was blue. I think it adds a nice touch!!

CAUTION!! If you, like my brother, are grossed out by medical pictures don't look below...

David's first words after he saw the 22 staples were, " They pull babies out of smaller incisions, what did they do!" This years incision was a little bigger with 28 staples - which he kept to send to our nephews on missions so they could always have a piece of Uncle Dave with them. Grosss!











Emilee - counting all the money that is going out the door for medical bills. Thank goodness for insurance!!