Leaving Harborview With Two Kidneys

(Mother's Day in Harborview ICU)

                Over the weekend, Levi was in a mountain bike accident while riding on Duthie Hill near Issaquah, WA. See my previous blog. When I wrote last, the Doctors were unsure if Levi would keep his kidney. I was told they would either do surgery to fix the laceration or surgery to remove it. I wasn’t able to go to him the day the accident happened as I was at home taking care of the kids and the ICU isn’t really the most child friendly place. I kept myself busy and Jason, a Firefighter captain with Tukwila (who was biking with Levi at the time of the accident) stayed by his side, giving me constant updates. This was awesome and put my mind at ease to know someone was with Levi, someone who knows a lot more than I do in areas of trauma and EMT care. I kept the kids in their routine and tried to go about our day as usual. While in the ER they gave him more pain meds and another CT scan. The Doctors decided he didn’t need immediate surgery. They were going to monitor him and moved him to the ICU.

(Eve and the boys enjoying their books and fishy crackers in the nursery)

                The next day was Mother’s Day and I decided to go to church. It didn’t seem like a bad idea. I dropped the kids at the nursery and headed in to worship. During the very first song, tears started to flow. I’m not much of a crier, well I used to not be at least, but I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. A woman came and stood next to me, which was kind but I couldn’t seem to make those darn tears stop! It’s like the more I thought about stopping the worse it got. I ducked out of the service and headed for the mother’s room. It was empty so I decided to watch the sermon there. Four fellow Moms came in to comfort me and pray for Levi. I wasn’t crying out of fear, I knew Levi would be ok. They weren’t doing surgery yet and were still monitoring him. In my heart, I knew things were going to be alright. So why the tears? Honestly, I don’t really know. Maybe it was something deeper inside I was feeling. Maybe it was the straw that broke the camel’s back after a rough couple of weeks (we dealt with 9 days of a vomiting baby that the Doctors couldn’t figure out, then surgery to repair two hernias for me, and then Levi’s trip to Harborview ICU). I think it was just an overall feeling of being overwhelmed. My friend told me once you're almost to your quota of what you can handle it doesn’t take much to send you over the top.

                So, there I sat in church crying. It’s a good place to be I guess. Personally, I’d rather cry in the privacy of my home but at church I was surrounded by such kind people and everyone stopped and prayed for Levi. I believe in the power of prayer. When I left, it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was planning on going in to see Levi that day and was working to get a baby sitter squared away for my kids but at least now I could go see Levi and not have an emotional breakdown. 

                Jason came by our house after I got home from church, to drop off Levi’s truck and bike as well as some flowers from Levi, for Mother’s Day. His bringing the truck was just one more thing that made everything so much easier. After going back and forth trying to find someone who could watch my kids (I had several offers of hour blocks where people were available) my sister in law, Jane called. She suggested just coming down to my house and watching the kids. Then I wouldn’t have to pack a bunch of baby stuff and it would just be one less thing to worry about. I took her up on the offer and felt even lighter. I couldn’t wait for her to come so began organizing the house. I hadn’t eaten lunch yet (it was after 1pm) but for some reason it seemed more logical to frantically go about the house cleaning to pass the time. I talked to Levi on the phone and they were still monitoring his hematocrit levels so he was unable to eat or drink. Chief Wittwwer came to visit earlier in the day and I know the visit helped pass the time and kept him somewhat distracted from his hunger. The poor guy hadn’t eaten since breakfast since 8:30am the day before. He could only wet his lips with a little sponge on a stick. Talk about torture. I had to deal with this years ago for a surgery and I would say that was almost worse than the surgery itself! He told me if his levels stayed the same he would be allowed to eat around 4pm. He was counting down the hours. I felt silly so downed some yogurt and granola before Jane arrived.

(Feeling a little groggy)

                Once Jane arrived I headed to downtown Seattle. Levi was sleeping when I got there. I didn’t want to wake him but upon pulling up a chair he opened his eyes. He looked tired but really good considering. He had a couple scratches on his side and they were minor. That’s a scary thing about internal injuries, he looked fine, he didn’t even have a bruise! They are deceiving. The nurses drew blood roughly every 6 hours and sometime after 3pm the nurse came in for his last blood draw before he would be allowed to eat. Another coworker and his wife (Chuck and Kristi) came to visit and during that time Levi was given the ok to eat. It had been 32 hours since he last ate. After ordering it takes an hour to get your food so in the meantime the nurse brought him peanut butter, crackers, pudding, and juice. He was in heaven. His friends' visit made the time go by quickly and soon enough he had a burger in hand and was eating his first real meal. We had another visit, this time from my sister in law’s parents (Bill and Shar) and they brought me something to eat. I cannot say thank you enough to everyone for coming to visit and helping us.

(After 32 hours without food it felt good to eat)

The rest of the time Levi and I just hung out in his room. He joked that he was out of place there. He was given the ok to walk after he was cleared to eat and he was definitely the only person walking around at that time. Later in the evening, I saw one young woman “walking” she had on a neck brace, something on her leg, and was being assisted by three people. The man in the room next to Levi never woke up the entire time I was there. He was on a ventilator. Harborview is a great place to be to receive care but I was quite thankful to be able to go on a little walk around the floor with Levi. Though he was in some pain he was jovial as ever and we were cracking jokes back and forth. It’s a good thing he’s funnier than me because laughing for him was quite painful.

(View of downtown Seattle)

At one point Levi apologized and said something about this not being the Mother’s Day I had hoped for. The day before I talked about us going to Snoqualmie Falls with the kids but we decided to do it another day and he went for a bike ride. We know how that ended. I joked that seeing the Falls probably was sounding pretty good now. Even though I didn’t go the falls, I told him how my friend, Rebecca from down the street brought me over cinnamon rolls in the morning, Jason brought flowers when he dropped off the truck, Jane came down to watch the kids, and her parents brought me dinner at the hospital. I was relaxing and talking with Levi without any distractions from my kids, so I’d say that was one of my better Mother’s Days, lol. A few people said they were sorry I couldn’t be with my kids but I joked that since my kids are 1.5 and 3.5 years old getting away for a brief period of time is a gift. It was actually really nice to just sit in the hospital room and connect with Levi. There’s so many distractions in life that oftentimes we lose sight of this. I wanted to stay until they moved him from the ICU to the main floor as the initial plan of him being discharged that night was off the table. He ended up never getting moved since the main floor was full and the ICU had open beds. I left just before 9pm and was sad to go, I was enjoying my time there. Levi and I have been together 11.5 years (8.5 married) and I can say I still love just hanging out with him, even in a cold hospital room in the ICU. Looking out the window we had a great view of the city. I looked at all the buildings and told Levi people pay big bucks to be in rooms with a view like this, he responded, “I’m pretty sure our insurance is paying big bucks for this room.”

(Downtown Seattle)

(At the park with Auntie Jane)

 When I got home, the kids were sleeping. Jane had taken such great care of them. They went to the park, ate dinner, and she even gave both of them baths. I feel incredibly lucky to have this woman as my friend and sister in law. She’s amazing. After she left I watched a little TV and ate some ice cream and didn’t even think too much about the next day’s plans. There were two options; Levi would be discharged or he would have to stay longer, so until I knew what it was I wouldn’t stress about setting up anything.

The next morning, I decided to go grocery shopping as I had been needing to go days ago. I took the kids and during the trip got a call from Jason. He told me Levi was being discharged. I hadn’t heard my text alert a few minutes earlier from Levi telling me he was able to come home. Jason offered to pick Levi up and I took him up on it. I was half way through my shopping trip with Eve throwing every article of clothing she could get off and food she could reach out of the cart, onto the ground. Let’s just say this shopping trip took a lot longer than usual. They had cookie samples at the bakery and I definitely gave my kids huge cookies before lunch to make the trip a little easier.

(Levi and Jason)

I got the kids down for a nap at 2pm and around 2:30pm Jason brought Levi home. Jason took a lot of time out of his days and weekend plans to help us and I am so grateful! When the kids woke up they were pretty excited to see Levi. We had a lot of people call us and stop by to check in on Levi and we thank all of you for your prayers and support. From my neighbor, Jessica bringing us meals to Trisha at Faith Church sharing the news which led to a meal train being created, to words of encouragement, phone calls, and more, I am shocked by all the support. I have a hard time accepting help and especially because I am physically able to cook, I didn’t think we were in great need. I am so thankful others know more about what I need than I do. Not having to go shopping or prepare meals these last couple of days while we get settled has been such a huge stress relief. Since Levi is unable to do much right now that does add a little more to my daily routines and taking off meal prep for dinner from my to do list has made things incredibly better. Levi has four weeks of rest ahead of him after which he will see a Doctor for some tests and then be cleared for work. Things were busy prior to his accident and I was hoping for more time to spend with him and it looks like I got that now, with this lacerated kidney. Next time, I’ll be more specific when I tell him I want to spend more time together!

(Happy to be with Daddy)