Yesterday was probably one of the scariest days of my life.
It started out just like any other day. I got up and got Nik & Nate to school and then I came home and hopped in the shower because we had a clinic appointment at 10:15. After I got out I went to wake up Clint so he could get ready for clinic, but when I touched his head I knew he was way too hot. We took his temperature and sure enough he had a temp of 104.6. Bad news. I was hoping once he got up and moved around and ate it'd start heading down. When he sat up in bed he said he felt a little lightheaded but didn't seem too concerned. He got up ate breakfast and stuff and we were just about ready to leave when he decided he should go to the bathroom first. He'd been in there for a bit when he called for me to bring him something. When I went in he was just standing up and he started swaying a little bit so I ran to him and he just sank into my arms. I yelled for my mom who luckily was close by at the computer and she quickly called 911. When I looked at Clint it was like he was looking through me so I asked him if he could see me and he said no, which really scared me! I got him back sitting on the toilet and thats when the paramedics arrived. They tried to walk him out to the family room but he quickly passed out again. The paramedics then carried him out to the family room (which he does not remember at all) and proceeded to take his blood pressure, etc. His pressure was really low,70/30, and he was very pale and confused. The Lehi paramedics were great and were willing to drive us up here to LDS in the ambulance so we could get him to our doctors.
When we arrived at LDS (after throwing up his breakfast in the ambulance) Clint was in SO much pain. His back and left shoulder were killing him. His blood pressure had dropped even lower to 64/24. And he couldn't quite clear his head enough to understand what was going on. Dr. Ashe and Shar came in and told us things did not look good and when people died of leukemia this is usually how they died. They started talking about dnr's(do not resuscitate) and what he wanted them to do and not do. It was all happening so fast. Luckily my dad was able to leave work and meet us at the ER when we arrived which helped me hold it together. They loaded Clint up with a ton of antibiotics. And a ton of fluid (I think they pumped 5 liters of saline in him the first couple hours we were here). Clint decided that he did not want CPR or an intubation done if it came to that. So we decided to just stay on east 8 and hope the antibiotics did something. The doctors told us we should get our kids up here asap along with the rest of our family.
At this point his blood pressure was still dangerously low and he was also on oxygen. Within a few hours his temperature had returned to normal but his blood oxygen (SAT) level had gone way down. They ended up having to put him on 100% oxygen. They are technically not supposed to have him on more than 60% oxygen on this floor. But since he did not want to go to the ICU they let him stay here on 100%.
It was very scary for most of the day. They put him on a pain pump which helped with his back pain but obviously didn't help to clear his head.
They did a CBC and his hematocrit was down to 19 which was way down from 27 the day before. This had never happened before. So they filled him up with red cells and platelets which really helped perk him up a little. By the second bag of red cells he was more lucid and making a lot more sense. His blood pressure was still very low but we got to about 70/50 and his saturation level was holding on between 88-91 (they want it above 90). Things looked a little more stable so we sent all our family home, praying for an uneventful night.
The night went alright. His pressures were still pretty low but holding steady. At one point he was having a hard time keeping his SAT level above 80 which was bad. They called the respiratory therapist and he said we were on as much as we could be on unless we wanted to go to the ICU. Clint didn't want to go so the respiratory therapist came in and talked him through his breathing which made a big difference. He was able to stay around 90 the rest of the night.
This morning his blood pressures finally came up a bit. He is now hanging out around 90/60 which we will definitely take over 64/24 any day! He is still on 100% oxygen but his SAT level has been around 97% for most of the afternoon so we're hopeful they'll be able to turn him down soon.
Clint has managed again to amaze his doctors by still being alive. He is the most amazing man I have ever known and I am so incredibly blessed to be able to be his for eternity!!! Thank you so much for all the prayers. They are felt more than you know and are an incredible strength to us. We are so blessed and once again are just thankful for each day our Heavenly Father blesses us with. Please keep the prayers coming for Clint. We love you all!