An Update on Devan

Well, we are still here in hospital...it is day 4 (I think. It's hard to keep track of the days here.) Here is a quick breakdown as to what exactly is going on with him. His crohns is located within 5 inches of his intestines...I think it is in the small intestine right after his colon. As most of you know we have been battling a "flare up" of his crohns for about 4 months now. We have tried numerous drugs...everything from steroid based prescriptions to drinking coconut milk. Nothing appears to be working. This past weekend he started to go back down hill and not even his Lortab could keep the pain away. Monday night at 11:00 we were admitted into the emergency room at Alta View hospital. That was a horribly long night filled with Morphine, x-rays, vomiting and nose tubes. Once the imaging results came back we knew that his intestines had actually closed themselves off. This could happen for 2 reasons.
1.) The infected was so inflamed and swollen that it closed right up. or...
2.) After years of flare ups and generally pissing off his intestines, his crohns had built up so much scar tissue that it closed itself off.
This is how doctors go about fixing this issue: They shove a tube up Devan's nose that goes down in to his stomach. This alleviates the pressure by removing gases and fluids trapped that can not get out because of the blockage. Then, through an IV, they start pumping him with steroid drugs, antibiotics and antifugus medicines. Then they watch you for a couple of days. The the blockage starts to go away we know that is was just swollen and the medicine has done its job. If it hasn't, which is where we find ourselves right now, you know that it is probably scar tissue and surgery is necessary.
So here we are...day 4...and the x-rays show that his blockage is actually getting worse, the tube is sucking even more stuff out of his stomach...and he is generally getting sick and tired of having a tube in the back of his throat causing him to dry heave a lot. The surgeon, Dr. Hashimoto, came in today and we all decided to go for the surgery. We also decided to have it done on Friday versus having to wait until Tuesday because of the long holiday weekend. We are not sure when exactly it will be but it will definitely happen tomorrow.
We appreciate all the calls and general concern from all of our family and friends. I love knowing that if I ever needed something there is small army behind willing to do whatever they could. Right now the best thing is just get some company. It gets a tad boring just sitting here and it is nice to visit with people. That being said, we are still at Alta View hospital in Sandy room 2141. This is where we will remain until either Sunday or Monday.
I hope I wrote down enough of what was going on to give you all an idea as to what we are going through. Devan let me take a picture of him...he looks so sad. I feel bad that he has to go through this.
Thanks again for all of the love and support!
PS: The guy in the bed next to Devan is possibly the loudest snorer I have ever heard...even louder than my dad...and that is impressive :)

I am attaching a couple of pics...These are all the drugs Devan has recently been on to try and get this all cleared up.

At the Hospital Again...Boooooo

Well, we are here at the hospital again. Only this time instead of being in and out withing 4 hours and only visiting the emergency room...we get to spend a couple of days here. Devan's Crohns is being quite the little pest lately. If anyone would like to visit we are in room 2141 at Alta View. I think we might move down to the American Fork hospital either tomorrow or the next day because it would put us a little closer to the specialist who has been working with us. I will try and put updates here on my blog...so far we are in the "wait and see" mode of all this craziness. Blah

I Can't Think Of A Title

I wish I could write about all the good things that have gone on since Thanksgiving, but in truth, it seems like all we ever get anymore is bad news. We were able to spend Christmas in Oregon, and while it is always nice to see family, it was hard to go through it without Charlie. The weather wasn't very cooperative while we were trying to get there either. Our flight was delayed, then we circled the runway, then our bags took over an hour to get to the baggage carousel, and finally it took about 2 hours to get to Buffy's house. The next day, we had a long drive ahead of us to get to my parents house. I wish we could have stayed with Buffy and her family longer, but the weather just wouldn't permit it. While we were there Devan progressively got worse. Mostly because we had forgotten his medicine at home.
Devan's medical condition has gotten worse every day it seems. Just this morning I had to take him to the emergency room. That is probably why I'm not being very cheerful in this blog. A day full of doctors, IVs, tests, and more prescriptions does usually make me want to dance. I wish that someone would figure out a cure for Crohn's and then we could all put this behind us.
Alright...I am going to try to end this on a positive note.
*I have an amazing family that is constantly praying for us and wishing us the best.
*I have great friends that cover for us at work and that bring us string cheese and warm tacos to an emergency room waiting room.
*I've been able to hold a little baby (even though it pains me to see an infant, I can't help but melt when I kiss their little cheeks.)
and
*I know that I only wasted one dollar on the movie "The Mummy; Curse of the Emporer" or something dumb like that.

Happy Gobble Gobble Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Today was a wonderful day. I got to spend it with my family and friends. I got to eat as much food as I possibly could. And I don't have to work for 4 days. What a great holiday.

After dinner Devan and I played rock band with Jena. She was being so cute. She kept saying how happy she was and that she absolutely loved Bon Jovi. It was really funny. After rocking out for a while we watched "The Neverending Story." Kirrah and Ashley had never even heard of the movie. I think it might be their new favorite :) Devan and I are trying to convince Sam & Massiel that they should name their baby Atreyu.

Panda Cakes & Crack Climbing

Last Saturday was Devan's birthday. He turned the big two eight. We invited some friends over for a kick ace party on Saturday night. The evening was mixed with highs and lows (and I'm not just talking about Zeb's vocals on Rock Band.) On the plus side, the party went well, people had fun, the food was great, and my panda cake actually turned out. You see, Devan's favorite place to eat in this whole wide world is Panda Express. A couple of weeks ago Devan and I saw a picture of the cake Buffy made for Tyler and Devan knew immediately that he wanted a big, fun, and animated cake just like it for his birthday. Now, I will gladly throw it down with just about anybody in the kitchen when it comes to cooking...however, baking is not my strong suit. Needless to say, many hours and multiple cans of frosting later, I achieved my panda cake.
Now for the bad part of the day - Devan was sick. He had a rough 'bout of crohn's Friday and Friday night and was then very sore and still a little sick on Saturday. So while he was not able to jump around and eat lots of food during the party, he was able to get up and walk around and talk with people.



On the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of every month, Momentum climbing gym lets members take a friend for free. We somehow managed to get Scott, Sarah, Stephen, and Ksenia in all at the same time. We had a ton of fun, even though Stephen was wearing his spider man leotard (j/k...but that's what it looked like.) Sarah showed us how she is naturally good at anything athletic, Ksenia was her cute and adorable self, Stephen impressed us with his "spidy" skills, and Scott rocked his 1980's high top crack climbing shoes. Now onto the crack climbing. Pricey has been getting really involved into trad crack climbing lately, so I thought...let's give a try in the gym. After being taped up so nicely - thanks Price - I attempted my first crack route. After going two thirds of the way I realized that my ankles were killing me, my tape was wearing off and I was starting to rub the tops of my hands raw. While that doesn't sound like a good time to most, I would actually have to say it wasn't all that bad. With a little help from some callouses I think I would be quite fun. Anywhos...that's about it for now. This weekend I have tickets to the ballet with Danna Lee. Oh ya...IT SNOWED TODAY. I only had about 8 inches of snow on my car this morning. Gang Draper and its ability to attract so much lake effect snow.