Lee's side of the story

Below is the journal that I kept for Katherine when she was in the hospital. Katherine’s journal: 12/5/12: We went in to IU west on the 4th to be induced, you were given cervadil and we watched The Dark Knight Rises, or at least until you fell asleep because of the Ambien they gave you. The next morning (12/5) they started Pitocin at around 8 AM and you progressed nicely until about just before 4 PM. You started pushing and JD was born at 4:09 PM. He was 8 lbs 14 oz 21.5 inches, we were scared initially because he wasn’t breathing on his own. The respiratory therapist helped him to breathe for 5 min until he started to take his own breaths. His heart rate was always good throughout and the pediatrician said he was probably just stunned or in birth shock because his umbilical cord was being compressed when he was pushed out. Dr. Krober actually used the vacuum on his head briefly when he was coming out and his cord was wrapped around his feet. Once JD started to breathe on his own he continued to grunt a little bit which is a sign of respiratory distress so they decided to watch him in the ICU overnight. Meanwhile you delivered the placenta, had a grade 2 tear and seemed to be doing ok, you passed a few big clots but then they said you had stopped bleeding. I went with JD up to the ICU and stayed about 15 min or so before coming back down to check on you. When I walked in the room you were pretty out of it overall, Dr. Krober said that you had started to pass a large amount of clot and that she wanted to take you to the OR to evaluate where the bleeding was coming from and stop it, worst case would be to do a hysterectomy if needed. I signed the consent and they took you back, I gave you a kiss and told you I loved you. Dr. Krober said it would take 45 min to an hour to do the hysterectomy if needed and she didn’t know overall how long it would be. I sat in the room and waited for a while, said a lot of prayers, then about an hour or so after you had been in the OR, I heard them call a code blue from the OR. Dr. Krober came out to say that they were doing CPR and giving you medicine because your heart had stopped beating correctly. They only had to do this briefly until it started back again. During all of this Dr. Richardson was there and helping Dr. Krober. I sat outside the OR room, a few people sat with me during the time I was waiting, one was a nurse, Marty, and the other was a male nurse who said a similar thing happened to his wife, he was the director of the cardiovascular nursing staff, and coach of one of the other YMCA basketball teams that Tommy played against. In fact his team had been lacking players the week before and Tommy had volunteered to play on their team. We prayed a lot while we waited. I talked to my parents on the phone to let them know what was going on, I didn’t want to call your parents initially because I did not want to scare them. Once they stabilized you enough to transfer to IU downtown I called your dad on his cell phone, he didn’t answer at first, so I called your mom. She seemed to do ok initially with the news but I broke down and she started to cry as well. I also talked with my mom for some time and felt better afterwards. Jacqueline was watching the kids so I let her know that I wouldn’t be home that night, she had bishop come to the hospital at west and wait with me. Bryan McRae also came with us when we went over to IU downtown, it was about 10 or 11 PM when we finally were transferred. You rode in your first helicopter! You probably have no recollection but the lifeline team rode with you and did an excellent job. It was the same team that would later drive you from IU to Methodist. 11pm: Once we arrived at IU, things were not looking very good. Your chest x-ray was a total whiteout, meaning your lungs were filled with fluid. Your oxygen saturation was varied from the 60s (bad) to the 80s (not good but better) but they couldn’t get your blood oxygen levels to elevate. They tried changing the settings on the ventilator for a while and you seemed to be getting worse. When I saw you in the room I knew you were very sick, Bryan and Bishop stayed with me there for the whole time, Dr. Falimerski was the attending there, he didn’t know why we were unable to raise your Oxygen level initially but thought that sending you to Methodist to put you on ECMO would be a good idea because your lungs were really not doing very well with so much fluid in them.

12/6/12 @ 1am: The lifeline paramedics showed up again and you were transferred to Methodist hospital. Dr. Roe, transplant pulmonologist and Dr. Wasniak, cardiothoracic surgeon, were at Methodist and they evaluated you for ECMO, both thought it would help so they got you set up and made an incision on your neck to put the ECMO catheters down. On another miraculous note, Dr. Roe said that within the last couple of years a new ECMO catheter had been invented and put into action, it had helped change the >75% mortality rate previously associated with ECMO to much better now. Everything went smoothly throughout the process of placing the catheters. During this whole time they had used a balloon in your uterus to stop the bleeding and it slowed considerably as your body was able to start clotting again. At this point your blood gasses started to look much better, you were able to get oxygen to your body, bishop and Bryan stayed until 4 am with me, once your blood pressure and oxygen looked better and we felt better we decided that we should all get some rest. I slept on the floor of one of the small waiting rooms, for about an hour, I was awakened by a knock at the door and Dr. Roe came to tell me that an echocardiogram of your heart had shown it was not pumping very well, your ejection fraction was 15% when it should be 60 or above, I was very scared at this point, he said that the cardiologist would be by to look at you as well. Dr. Malik was the cardiologist who said that he thought your heart was in CPR shock or stunned from getting squished when they were doing chest compressions, this was a very good thing! It meant that the heart muscle itself was ok but that it would take some time before it would function well on its own. They talked about doing a treatment called arctic sun that would cool you way down just in case you had some brain damage from your heart stopping, we decided that wasn’t a good idea with your original problem being bleeding as being cold makes your blood not clot as well. I texted bishop and told him we needed to give you a blessing with oil, once he made it back he anointed you and I gave the blessing, the Lord told you that you would make a full recovery, that you would be with your family here on earth again as before, that this would be a great faith building experience for you (and others) and that the doctors would make correct decisions regarding your care. After the blessing you had your best period so far. Your heart was responding to the medicine, your ventilator was not helping you to breathe as much, your kidney and liver values were improving and…you started to be a little more awake. You squeezed my hand when we asked you too, and Memory, your nurse the first day at Methodist, and I got you to move your feet! At that point you still had the balloon in your uterus. The OB people from Methodist came to see you and decided that they wanted to start taking the balloon out at around 24hrs from when it was placed. They did this over a about a 5 hour period, you barely bled at all. The ward had a fast and prayer for you on the night of the 6th, Becky and Ali went to IU west and held JD, I also had gone up there again while you were being stabilized at IU west, bishop stayed and texted me when Dr. Krober came out to talk. Ana Dobson, your nurse friend was with you through the whole ordeal in the OR, I felt really bad for her. She was pretty shaken up when it was finally time to transfer to IU downtown.

12/7/12: I went home when your parents arrived on the 6th, the kids hadn’t seen me for a day and I had only slept 1 hour on the floor in the past 48 hrs plus. Tom came home with me to surprise the kids. They loved it! Samantha had diarrhea during the night so I had to change her bed and pillow, blankets, pajamas, and give her a bath at 2AM. When I walked in the room she said, “I sorry daddy, I pooped my diaper.” She went back to bed at about 3am and so did I. She woke up at 7:30am when she pooped again all over everything. Tom and I got the kids ready for school and Jacqueline came to get Sammie, we took your parent’s rental car back to the airport and they only charged your dad $50, when the original bill was $1100! We came to the hospital and your mom said that you had been doing great. You were much more awake at this time. You said you were thirsty and you wanted to take the breathing tube out. You continued to do very well during the day and night on the 7th which was Friday and 2 days after JD was born. I called the pediatrician at IUwest, it was Dr. Klitzman who said JD was doing great. Your parents and I went at about 4pm to pick him up at the hospital, they said he was taking 1-1.5 oz every 3-4 hours. They had turned down your oxygen in your ventilator and the ECMO both and everytime they did your oxygen numbers on the blood gas tests they ran got BETTER! That is not how this usually works, it was an absolute miracle. By the time we called when we were home with JD your nurse Allison said that you were almost on room air on the ventilator and the ECMO. Everyone was amazed at how well you were doing. The critical care fellow throughout the whole process was Anthony Cucci, he who did residency at Ohio State he was very nice and always kept us updated on the plan and how well you were doing. JD woke up 2 or 3 times during the night, he doesn’t cry very much he just grunts and tries to suck his hands, that is how I knew he was hungry. He took his bottles very well, and was peeing well too.

12/8/12: Today is Saturday, everyone woke up around 7:45am, we moved Tommy’s bed to Kassie’s room, we put the crib in Tommy’s room and your parents slept in the guest bed. JD slept in our room on the floor in his car seat, I think I may put him in the bouncy seat tonight to sleep. He loves to be held and swaddled with his arms against his sides in the green, blue and white blanket. He wore a little footy pajamas to bed that he spit up on so I changed him to the whale footy pajamas. Dr. Wasniack called when I was on my way to the hospital to say they wanted to take you off ECMO today! When I got in they were setting up to take you off the ECMO (lung bypass), everything went smoothly and you were able to come off the bypass. You would wake up to loud talking or other alarm noises in your room frequently, I would be there and hold your hand and kiss your forehead. I also cleaned off your mascara from your eyelashes. You would look right at me as I explained where you were and what happened. I would tell you that JD was ok and you would feel better. You were very confused as to why you were still in the hospital though. They gave you lots of Lasix, a diuretic, today and you peed and peed which is very good. It means that your kidneys are working. Your lab values show us that your kidneys are not back to normal yet but that they are doing a good job at recovering. They turned down your heart medicine today, you continued to have a good blood pressure and pulse afterward. You were still on tube feeds and your bowels started to work. They talked about getting your breathing tube out because you did so well with the ventilator when they took down your settings. I went home when they said that you were just going to sleep for the night. Kassie did breast stroke at swimming, Tommy scored 5 baskets at basketball. Your dad took them and got lost on the way. I told them it started at 9 AM and of course it was actually 10 so getting lost wasn’t a problem they were actually early. JD did very well with your mom, we took more pictures and videos. Kassie asked why you were in a different hospital, she had overheard someone say that you had changed hospitals, I told her that sometimes when moms give birth they lose a little more blood than normal and they need to go to different hospitals because it makes them weak. She was ok with that, they both wanted to know when you would come home. I told them that I didn’t know exactly but that it would be in a few days probably. I also told them they might be able to come visit you. Samantha wanted you to ‘good night’ her last night. I told her you were at the doctor’s and she was ok with that but still wanted you to come in to kiss her. Your mom put her down for a nap at 3:30 pm, I woke her up when I got home. Your dad also took Kassie and Tommy to Target, thank goodness no live animals came home with them. Kassie got a hex bug remote control beetle and Tommy got some beyblades, they bought Samantha a Pokemon and nothing for JD. I got them to bathe and shower before bed, they watched Frosty the snowman. Tommy and Kass are doing well sleeping in the same room. Samantha doesn’t have as much issue with waking up in the new room either.

12/9/12: You were extubated today, we cleaned all the junk out of your mouth and teeth using the mouthwash and some swabs. Your cough was pretty wimpy to begin with, then it got stronger as you went throughout the day. You coughed up some nasty bloody secretions and started to do you incentive spirometer. You sat up with PT today, Becky, your therapist had you do exercises in the bed. You counted really loud, your sedation medicine had not fully worn off and you were acting a little silly. You also continued to have LOTs of bowel movements. I stayed most of the day with you and left when you were going to sit up with PT.

12/10/12: You walked with Becky today, just around the ICU once, you said you didn’t like seeing all of the sick people there in the icu. We took a picture, you said you felt weak. Dr. Hadi came by and said they thought you may have takasobu’s myopathy. It is an acute heart condition that gets better quickly.

1/15/13: Yesterday you went to the OB who said that he thought you had an amniotic fluid embolism that caused your other medical problems. I looked in Pathologic Basis of Disease, and in an OB book and found that there is between 1:40k to 1:100k incidence, with 85-90% mortality rate. Of the survivors 85% have lasting neurologic damage. That gave you about a 1.5% chance of being totally fine overall. I was touched again at the miracle it was that you are ok. It is only through the atonement of Christ that someone could be healed like you were, so miraculously. I am astounded at the numbers of people who prayed and fasted for you. It is a testimony to the power of such actions as well as the power of the priesthood. You were blessed and anointed just one time in the hospital and you continued to improve from that point on. I have felt a renewal of faith in my own life from this experience. I have seen the hand of our Heavenly Father at work through this experience. I feel closer to Him and to you and the children than I ever have before. The mere fact that we are where we are with the physicians and opportunities to get the care that you needed is truly a miracle. Your recovery is a miracle, the joining of so many diverse people to pray and fast on your behalf is a miracle. The fact that JD is ok is a miracle. All of these things denote that there is a God that numbers even the hairs of our heads. He knows us and cares for us. I am grateful for how much I have learned from this experience. I know that there were many and will be many in the future that will hear the story and have their faith stengthened
. Waking up and seeing JD Walking around for the first time First day home December 19th December 23rd Before church