Things for Which We're Thankful

The last few days have been a whirlwind, but we are both so grateful to have come out okay. We had planned on a lovely time visiting with family, but things in life are rarely simple. On Thursday afternoon Stef left school and went straight to the airport to pick up Laurie for a family visit. She had flown in to visit us and we were all going to drive up to Park City Friday night to see her side of the the family, including Uncle George, his two sons and their families. On arriving at Uncle George's home, we all got to catch up or, in our case, meet some wonderful people for the very first time. We all laughed and talked over dinner, but Cody was not feeling too well. He had already been experiencing some stomach upset and was unable to eat more than a couple of bites of his dinner.

Shortly after dinner, he went out to get some fresh air. When he came back in, I saw the panic in his eyes. He had been unable to keep his dinner down and had spit up blood along with it. When I went to help him clean it up, I realized why his was so scared, there was a lot! We immediately excused ourselves, apologizing that we had to cut the visit short, and rushed him to the emergency room. Apparently Cody had also coughed up some blood earlier in the day, but... you know men, hospitals are just not their thing. All-in-all, this was the fastest trip to an ER any of us had experienced. We went from waiting room to triage to seeing the doc in 20 minutes! Dr. Hazelton was wonderful got Cody feeling better, but also informed him that an endoscopy was in his future. He was able to schedule it for Monday, which was great. We were happy that he would be seen so soon. Feeling hydrated and less nauseated, Cody was released and we all went back to the house.

The next morning, Cody was worse. He was still having the same symptoms and now the blood was turning darker (a sign that it has possibly reached the stomach and interacted with the acids). This was a bad sign because it meant that his condition could possible be more serious than gastritis. Following Dr. Hazelton's orders, we immediately took him back to the hospital. Thankfully, Dr. Reddy was there and performed his endoscopy that afternoon rather than waiting until Monday. Her findings were unfortunate, but she had high hopes for his speedy recovery. She found some small esophogeal tears and a hiatal hernia. She biopsied two sections and we should be receiving the results from those soon. In the meantime, she strongly recommended some immediate and permanent changes to Cody's lifestyle.

Although these changes are going to be tough, Cody is committed to his own health (not to mention: committed to NEVER seeing a hospital bed again). He has caught up on some much-needed rest this weekend and we are both glad that he doesn't work until Tuesday. He is already keeping down some soft solids and is even smiling again.

This isn't the weekend we planned for, and I know Laurie didn't either, but I was glad we had family around to support Cody through this. Even though she may be wary of visiting in the future, Laurie still claims she had a wonderful time and is looking forward to seeing us again, soon. All-in-all, we are all so thankful that Cody is back on the road to health. We are both grateful to have the support of family and friends throughout this time. Thank you to everyone who has been there through this ordeal, we are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Cody & Stef