Thankful

On April 6, Chad went home sick from work. Many of you know that it takes a lot for Chad to go home sick let alone get him to the doctor. He has worked many times with the Flu, different colds, and stomach bugs and just kept truckin’ right along. Payton had STAAR testing in Amarillo on the 7th so her and I drove down that night so we wouldn’t have to get up early in the morning to drive 2 hours for testing, but Chad stayed home sick instead of going with us. I knew he was pretty sick because even with a cold he would have went with me. He loves spending time with me. ❤️

After testing we grabbed a smoothie and headed back. I could tell Chad was pretty sick, he had fever and a migraine that wouldn’t go away. That evening he got a weird rash that wasn’t itchy but was hot to the touch and was painful, it was probably about the size of a softball on his upper thigh. The next morning the rash had tripled in size on his thigh and then was now also covering most of his leg from the knee down. I was very worried about him at this point, and talked him into going to the doctor. Thankfully we got him in because he was running a 103.7 fever and was septic. I was told if he had not went into the doctor that Friday he most likely would not have made it to Monday.

He did not realize how sick he was he just wanted the headache to go away. He was admitted to the hospital but while still in the ER when they started his antibiotics and pain medicine for his migraines his blood pressure dropped really low, after he was stable for a couple hours they moved him to a room. The next night we were transferred to a bigger hospital 2 hours away for additional treatment and specialized doctors and got there about 2 am. He was reassessed in the ER in Lubbock at UMC and then got moved to observation around 5:30 am. And the nursing staff asked a bazillion questions, then the dr came in to chat with us. He had 3 IVs at one point and 2 strong antibiotics going.

Sleep was pretty non-existent in the hospital for either of us, and his migraines continued for several days with some very scary side effects. The doctor was able to give him some meds that got rid of the migraines during the day but then by night time they were back. These migraines were all due to the infection he had. On day 6 in the hospital the infectious disease doctor came and took a look at it and said it was some sort of streptococcal infection. He changed one of the antibiotics and told him it would take several weeks to heal. Luckily a couple days later he was finally migraine free.

He was in the hospital for a little over a week and has been recovering at home since. It was very painful to walk, and he was pretty much tired of being in bed. I move the recliner out of our living room into our bedroom so he would be able to sit in the recliner (he had to keep his leg propped up above his heart). It has been slowly getting better and he finally got the okay to go back to work this coming Monday. I am sure he is ready to get out of the house and back to work but I am still worried about the pain and swelling. I’m sure he is tired of me asking him how his leg is doing and I will miss him in the mornings before I go to work. But, I’m sure Payton will not miss someone being home to nag her about her homework.

This has been a very scary and emotional time for us (mostly me on the emotional part) and I am glad Chad still has his leg. It could have been so much worse and I am very thankful for family and friends that helped us through this last month. We appreciate all the meals that were provided to our girls, and all those that checked on us. I am thankful for our work being understanding during this time, it is nice to work for people that truly care. I am glad that in the midst of it all we we’re blessed with 2 baby goats to lighten the mood and bring smiles to our faces. We all needed a bit of baby goats to brighten our spirits.