And this happened in June...

Hello, dear family!

I'm sure many of you have heard our family's bad news:  We have just discovered that Jason has blood clots in his lungs.  NO BUENO!  He will receive treatments in the hospital for around 5 days, or maybe longer, depending on how his body reacts to the blood thinners they give him.  They don't know how or why the clots formed, and more tests will follow, but it may have something to do with: his extreme workouts lately, his eating waaayyyy to much vitamin K through spinach (for real), or possibly lots of plane travel?  They really don't know, but we are hoping it was a fluke thing and that he won't have to be on coumadin for the rest of his life.  

He has been feeling extremely fatigued over the last week, and attributed it to working out so hard at his new-found gym, Crossfit.  Then on Wednesday night he came upstairs to me, looking very grey, and told me he thought he might be having a heart attack because he couldn't breathe very well and was having tightness in his chest.  I told him we should go to the ER right away, but he wanted to go for a short walk instead.  He was gone for about 15 minutes, and I was freaking out, thinking he was keeled over on the sidewalk somewhere.  He had really just been visiting with the neighbor.  Anyway, he was starting to feel some pain in his abdomen, on the right side behind his ribcage.  He was getting more and more uncomfortable, but went to bed anyway.  We were thinking it was probably a gall bladder thing, since we had just eaten pizza....  He woke me up at 4 or 5 a.m. and had me take him over to the emergency room at Logan Regional.  He was in quite a bit of pain.  I came back home to the kids, took them around to their different stuff, while Jason went through a barrage of tests, including a dye injection to check the gall bladder's function.  Their final conclusion was that his gall bladder (which has no stones) was diseased and spasming for some reason.  So the ER docs made an appt with the surgeon for the next day (today) to have a consultation and possible surgery.  He came home around noon, just about the time Elizabeth came to town.  He was feeling a little crummy, but had some pain meds, so we left him and went to Bear Lake.  Ha ha.  Sorry Jason!

That night (last night), he ate a turkey sandwich and started feeling a little worse.  By midnight he was pacing the floors and had taken the maximum dose of painkillers they had given him.  At 2 a.m. I heard him scream my name from the living room.  I leaped out of bed,  I grabbed a sweatshirt and a pair of shoes and we got in the car.  (THANK YOU for being there so I could get up and go with Jason, Auntie E!)  He was totally out of his mind with pain.  By the time we reached the ER he was just shaking and sobbing and begging for them to "put him out," when he could get enough breath to speak.  It was so scary!!  Fortunately, it was really slow in the ER, and we got right in.  As soon as the fentenol (?) came through the IV he was able to relax a little.  Phew!!!!!!!!!  The ER doc who was working that night looked like he was seriously 18 years old, and I was a little skeptical, I won't lie.  He felt uneasy about the gall bladder diagnosis right off the bat because they was no tenderness to the touch, which there would be with gall bladder problems.  He checked the urine for blood, wondering if it was a kidney stone.  The urine looked completely fine, so he told Jason he thought a CT scan was a good idea to look for stones.  This was one test they had not done previously, for whatever reason.  They did see stones on the scan, but they were not blocking anything, and there was no indication of problems.  The doctor still wasn't satisfied, so he ordered a CT scan of Jason's chest, which was when they got a very clear picture of the blood clots in his lungs.  We are so grateful they didn't go ahead with the gall bladder surgery!  (The surgeons probably would also have determined it wasn't a gall bladder problem, but you never know!)  We seriously thank that young ER doctor for his thoroughness and intuition.

Apparently the clots he has are trapped in his lungs as if in a net, and will not travel into his brain or anything scary.  But I had no idea what excruciating pain blood clots could cause.  Poor Jason.  He seriously looked horrible. (Sorry, honey, it's true.) So they admitted him to the hospital after asking him about a million questions about his life and recent activities.  They said it is possible that a bloodvessel burst when doing an extremely hard workout, and were also interested in the amount of time he spends traveling.  Then later, a doctor was interested in the amount of spinach he has been eating on his recent diet changes. (He has been eating it out of the garden and straight out of the bag as well.)

There is no way to really know how they occurred, but the main thing is they need to find out if it's a genetic thing, or just a fluke thing.  We are hoping for fluke thing.

So he will enjoy the comforts of Logan Regional Hospital for the next few days.  It was really weird to be on the other end of a medical emergency.  He is always the one driving me around during childbirth, kidney and gallstones, etc.  I did not like being the observer at all, and I'm pretty sure the pain he was in ranked right up there with anything I've ever felt, or even worse.

It's Fast Sunday this week, and I would love to have anyone and everyone who is able to join in a family fast for Jason.  Most of you live far away, and he really doesn't feel up to any visitors anyway yet, but I know he would appreciate and feel prayers and good vibes sent in his direction from across the miles.

Linda is coming to stay for a few days starting on Sunday, which is wonderful.  My sisters and sisters-in-law have been helping, and will continue to help where needed.  And then there's the 9th ward, Jason's flock, who are all so worried about him.  We have meals coming and multiple offers for help.  We feel so supported and grateful for everyone's kindness.  Thank you to everyone.  We love you so much.   I will send out another message when he is able to come home.

Brooke and Jason