Our New Year’s celebration went a little differently than expected this year. Originally, I had planned to go to dinner in Rockwall with my friends because Brent was not feeling well a few days before New Year’s Eve and I figured he wouldn’t feel like going out and doing anything. So I went ahead and made plans for Preston and I but on Saturday, December 29th Brent felt really really bad all day long. He complained of feeling freezing even though he was running a 102 temperature. We figured he rushed back to work too quickly after getting over the flu and maybe he was coming down with the flu again. He slept all day on Saturday and then that evening he called for me and said he was having a really hard time breathing and it hurt pretty bad to breathe.
Brent doesn’t like to go to the doctor or even a care clinic unless he absolutely has to and he was begging me to take him to a care clinic. So we decided to go back to the ER center that we went to a week prior when he was diagnosed with the flu because he suspected he might be coming down with pneumonia now.
When we got to the ER center, Brent threw up right away and he threw up a lot which surprised me because he hadn’t eaten and had hardly drunk anything all day. The ER nurse ran some basic test and took an X-ray of Brent’s chest. They quickly came back in when they got the results because the X-ray showed that he did intend have pneumonia in his right lung but it also showed his white blood cell count to be extremely high and his blood pressure was dropping by the minute.
The nurse said he didn’t have a choice in the matter and they were going to admit him to the hospital right away. Brent’s mom showed up and when they clued her in on what was going on, I asked her if it was really bad and her response to me was, “I’m scared”. That scared me really bad because she is a pharmacist and for her to be scared, it must be bad.
The ambulance arrived and I and Vicki followed them to Centennial Hospital in Frisco. The nurses at the hospital continued to give Brent IV fluids because he was very dehydrated and they also started him on 2 of the most power antibiotics medication they make. His blood pressure finally started to improve but he was still running a high fever and shivering like he was freezing. The doctors said he would need to stay in the hospital for a few days while they keep a close eye on him and administer the medication that he desperately needed.
The doctor’s main goal at the time, from what I was told is they were just trying to keep Brent from going into shock because besides him having pneumonia, he was also battling a secondary infection in his blood stream.
I didn’t realize at the time how sick Brent really was and I was so thankful that we decided to take him to the ER center rather than just let him stay at home and hope he felt better soon.
Brent wasn’t considered ICU level but his condition was considered to be the level just below ICU.
We stayed at the hospital for 2 nights and finally got to go home on New Year’s Eve at 4pm.
While we were at the hospital, Brent told me he felt bad about New Year’s because he was going to surprise me and take me to Houston’s for a fancy dinner. He had made reservations a week prior. Then I felt bad because I made other plans that would have conflicted. But none of that mattered anymore because getting him better was all we needed to focus on.
Brent stayed home from work the first week of the New Year and finally went back the following Monday.
We are so thankful he was able to make it through this whole ordeal. We both missed Preston soo much because he stayed with my parents when we were in the hospital for 3 days.
Crazy how quickly life can change and we are so blessed to still all be together!!!
Happy New Year!!!
