A long post but filled with what's goin' on

This is not a bright and colorful post but might explain why my posts have not happened for the last little while. Okay, (deep breath) where to begin? Alright, I'm going to give some background information first off.

Taylor has Ulcerative Colitis. He started experiencing real symptoms just after we were married, but it wasn't until about a year later that he was diagnosed by a doctor.

(For anyone who doesn't know, *taken from Wikipedia* Ulcerative Colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ulcerative colitis is a form of colitis, a disease of the intestine, specifically the large intestine or colon, that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores, in the colon. The main symptom of active disease is usually constant diarrhea mixed with blood, of gradual onset. Ulcerative colitis has similarities to Crohn's disease, another form of IBD. Ulcerative colitis is an intermittent disease, with periods of exacerbated symptoms, and periods that are relatively symptom-free. Although the symptoms of ulcerative colitis can sometimes diminish on their own, the disease usually requires treatment to go into remission.)

For the last two years he went on and off of medication and we didn't really do much to take care of it. We also did some homeopathic stuff but again, weren't too dedicated to anything. He would have flare ups here and there but it wasn't something we took very seriously. We basically kept putting off taking care of it for various reasons.

The summer began and so did another busy few months for our family and especially for Taylor. On top of Taylor not feeling well, he was taking a full load of summer classes at Sierra College, working 30 hours a week all while trying to fit in family vacations. During our trip to Utah in July (another post still waiting to happen), Taylor's health really started to decline. When we got back at the end of July we finally worked to set up an appointment with a doctor. Because of different complications due to our health care we weren't able to get an appointment until the beginning of September. Taylor continued his busy schedule and for three weeks he would go to work barely functioning. After work he would come home, collapse on the couch and would be down until the next morning where he would barely be able to shower and get out of the door to work again. On August 14th (Sunday) he started having pains that kept him home from work the next day. By the 16th (Tuesday) he was having such excruciating pain that we decided to get help. We got into the ER and he was taken back to triage within 15 minutes. 30 minutes later he was taken into the back and they began an IV and a little later they started a blood transfusion. Taylor had been bleeding from his bowels and we came to find out that he was critically low on blood. He was admitted and stayed there for three days. Within the first 24 hours he was given 6 units of blood. If you look it up, a normal hemoglobin (red blood cell count) level for men is 14 to 18. Taylor's level at the time we went into the ER was between a 4 and 3. The doctor said that if a person were to lose that much blood all at once they would be unconscious. But because it was gradual with Taylor and because he is young and strong his body had been adapting to it. But barely, he was barely functioning at the time and his body was shutting down.

Like I said he was there for three days and then released with a steroid called Prednisone (to stop the inflammation) and some other meds. Taylor was still bleeding but much less and the medicines were supposed to get it to eventually stop. They were unable to prescribe him actual colitis medication because they weren't the doctors who diagnosed him in the first place. They wanted to do a colonoscopy while he was there so that they could diagnose it themselves but because of the pain he was in they didn't want to push it. We found a doctor who would be able to see us the next week for a follow up appointment. And there we would work on a referral for a GI specialist for Taylor. When we left the hospital they said that if the bleeding started to get worse we would need to come back in.

A week and a half later the bleeding had gotten worse again and we were back into the ER. They admitted him for another 4 days. While he was there they were able to do a colonoscopy and confirm for themselves that it was ulcerative colitis. The day before he went home they gave him one more unit of blood just as a precaution because his levels were close to the transfusion level which is around an 8. Still much much higher that it was when we went into the ER the first time but obviously still very low over all. Unfortunately Taylor's hospital stay was during his brother Adam's wedding, and we were HEARTBROKEN to miss it. But the bride and groom were so sweet and they came and visited us after their sealing in wedding suit, wedding gown and all. Also during this stay my family came out from Utah for support and to help with Mercedes while Taylor's family was doing the wedding. My mom and brothers were already planning to come out that weekend because my brother Jordan had gotten home from his mission that Tuesday. When we first got into the ER and found out Taylor would be admitted for a second time I called my mom and broke down over the phone, asking her if they could come sooner. They left the next day and my dad decided to come also, canceling his trip with his brothers to Kansas. That meant so much to me and I was so happy he came. After Taylor was released from the hospital and before my family headed back to Utah my dad gave me the sweetest blessing and it has been such a strength and support for me.

Taylor's been home for 2 and a half weeks now and it's been kind of touch and go. He's been on a few medications but is beginning to taper off of the Prednisone which he is very happy about. That stuff is nasty apparently. As in it brings so many side affects such as poor sleep, acne, moodiness, among others. We're seeing results but it's very slow though and he has good days and bad days. We finally got our own GI specialist for Taylor and he will be seeing him next week.

Taylor is obviously unable to work right now and so he is taking disability leave until the end of November, when hopefully he'll be doing much better. He has also had to take the semester off from school and will return back in January.

I wanted to be with Taylor as much as possible while he was at the hospital but it was so hard to be away from Mercedes. Anyone who's had close loved ones in the hospital will understand that it feels like your heart is torn in two because you want to be with both (or all) of your loved ones, but you can't. Thankfully family was here to take care of Mercedes while I felt I needed to be with Taylor.

This has been a long hard trial for our family and most of all for Taylor. but it has also been an experience that has strengthened us and really opened our eyes to the many small miracles that are happening to us. I can't express enough the gratitude we feel towards all of our family, ward members and friends who have helped us in every way possible. We are so grateful for the many fasts and prayers that have been given and said for us. I know that Taylor was supposed to go into the ER that first time and though Taylor had to go through terrible pain I'm so grateful that he had it because that is what drove us into the ER in the first place. We had no idea his condition was as serious as it was. Looking back now it is much more obvious and we will never let it get that bad again. I can't even imagine what might have happened if we kept waiting for Taylor's scheduled doctor's appointment. I can't even think about it. The seriousness really became a reality to me when I opened the hospital bill from the first ER visit and on the paper it said that it was a level 5 emergency. I searched online what that meant and this is what I read from a person who used to do medical coding. They said it "refers to the highest level of care provided in the ER, which includes a comprehensive history, a comprehensive exam, and medical decision making of high complexity by the medical staff. It should show a code of 99285.
"usually, the presenting problems are of high severity, and pose an immediate significant threat to life or physiologic function."

I looked at the bill again and there I saw the code 99285. I immediately started to cry.

Taylor has been wiped out through all of this and we are learning that it is going to take time for him to really feel well again. If any of you have seen him lately it is obvious he's been through heck physically. He's lost 35 pounds since the end of July. He's doing so much better now than he was though and things are definitely looking up. We're just hoping that the medicines will keep working to get him better again.

We have been SO blessed through all of this and we have felt the Lord's help and strength this whole time. Our families have been AMAZING and have helped us so much. We honestly don't know where we would be without them.

Well, there you have it. I neglected our blog because I knew I would have to write about all this at some point and I think I kind of felt like I didn't want to face it again. But I did want to write about it, and I'm glad that I've done it.

Now I can go back to posting about our daily lives! Like Taylor's birthday at the beginning of the week, Taylor's dad took some great photos. I'll post them soon!