How many times have you heard me cry out God, please take this...

A few months ago I started listening to K-love, the local Christian radio station and fell in love with the music. One of my favorite songs is "Need You Now" by Plumb.

 

Well, everybody's got a story to tell
And everybody's got a wound to be healed
I want to believe there's beauty here
So, I guess you're tired of holding on
I can't let go, I can't move on
I want to believe there's meaning here

How many times have you heard me cry out
"God please take this"?
How many times have you given me strength to
Just keep breathing?
Oh I need you
God, I need you now.

Standing on a road I didn't plan
Wondering how I got to where I am
I'm trying to hear that still small voice
I'm trying to hear above the noise

These are just a few of the lyrics that stayed in my head the night we were moved from ER to ER in search of relief for Tyler's pain. December 14th was the start of one of the darkest and most challenging experiences of our life. That morning Tyler had a wrist fusion and the surgery couldn't have gone better. However, the surgeon told us that he had done extensive bone work in his wrist and that it was going to hurt. The nerve block was supposed to last at least 18 hours and we needed to get medication in his system before it wore off so we could stay ahead of the pain. We followed doctors orders and got two doses of medication in him before it wore off.

 

At 5 p.m. that evening the pain came fast and hard and before we knew it the ambulance was at our house picking Tyler up and rushing him to RMH ER. I was pretty calm until I saw the ambulance turn on the flashing lights. I knew that that meant he had been moved up to Priority 2 and that his pain was getting worse. As I walked into the ER hallway I could hear him screaming. Little did I know that his pain wouldn't subside for 12 hours and that the screams would get worse. Tyler was given two doses of pain killer at RMH but it wasn't touching his pain. The doctor informed us that no one was on call from UVA orthopedics and that he couldn't be treated at RMH until he talked to a surgeon that was familiar with his case. I was furious. I understood where he was coming from but knew that the longer we waited to be admitted the worse it would get. And I was right. After waiting in the ER for 4 hours Tyler was transported to UVA's ER, where we waited for another 4 hours. I knew I couldn't make the drive to UVA by myself so I called our dear friend Erin. I wasn't worried about the drive, but I needed someone to keep me together that night.

 

In UVA's ER Tyler was administered medication every 45 minutes yet he was still screaming that his pain was a 12. Most people don't realize that Tyler has an extremely high pain tolerance. My pain scale of a 10 is only a 7 to him. I quickly turned into that wife that stalks doctors and nurses in the ER. I wasn't afraid to tell them what I thought. I felt they were purposefully ignoring me. It even got to the point where they would reset the call button without making sure he was ok. I'm not sure how they ignored him the way they did. He was by far the loudest patient in there. At 5 a.m. we were finally taken to a room and he was admitted.

 

As we waited in both ER's I prayed harder than I had ever prayed before. I believe we experienced a miracle that night. I don't recall what time it was but while we were there I was praying and the words just started coming out, louder and louder. I was praying for his relief and a calm to come over him. The next thing I knew the room got silent and Tyler had fallen asleep in the midst of screaming. The entire hospital got quiet and my prayers had been answered.

Now back to Erin. I've known Erin for a little over a year and she has quickly become one of my closest friends. She is with Tyler 8 hours out of his 24 hours shift and is there for the guys when they need to talk about what they've seen. She is a counselor, an encourager, and most of all the fire wife. Station 1 is so blessed to have her. She was the first person to pop in my head when I had to make the decision to call for help. I knew that she would be there for us and she was. She dropped what she was doing to come with me. She sat in the ER with me while Tyler was going in and out of pain. She helped me keep him comfortable while he was sick. When Tyler got frustrated and told us he wanted to give up Erin stood up and firmly said, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle! You haven't been given all you can handle!" But most of all she kept me together until Tyler passed out and then held me as I cried. I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay her for all she did that night. She played a major role in getting us through that dark night.

When the sun came up at 7:00 that morning I couldn't believe we had gotten through the night. At that point I had been up for 28 hours. Our nurse Joanne came in and introduced herself and started taking care of Tyler. She was beyond wonderful. I almost cried when she touched my shoulder and told me everything was going to be alright. I knew we were in good hands. Tyler woke up at 9:00 and his parents arrived soon after. We were released at 2:30 and were home by 4:00. When our heads hit the pillow at 9:00 that night I had been up for 42 hours.  

Those first few nights were rough. Every hour and forty five minutes I was up giving Tyler medicine. However, every day was an improvement and within a week Tyler was off his medicine completely. Those first days we received so many texts, calls, prayers, and words of encouragement. Our friends and family came together and fed us for an entire week, which took the weight of the world off my shoulders. We couldn't have done it without everyone's support and most of all God. Thank you to everyone who helped us through this crazy time!

Blessings, Kelsey