Love is Patient: What a Scare...Cody's Neck Surgery

I have put writing this post off for well over a year because it is just so hard to sit down and actually write, in words, what happened last April. There are many days where I relive April 12, 2017 over and over in my mind and thank God that Cody is still here.

Cody suffered from a neck injury that he obtained from football when he was in high school. He went to ACU to play football, on a full-ride scholarship, but his career ended when he hit someone so hard that it knocked him out. He was taken immediately to have tests run to see what was going on and see what the root of the problem was. Come to find out, it knocked him out because discs C2-C6 were gone in his neck and the impact causes so much shock to his neck, it knocked him out. His doctor told him he was lucky to be walking, and that football was no longer an option. The only option for surgery at the time was to have titanium discs implanted to prevent further injury and not cause the bones in his neck to fuse together. In the early 2000's, that was a brand new procedure and Cody was only 20 years old. He opted not to do the surgery and just let his body heal on it's own. This method worked, for awhile.

I met Cody in 2005 and we got married in 2008. Ever since I've known him, he has always complained of his neck hurting. Not in an annoying way, and sometimes, his complaints weren't even verbal. I would always see him twisting his neck from side to side and trying to pop it. When it really hurt, he would put his head in between his knees and try to pull his neck forward to relieve some of the pain. He had massages, went to the chiropractor, and even to Airrosti. The pain would get better, but it would never go away. Throughout all of this, he continued to CrossFit and was getting stronger and stronger. In fact, he would tell me that his neck felt better when he would workout, so that's what he did! However, his neck began bothering him through those workouts. So, in January of 2017, he decided to have an MRI to see what was going on. The doctor told him that he was surprised Cody was not paralyzed, much less standing, much less continuing to do CrossFit and be a boss at it. His neck was THAT BAD. The doctor told him that his neck was probably starting to bother him during workouts because his muscles were starting to atrophy, which was the only thing that was really holding his neck up. One wrong movement or a car accident or a fall off a roof and it could paralyze him. WHAT?!? At that moment, we both knew that surgery was imminent. Cody scheduled surgery for April 12, 2017, after the CrossFit Open. Because, you know, priorities! If you haven't picked up on it, we are both pretty obsessed with this beloved sport. His doctor did tell him that he didn't see a problem with putting it off a few more months so he could compete, so that was obviously the major determining factor in when surgery would be.

April 12th rolled around and it was really a pretty calm day. Cody felt at peace and was really calm going into surgery. His dad came to the house and picked him up to take him so I could get Seiden to school. I met them up at the surgery center about 8:15 am, surgery was supposed to start at about 9:00 am. My mom, dad, and brother took off all morning so they could be there too and Cody's business partners and friends also came up to sit with us while Cody was having surgery. It was an outpatient surgery, so we would be able to go home after Cody was done, which was nice. When the surgery was over, the doctor came out and said that everything went great and there was very little bleeding, so there was no need to insert a drain tube (something we were very familiar with because Seiden was sent home with a drain tube when she was discharged from the NICU) and he would be able to go home after he was observed for a couple of hours. About 2:00 pm, we were ready to head home. Cody was feeling so good, he tried to get up and walk out of the hospital. But, that's against protocol, so they made him be wheeled out to our car in a wheel chair. We got home and Cody's dad stayed with him while I went to pick Seiden up and go to the grocery store so I could make some soup since Cody's neck and throat was so sore from surgery and having a breathing tube down his throat during surgery. Our evening seemed to be off to a normal start. Cody was resting in the media room and Seiden and I were in the living room. But, by 6:00 pm, things started turning for the worse. Cody was saying it was really hard for him to breathe and was so restless. He was pacing around the house, which was making Seiden nervous. She started asking all kinds of questions, which only made Cody more anxious. I finally called the doctor and we talked to him about how Cody felt like he was struggling. He said that was normal and the swelling was probably starting to set in and push on his trachea some. He went ahead and gave me his cell phone number so that I could call him directly instead of having to go through the on-call service. I told Cody to go back in the media room and just try to get comfortable and rest and Seiden and I would start getting ready for bed. We took our baths and stayed back in our bed room so Cody could really rest and not hear us. But, by 8:00 pm, he came back to the bedroom and was really struggling. I took pictures of his neck and sent them to his doctor. He texted back immediately and told me to bring Cody to the ER.

The next hour was a total blur. I remember really calm, because I had to be for Cody and for Seiden. We had no choice but to bring her with us because there wasn't enough time to call my parents and wait for them to get to our house so I could get Cody to the hospital. I changed clothes, put Seiden' shoes and jacket on, and went and told Cody that we needed to leave. We went in my car so it would be easier for Cody to get in. He had to recline the seat all the way back so he could breathe, which made the seat lay on Seiden's car seat. I had to tell her that we had to do this for daddy and that she needed to be a good girl and not complain and just pray for daddy on our way to the hospital. I drove, probably between 80 and 90 miles per hour, the entire way. Thankfully, it was late, so there wasn't hardly anyone on the roads. Seiden just sat back in her car seat and was quiet, except when she would tell Cody that God would take care of him. Precious baby, I can't imagine all the thoughts that were running through her head. I sped into the parking lot of the Hendrick ER and ran in to go tell the nurse who I was and that I had called just minutes before, she already knew the situation. Once Cody got in, they took him behind the desk to try and get some stats. I ran back out to park and get Seiden out of the car, and about that time, my parents got there and his dad was a few minutes behind them and then Michael and Samantha were there just minutes later. My dad took Seiden while I was filling out paperwork and my mom and Cody's dad were with him. They took him back to a room within minutes and as I rounded the corner from filling out the paperwork, there was his doctor (who was, thankfully, the on-call doc that night) and we walked into Cody's room together. The second he saw Cody, he immediately got on his phone and called for an OR. Cody had a major hematoma that was blocking his airway and it had to be treated at once. Which meant, he was about to have another surgery. By now, it was close to 9:30 pm and they were getting Cody prepped to go into surgery. My dad took Seiden home, she was scheduled to have dental surgery the next day, on the 13th, and needed to get into bed so that she could get a good night's sleep. My mom and Cody's dad stayed with me and then sweet Mark came up there too. And we waited for the doctor to come down and talk to us after Cody was out of surgery.

We waited for a very long time, which was starting to get scary because the doctor told us it shouldn't be a very long procedure. Well, we found out why it was so long when the doctor came out to talk to us at about 12:30am. The hematoma was so large that they couldn't get Cody intubated. They had to actually cut the hematoma open in his neck and let it bleed out before they could get him intubated, which meant that he wasn't breathing for several minutes. (Geez...I'm starting to cry now as I write this.) They were finally able to get him intubated, but it was an incredibly forceful intubation which could potentially cause tears in his esophagus. Which meant, an ENT doctor would have to evaluate him. However, that wasn't the worst of it. Because of all the trauma and the possibility of brain damage, they put Cody in a medically induced coma so that his body could heal and he wouldn't have to be working to breathe because of being intubated. Basically, he was on life support. The doctor was super optimistic and said that, after a few days, he would give Cody medicine to pull him out of the coma and take out the breathing tube to see if he was healed enough. We didn't want to do it too soon though, because if he wasn't ready, then we may not get him intubated again. Which would not be good. We were able to all go up and see Cody after we talked to the doctor. I can't even describe how it was seeing him that way. I've seen Seiden hooked up to the same machines, but she had life in her. Cody was just laying there and looked so lifeless, it was the worst experience next to Seiden being in the NICU. I was about 1:30 am at this point and Cody's dad decided to stay there with him because I had to get home to be with Seiden since she had to be back up at the hospital by 7:30 that next morning for her surgery. It was awful leaving. But, I knew that Seiden needed me and I had to get home to be there with her. Little did I know how torn I would feel the whole time Cody was in the hospital with having Seiden at home also recovering from surgery.

That next morning (Thursday), we were back up at the hospital by 7:30 am. Seiden's surgery was supposed to start at 8:00 am. She had her dental surgery and everything went flawless. Which, of course, I was petrified at this point because Cody's had gone the same way the day before. We did have to give her a breathing treatment because her oxygen levels were a little low and she had a rough time coming out of anesthesia this time. She had lots of visitors and Uncle Braden even brought her a stuffed animal bunny, it was Easter weekend afterall. My dad walked over to see Cody and "tell" him that everything had gone fine with Seiden's surgery and she was recovering well. One of our family friends is an RN at Hendrick and she was Seiden's nurse and suggested that my dad walk over and "tell" Cody that. He was still in a coma, but she said that it was good for him to be talked to and for his spirit to know that Seiden was doing ok. By the time Seiden's oxygen levels had gone up and she had kept some juice down, we were discharged. It was about lunch time by this point. Before we left the hospital, I went to see Cody and talked to him for a little bit before heading back downstairs to take Seiden home. Once we got home, we ate lunch and Seiden napped. She woke up and was running a fever (insert terrified mama), but after I gave her some Tylenol and another breathing treatment, it went down. My mom offered to stay home with her while I went back up to the hospital to check on Cody. I got up there about 3:30 pm and stayed until 6:15ish pm. We had gotten some really good news from the doctor on Cody, so that made the day get really good. He had been doing really good and was showing signs of healing, they even talked about extubating him that afternoon. Which, I told them no. Don't think I'm crazy, I wanted him extubated and off all those machines. However, it was already creeping up on the evening and I didn't want something to happen and not be able to get up there because it was the middle of the night and then his doctor not be AT the hospital and have to rush there from home. Plus, one extra night and several more hours of healing and not fighting the machines and all the medicine would be better for Cody. I may not be his mama, but I think I would say I know what's best for him. The doctor agreed and we decided we would re-evaluate that next morning (which was Good Friday). Plus, the ENT would be able to be there and could check to make sure that there were no tears in his esophagus. It was so good to walk out of the hospital with good news on him that day. I told him bye and that I loved him and headed home. Since it was dinnertime when I left the hospital, I stopped and got dinner for us on the way home and mom, Seiden, and I ate a little bit before getting ready for bed. My mom stayed until Seiden got another breathing treatment (which she fell asleep in the middle of) and I was crawling in bed and then she headed home. She was going to be back over at our house by 7:00 am the next morning so I could get to the hospital by 7:30 am to see what the doctors decided to do.

Well, miss Seiden decided that our Good Friday should start at 4:00 am because she had gotten plenty of sleep the day before! Even though it was early (and I was exhausted from the week's events), I was SO glad to hear that sweet voice. I had barely gotten any sleep because I just kept waking up and making sure she was breathing and then my mind would just replay everything that had happened over the last couple of days, I was pretty much ready to get up at 4:00 am anyways! She and I went out into our garage and I got in a good sweat session (I needed to release a whole lot of stress, tension, anxiety...) with a CrossFit WOD and a mile run on the treadmill. We even decided to take our pups for a run after since we had time before Bella got to the house. Hey, when you wake up at 4:00 am...you've got time for lots of things! In fact, I did several things around the house that needed tending to since I had been so back and forth the past couple of days. And, Seiden and I even got to play a little bit before my mom came over and I headed up to the hospital. Ya'll...I just need to say how big of a tribe we have. From the second all our friends and family heard Cody was in the hospital and Seiden was having surgery while he was in the hospital, we had friends and family surrounding us at all times. When I got up to the hospital, several of our closest friends and family were there waiting as well. This was a huge day for Cody and our family. They were going to try and wake him up from his coma and see if his brain was functioning properly as well as see if he could talk and breathe. To say I was nervous was a huge understatement.

The doctors did not let us go back while they were working on getting him woken up. They had extubated him as he was waking up to see if he would be able to breathe on his own, and he was, thank the Lord. But, they came out to let us know that he had woken up just fine on his own and had already run some cognitive tests to see if he was brain was functioning properly, which it was. Praise the Lord on that one too! God is so good and He has been so good to our family over these last few years. He has always been good to us, but He has shown our family some major grace and performed huge miracles, that is for sure! David McQueen, our pastor from Beltway, even came up to the hospital to check on Cody. Cody was still pretty out of it, but he was awake enough to recognize David. And, when he saw him, he looked at him and asked if he was dead. David responded by telling Cody, that no, he was in fact very much alive. And Cody responded by saying, "Dangit!" Which, made us all laugh. It sounds so sad to think about the fact that he was sad he was still alive, but also so joyous knowing that he loves the Lord and knows what eternal life brings. David actually wound up using that in his message on Easter morning, which we listened to at home! Anyways, throughout the rest of the day, Cody was more and more awake, joking around, and being himself. He was really tired, obviously. But, he was awake and in good enough shape to be moved out of ICU and into a room onto a different floor. It wasn't how we envisioned our Good Friday going, but it was the best Good Friday given the circumstances we were under.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, Cody continued to show improvement and was up and moving around when the physical therapists would come in for his rehab. I was still not staying up at the hospital, Seiden was still recovering from her own surgery. And, she was having some breathing issues, so I wanted to be at home with her at night to monitor her all throughout the night. But, since Cody was in his own room and not attached to anymore machines, I was able to start brining Seiden up to the hospital. And let me tell you, that was one excited little girl! She had been asking me about her daddy and couldn't wait to go see him. So, I decided to take her up to see him on Saturday morning so that he would be settled in his own room and for sure be off all the machines he had been hooked up to. Before we went up to the hospital, I told her that we could go to Target and she could pick out any toy she wanted because she had been through so much herself with having a surgery and then going through the trauma of seeing Cody the way he was the night we took him in to the ER and then also knowing he was in the hospital and "sleeping" so she couldn't see him. Well, she picked out a Doc McStuffins doctor bag complete with all the things that she would need to take care of her daddy before he came home from the hospital. Precious angel.

We spent a lot of time over the weekend up at the hospital and celebrated Easter as best we could with Cody while he was still there. Cody had so many visitors and received so many calls and texts from people checking on him and on us. It was just so good to see him active and moving around. Seeing him attached to all those machines was heartbreaking. It reminded me of when Seiden was in the NICU, they were both attached to many of the same machines, and I remember how good it was to see them slowly be detached from Seiden. Seeing Cody be detached from those same machines brought along the same relief as well as brought us one step closer to being released and going home. Which, is exactly what happened the Monday after Easter Sunday. I am beyond thankful that we are where we are now, nearly a year and a half later, and Cody is completely healed and stronger than ever. I can't believe that his life was literally slipping from his body and through my hands. I'll never forget driving him to the hospital on the night of April 12th and the shear terror and numbness that I felt trying to drive as fast as I can with him and Seiden in the car. Him, barely able to breathe and Seiden saying little prayers for her daddy the whole way there. I am so thankful that I serve a God who shows so much grace and breathes so much life into each and everyone of us.

The next three pictures are the pictures we sent to Dr. Brown to show him the swelling in Cody's neck

He saw them and immediately told me to bring Cody in to the ER.

Thankfully, Dr. Brown was on call that night in the ER. He walked in the room, took one look at Cody, and called for an OR.

This is the morning after Cody's neck surgery. Seiden had to get 6 cavities filled. I was super scared because Cody was across the hospital in acoma, and Seiden was about to have dental surgery.

After we got home from the hospital from Seiden's surgery, she was exhausted from being up so late the night before and then the added trauma from her own surgery just knocked her out.