Rugby and the ICU

Many of you may not know, but this summer I took up playing rugby! The picture on the left shows me (the bald guy in blue and orange) tackling and the second photo is me later during my first of two nights in ICU! On Wednesday night during a game I went to tackle a guy who came at me full-speed with his forearm up that caught me in the throat. I immediately came out of the game because I couldn't breath very well or talk at all. After the games I came home and still couldn't breath, talk, or swallow too well. Aimee recommended I go to the ER and a call to my dad (who is an Ear, Nose, and THROAT doctor!) confirmed the same recomendation. They did a CT scan and 10 minutes later about 10 doctors and nurses descended on my room in response to a trauma alert! I actually thought they were there to get me out of the room to bring in someone who was really injured. Turns out the CT scan revealed a significant amount of internal swelling that was pushing my larnyx to the side and was obstructing my breathing.

They had two options at that point: 1. Put me to sleep, insert a breathing tube, and put me on a ventilator for a day or two, or 2. admit me to the ICU for continued observation to make sure the swelling didn't increase. We chose number 2 as my condition did not seem to be worsening. Aimee spent the first night with me in my room not sleeping much as she would wake up for every alarm that would go off or if I began to breath too hard. I thought the ICU was nice once they let me start eating and drinking. I watched more coverage of the first two rounds of the British Open than I ever have in my total life combined.

My first morning there I was reading in Philippians 1:19 where Paul says that his delieverence from jail came about through the prayers of the Philippians and the Spirit of God. I felt both of those had an impact in my condtion as well. My breathing could have been blocked at any point and I didn't even go to the ER for three hours after it occurred and even drove myself home from the rugby game. At any point if my throat has swollen shut I would not have been able to breath. So the Spirit of God did protect me and many prayers continued in my healing. Many, many thanks. Please keep praying that my voice will completely return (it sounds quite raspy now) and that the swelling goes down. I have been out of the hospital 24-hours now and have noticed continued improvement. I am more tired than I thought I would be. Aimee has been taking good care of me; Jacob understands my limited energy and talking; and Owen still enjoys climbing on me!