We decided that there are so many that want to know more details about what happened to Jerika. We decided that if it can help someone else that we will share. Jerika wants me to share her story from my point of view (all my posts have been shared with her permission unless she was intubated).
Sunday morning started out like any other Sunday, got ready for church and was our usual 25 minutes early. I actually sent out a snap that morning with a picture of the empty bench next to us that said, “Nobody sits by the Youngs LOL”.
During the sacrament song my phone started ring and it was Jerika. They have church the same time we do, so I thought they should be at church and they should know I’m at church. So, I left the chapel to go answer it because I knew it was something concerning. When I said hello and it was Cade on the other end, I got even more concerned. He asked where I was and I said church and then he asked if I had anything I needed to do the rest of church and I told him no and asked what is going on. He told me in the calmest voice that, “Jer keeps almost passing out” and then he asked “can you guys come out here for a little bit and help”. I went back into the chapel while I was still on the phone and motioned to Ray that we needed to leave and he kept looking at me like I was crazy and shrugging his shoulders. I was so irritated with him and couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t following me back out of the chapel. So, I stood in the foyer motioning for him to come out and he was still just sitting there. He did tell me later he couldn’t see me very good, which concerns me a little more about how blind he really is. But, he eventually came out of the chapel. By then one of my friends had asked what was happening and I told her and just asked her to pray because we had no idea what was happening. Then Ray and I got in the car and headed out to their house.
Let me preface this next part with this story. Six weeks before this happened, Jerika went to Mexico to have a Gastric Sleeve done. We felt like she should have been getting better and being able to eat and drink more, but she was not progressing like we thought she should. So, when Cade said she was almost passing out that is really what we all thought was happening. She wasn’t getting the nutrients she needed and the water and it was affecting her ability to maintain consciousness.
When we got to their house, Jerika was laying on the floor in the bathroom and Cade had her feet elevated and at that point he told us she had passed out several times. But, if we could just get her dressed, up and into the car we could get her to the Emergency Room and figure out what was wrong. She was so loopy and did keep kind of passing out and then waking back up. Cade decided to give her a blessing and it was a good blessing that told her she would improve and they would find out what was wrong. At this point Ray was taking care of Lyvi and I was trying to help Cade and I told him that we needed to just call the ambulance and we would pay for whatever it cost so we could get her to the hospital. He thought if we could just get her dressed we could get her there faster than the ambulance. That is when I decided that we needed to get some extra help because there was no way the 3 of us could get her into the car. And I told him that it may take the ambulance a little longer to get there but if they needed to work on her on the way to town that is what was most important. So, I called 911. She had mentioned that her back hurt, but we just assumed that was from laying on the bathroom floor so long on her back.
If you know where they live you know it is way out in the country and it is so confusing to find. They actually live in Fremont County but have a Rexburg address, which should be Madison County, but ugh so insane. So, when 911 answered it was Fremont County. I gave them their address and the dispatcher told me that they would have to transfer me to Madison County. When the Madison County dispatcher answered, I gave her the address and she stayed on the phone with me just in case. I had told her that my daughter kept passing out and we just didn’t know what was happening but it was getting worse. Jerika was lucid enough to tell me how old she was because I was kind of a mess and couldn’t remember. While I was on with the dispatcher it seemed to be taking forever and Ray was not happy. He kept yelling and telling me to tell her to get the ambulance there already. I told him they were on their way and then the dispatcher asked me if they were in Plano and I said no the Egin side. She was asking my questions trying to figure out where it was and kep saying, “they are trying to find it”. At this point Ray had taken Lyvi outside to wait in the street for the ambulance which seemed to take FOREVER!! I was on the phone with them for 25 minutes before the ambulance arrived.
When they got there I took Lyvi and we stayed outside because I knew I would be of no help at all inside. But, that also took forever. I finally texted Ray and asked what was happening and he was able to text me “we are on our way out”. No the goal would be to get her over the sketchy bridge. At this point I still didn’t know how bad it was. I told her goodbye as she got into the ambulance and told her that I loved her. By that point most of Cade’s family had arrived to help with Lyvi. I called Kinlee and told her to meet us at Madison Memorial and she started crying. I promised her everything would be okay, they just needed to get some nutrients in her. Then Ray informed me that her heart rate was so high in the house that they had to shock her heart back into rhythm while they were in the house. At this point I knew it wasn’t just nutrients something bad was happening.
We headed to the ER right after the ambulance who had headed out with lights and sirens, another indication it wasn’t good. As we got to the open field by Jerika’s house there was another emergency vehicle parked along side the road with the light still flashing, but it was empty. We later found out that 2 extra ambulance workers had been on their way but got lost and when they saw the ambulance they just jumped on and went into the hospital with them to help.
When we got to the hospital, I checked in at the desk and told them I was Jerika’s mom and they told me “they are just getting her situated and then we will let you back”. We waited and waited and waited and they never came out to get us. After quite some time, with no answers, except Cade’s dad (who works at the hospital) telling us, “there is alot going on back there” which we didn’t know if it was Jerika or just everything, Traci Singleton came out. She looked at me and then looked around and told us who she was and I was like this isn’t good, she isn’t a nurse, she’s a social worker. She asked us if we wanted to move into the Chapel for a little more privacy. NOT I KNEW IT WAS BAD!!! She told us that Jerika was intubated and that her blood sugar was over 500 and they were desperately trying to figure out what was causing everything. So, at this point we are thinking that maybe she is in a diabetic coma or something and we just didn’t know she was diabetic. Traci also told us they were going to take her for a Cscan and see if that would answer some of their questions. Cade was back with Jerika this whole time and all he told us during that time that they were trying to figure everything out. After what seemed like a lifetime the doctor came out to give us an update. He told us that they really cannot figure out why her blood sugar was so high and what was happening. He didn’t tell us any details, except that they had decided to transfer her to Idaho Falls as soon as possible. Then the discussion began about which hospital. I told him I prefer Idaho Falls Community and he said if it was his family member that is where he would send them. So, that decision was made and little did we know that was the best decision we could have made. When they were ready to put her on the ambulance, we were able to go back and tell her that we loved her. She was intubated and sedated and it was heartbreaking. I can honestly say that she looked worse than my dad did 3 hours after he had passed away. She looked so pale and just really horrible. It was heartbreaking. I knew one of the people helping take care of her and as they took Jerika to the ambulance I said to Chelsey, “please just tell me she is going to be okay”, to which she replied, “Janel all I can tell you for certain is that we did everything we could”. The nurses were all crying and gave all of us hugs as we left, which didn’t make any of us feel any better. But we did know that they had done their best to keep our girl alive.
Ray and I decided to run home really fast and get the extra car just in case for Cade, since he was riding in the ambulance. And I packed up some clothes just in case we were going to have to stay awhile at the hospital, which I am glad I did. Cade’s sisters had gone to his house and packed some clothes for him and they met Ray so he could take them to the hospital.
While I was on my way to the hospital just before Rigby I got a text from Cade that said, “Doctors here confirmed that she ha an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured a fallopian tube causing an internal bleed. She is in the OR right now repairing that rupture. She was still very stable when she got here.”
Now let’s talk a little bit about Cade. He could’ve had someone with him in the ER at Madison but knew we couldn’t handle all that was going on. This text also lets me know now that he was either in complete denial or he was trying to sugar coat what was happening to make all of us feel better. Because she wasn’t stable AT ALL.
Okay back to my version. When I got that text I pulled off the highway to read it and get my head in a better place to be driving. I got back on the road and called my family let them know what was happening. By the time I got to Rigby KaReena called me and she was at the ER at Idaho Falls Community Hospital and they were needing some information on Jerika. When we got to the hospital we went up into the waiting room which is the same place we spent the last week of my dad’s life while he was dying. It was not comforting AT ALL except for the fact that we loved all the nurses and staff while he was there and we knew they were taking excellent care of her.
We hadn’t been there very long when Cade got a text from them telling us the doctor would meet us downstairs and explain everything. Dr. Leavitt met us and explained everything that had happened. He estimated she had been about 8 to 9 weeks pregnant. Now let's talk about this for just a minute. Those of you who know her know she has only been pregnant once in 2017 which miscarried. The odds of her ever getting pregnant were not great and who would’ve even thought she ever would get pregnant again. Which was one of the main reasons she went to Mexico to have surgery. We love love love miss Lyvi and are so happy that Jerika and Cade were able to adopt her. But, Lyvi needs a sibling or two. So yes she was a few weeks pregnant when she went to Mexico, but they didn’t do a pregnancy test there and even if they had who knows if it would have shown up as positive. But, lets be clear the doctors said her surgery in Mexico had nothing to do with her ectopic pregnancy, if anything that surgery may have saved her life. They were told later that one of the only reasons they did a CAT scan at all was to see if she was bleeding internally from her surgery.
Okay, so back to meeting with the doctor. HE WAS AMAZING and we were so lucky we chose the hospital we did. They had a team of 10 to 15 people waiting for her when she got to the hospital to rush her into the OR. He told us that he had removed over a gallon and a half of blood from her abdomen. She had lost 8 units of blood total and they had to transfuse all of that back into her. So thank you to all of you who donate blood, we will be starting to do the same. They also gave her plasma so thank you to everyone who does that also. He told us he was pretty sure that they were able to get the bleeding stopped and that she had lost a fallopian tube but they were able to save her ovaries and uterus. He showed us a picture of the baby and what everything looked like and he felt really good about everything. He told us the ICU doctor would be taking over her care and that they didn’t know what else to tell us.
They got her into her room and we were able to go visit her and she did look a lot better than when the left Madison Memorial. But, I wouldn’t wish anyone ever having to see their daughter intubated, it was so scary and broke my heart watching that stupid thing have to breathe for my child. Even though I was thankful it was keeping her alive. When Ray, Cade and I got into the room, we met with the ICU doctor, Dr. Miller. He was amazing. He told us that her body had gone through some major trauma and he couldn’t make any promises but he could tell us, “she wasn’t out of the woods just yet.” When a doctor tells you that, believe me, it is the last thing you want to hear. All I wanted to hear was that she was going to be okay.
During the day Sunday, her nurse's name was Jenna and we loved her. She never left the room and was constantly doing something to take care of Jerika and monitoring her. She explained everything she was doing and was so patient and kind with us. They only liked having 2 people in the room with her at a time so we took turns. Kinlee was able to go in also. She was hooked up to so many IVs and tubes, I think she was hooked up to 9 different IVs in the beginning. The IV stand literally looked like a Christmas Tree with all the lights on it. As I look back I kind of wish I would have kept better track of the progress she made and when she made it, but I felt like I was just in survival mode and just trying to make it through the day. We had so many visitors, that first day and also the rest of the week. It was very helpful while we weren’t in the room with her to be able to spend time with friends and family who also felt so helpless and just wanted to support our family. Like I said Cade’s sisters were here from out of town and were able to take care of Lyvi for the first few days which made things so much easier for all of us who needed to be with Jerika as much as we could. Ray and Kinlee decided that evening to take a picture of Jerika and I was so against it. But, they reminded me that WHEN she woke up she was going to want to see what she looked like because that’s who she is and she would be so mad if we didn’t have a picture. So, I let them take a picture and boy do I hate that picture, but they were right. When she woke up she wanted to know what she looked like.
Kinlee needs to help me with the details from the rest of the day. But this is what I remember.
Cade stayed in the room with her that night. It took a lot of convincing, but we made Kinlee go home to sleep that night. Ray and I stayed in the very uncomfortable “Fish bowl” waiting room and slept in there.
Miracles
Cade was home
It wasn’t during the night
She wasn’t alone with Lyv
Her Mexico surgery was also a miracle
There were 2 paramedics and 2 EMTs working on her which I guess never happens
2 doctors at the hospital - Sara’s story
2 of the best nurses at Madison memorial were working
2 units of blood sent with ambulance to Idaho Falls
Medication on the ambulance that they don’t usually have
Dr Leavitt was the OB at the hospital
Cade’s sisters were here
Things we didn’t know that we found out later.
They drilled a hole in Jerika’s shin to put in an iv into her bone marrow. I guess if they can’t find a vein this is how they get in the necessary IV to help her live. She was awake for that and told us later that when they did that she wished she was dead, it hurt so bad.
They had to shock her a second time on the way to Idaho Falls
No physical therapy
No neurological issues
Her blood pressure was 40 over 20 when they got to Idaho falls
Sept 15 text
Jerika had an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured. She had to be shocked twice and by the time they figured out what was wrong she had 4.7 units of blood in her abdomen. You only have 7 in your body. They operated and fixed everything but she is still in a medically induced coma and intubated. The doctor said we aren't out of the woods yet but things are improving. They will have her intubated at least one day if not more for her body to heal. She is at Idaho Falls Community hospital where my dad died. I'm not leaving until she wakes up. It's so sad the one thing she wanted most, to be pregnant, almost killed her. She's a trooper and Blake my brother gave me a blessing that said she would be okay. We just need prayers.
