Day 2 - Brugge

Day 2 was just as fun as day 1.....

We drove up to Brugge and walked around the city. In the pictures, you will see how narrow the streets in the town were. Everyone was either on foot or on a bike.....or if you weren't careful, some one would show you their bike up close and personal....if you know what I mean....(they would run into you if you didn't watch out - for those of you who didn't get it).

Anyway, we climbed to the top of the tower you see in the pictures, ALL 366 steps! We got a couple good shots of the town. Then we took a boat tour of the city. There is a water canal all around the city....that was pretty cool! Of course, we got some Belgium chocolate, which Jessica has already started in on....and we found a really small door.....(the last picture). All in all, it was a fun day. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Oh yeah. We may not have the Internet for the next few days, so we will post more pictures next chance we get. Tomorrow, we are off to London....

Hey everyone......Here are some pictures of our first day in Belgium. We took a drive to the town of Bastogne where the Battle of the Buldge was fought by the 101st Airborne Rangers. There is a memorial dedicated to the U.S. soldiers that fought and won that part of the war. We went through a museum that talked about this battle being the most critical part of the war. It was really cool!

We found a little cafe to eat lunch at and they had to find the only staff memeber that spoke english to help us.....cuz we don't speak no french! :) It was great! Enjoy!

On our way....

Well, it's been a bit since we updated the site, but things just haven't slowed down enough....

Anyway, Jess and I are off to Belgium and England for the next two weeks. As I type, we are in the Philiadelphia airport waiting for the plane to Brussels. There is a crying baby that will be getting on the flight with us....YEAH!!!! We will try to update the site as often as we can with pictures and things...

STAY TUNED!!!!

The Hospital Blog

Well....the doctor came back with the pictures from the camera pill. And the results are.........


Wait for it.......



Nothing new. Yep. They did not see me bleeding anywhere.

The camera took over 5,000 shots and not one of them showed that I had any internal bleeding at all. The doctor feels that my bleeding came because I took too much Alieve, which caused portions of my intestines to erode and then formed a small 2 to 5 mm opening on an artery, causing the bleeding. They have been giving me Portonix 2 times a day, which coat the lining and help it to heal.

So I may have just healed myself. They gave us 3 options.

1) Be discharged from the hospital and hope that I don't start bleeding again. If I do, come back in and start over again.

2) Go to San Francisco to UC Davis where they have the technology to scope all of my intestines. However, there is no guarantee that they will see anything because I am not actively bleeding.

3) Have exploratory surgery to see if they can find anything. Again, no guarantee that they will find anything.

We choose door #1. However, we will be staying in Reno until Sunday, just in case I start up again. That way, we will be right here near the hospital and won't have to be life flighted again. If all goes well, I won't bleed and it will take me a couple week to gain all my strength back. Right now they say I am about 2 pints too low for "normal" levels, but not a stage where I would need another transfusion.

Well....that's it. Kind of anti-climatic but......

Anyway, with us in Reno, if you want to call, call on Jess' or my cell phone. We will be celebrating Kyra's birthday all weekend!!!!

Thanks for all the love and support everyone has show. It's time to trust our faith in the Lord and the Priesthood blessings given. We know everything will be alright.

Still in the Hospital

Just a quick update today. I took the camera pill this morning around 8 am and got all hooked up with the recording device. They are going to burn the pictures to a CD tomorrow and hopfully read them and have more info for us on Thursday.....Nothing until then.

I took a couple shots of the stuff they put on me to record the pictures. The pictures I took aren't that good....I took them with my camera phone. I took a picture of the camera that I swallowed, but forgot to save it....sorry....

The first and third pictures are of all the wires they stuck to my gut and the middle one is of the recording device that picked up the pictures....

More Updates on Adam in Hospial

We finally saw a doctor today…..needless to say it was about the 15th different doctor we have seen through all of this……

Well.....I guess I put up a big enough stink because they are going to do a procedure that we were previously told could not be done in the hospital. I was going to have to be discharged from the hospital and be seen at a clinic and then wait a day (check into a hotel and then go back to the clinic) for them to complete the procedure. I told them that wasn’t an option.

The procedure is that I will swallow a small camera, which is about the size of a large vitamin pill. It takes 2 pictures per second and will travel through my intestines for 8 hours taking the pictures. I have to wear a jacket that will have a recording device to capture the pictures. This is going to start tomorrow morning (2/24/09) at 8 am. At the end of the 8 hours, they will get the jacket and burn the pictures onto a CD. They are hoping someone can look at the pictures on Wednesday (2/25/09) morning. That means we will not have any new updates until then.

I’ll see if I can get a picture of the camera before I sallow it so I can see if I can post it…... Stay tuned………

Adam in the Hospital

Hey everyone.......

Just want to give everyone a quick update. Yes, I am back in the hospital. They still don't know what is wrong. For those of you who don't know the story, here it is.....

On 2/10/09 - I lost a lot of blood through a GI bleed and went to the hospital in Winnemucca.

While there, they performed several scopes from the top and bottom and could not find the source of the bleeding. I also lost approximately 1/2 my blood volume and had to have 5 units transfused. Because they were unable to determine the cause, they life-flighted me to the Reno hospital on 2/13/09.

While in Reno, they performed several more scans (top and bottom) with no success. They also performed two types of nuclear blood tests, which both also came back negative. Things started to stabilize and they released me on Tuesday the 17th. I went back home and continued to recover.

On the 20th, I had the same GI bleed and was sent back to Reno for more tests, and I am still here today (2/22/09). They have performed the same test 3 different times and had another scope, both have come back without showing the source of the bleed. Also, I have been given 2 more units of blood.

That brings us to where we are now......not a pretty picture and getting very frustrated. The only things that have kept us going is the love and prayers from all the family and the Priesthood blessings I have received. We want to thank Jill and Rachael so much for coming at the drop of a hat to come and help with the kids, so Jess could be at the hospital with me. Also, thanks to Jess' mom for coming over to stay with us and show her support. Uncle David and Aunt Tina came and saw me in the hospital this second time, which was awesome. Mom and Dad also drove up and missed Ashley's farewell to come see me. We've had phone calls and letters and flowers from everyone, and want to thank everyone for their love and support. Jess had my laptop brought to me so I can do this blog from the hospital and if you want to skype my laptop, you'll get me.....in all my wonderful hospital glory!

We'll keep you posted on anything new........