4 TENDER SOULS... Their Story - Part V

2013

2012 had ended with some medical challenges and 2013 started off right away with Camden having a sinus and ear infection. They believed that it was secondary to the gastroenteritis and croup that he had at the end of December. It did not take long for things to spread and soon Payton had developed an upper respiratory infection and an ear infection as well. They were both put on antibiotics and were feeling better after a week or so.

After Reed’s fall in late December that left him with some broken ribs, the doctor was worried about the persistent symptoms that showed that there could be some damage to his back. They waited a few weeks to allow his ribs to heal before ordering some x-rays to check for changes. They came back showing some slight motion around certain disc levels and wanted to do more testing to see if there was some damage to his fusion. In February Reed had an MRI on his back and was very discouraged about the results. The MRI came back showing that the disease had already progressed and that the disc directly above the level he had just fused was now showing moderate to severe stenosis and impinging on the left nerve root. It was very devastating for Reed because he had just gone through two back surgeries in a years’ time and his body was definitely not strong enough to undergo a third. We decided to try some steroid injections, nerve root blocks and even some nerve ablations to buy some time and to allow his body to heal.

Stacie’s body was also trying to heal but she began to have some pain in her lower back and tail bone, which she contributed as referred pain from her endometriosis. After explaining it to her doctor she thought there was something more to it and ordered a MRI to rule out any unknown problem. Stacie wasn't so sure about it and almost canceled the test because she thought it would be a waste of time and money. But she followed through with it and it ended up being a good decision too as Stacie’s MRI revealed that she had a bulged lumbar disc. 

They decided that she could benefit from a steroid injection to stop the inflammation around the nerve endings and hopefully ease some of her pain. They were able to get her scheduled quickly and had no problems with the procedure. A few days after the procedure Stacie developed a severe headache and reported it to her doctor who told her to go into the ER to be evaluated. They found that Stacie’s headache was due to a spinal puncture as a result of the steroid injection as well as an allergic reaction she was having to the medication. She was scheduled to have a blood patch done the next day where some of her blood is injected into the epidural space near the site of the puncture resulting in a blood clot that "patches" the puncture and stops the spinal fluid from leaking. She did well with the procedure and after a few days she was feeling much better.

Stacie’s experience with the steroid injection didn't deter Reed any from having another procedure himself. In the beginning of March Reed had a series of nerve root blocks for his back and after a few weeks his back seemed to be doing better. But there would be little time for healing as once again signs of an infection reappeared out of nowhere towards the middle of March. He was seen in the urgent care and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and laryngitis. Reed was also experiencing some chest pain that was not resolving on its own. 

He was having some rhythm abnormalities seen on a telemetry monitor and the doctor ran some cardiac enzymes to rule out any serious cardiac problems. The results came back slightly elevated but not showing a significant cardiac problem. They felt the best way to treat Reed was to treat the respiratory infection and laryngitis. Reed was started once again on a month long antibiotic. After a month, Reed’s symptoms had not improved and after following up again with his doctor, they decided to try another month of antibiotics and follow up again in May. 

Something seemed to have been going around and of course Camden picked it up. He started to have a cough that became barky and his breathing raspy. Camden was taken in to the doctor where he was found to have croup and an ear infection. He was given a shot of steroids for the croup and an antibiotic for his ear infection. 

Camden was able to feel better again but it only lasted about 4 weeks. In April, Camden developed croup again with ear infection, the 3rd time this year. This had some of the same symptoms but his ears seemed to bother him more than last time. The doctor found that he had more purulent fluid in his middle ear and it created a lot of pressure. He was given another shot of steroids for the croup and an antibiotic for his ear infection and within a week he started to come around. We debated about putting tubes back in but decided to hold off due to how he responded last time. 

During all this time Payton had been playing in a soccer tournament and had games that lasted a week. By the end of the week he had become very tired and weak. We thought he was just exhausted from the week and talked about keeping him home the last game but he just couldn't imagine not being able to play in the last game. He rested up all day and got ready for his night game although it wore him out just trying to get ready. He became very upset about not being able to go to the game so we talked about going and just watching and supporting his team while they played. 

We left to go to the game and that is when he became really sick and started throwing up. He was very pale and his pulse was racing. It became so bad that we took him into the ER where they ended up giving him some IV fluid for dehydration and anti-nausea medication to help him stop throwing up. The worst part of the whole experience for Payton was that he ended up missing the soccer game anyways.

Just three days later, while at work, Reed had just finished working with a patient and was charting on the patient when all of a sudden Reed became very dizzy, weak and broke out in a sweat. He went and sat at the nurse’s station for several min hoping that the symptoms would go away. When they didn't go away, Reed decided that he would make it to his office and call Stacie letting her know that he was sick. By the time he made it to his office he was having chest pain, shortness of breath and had become so nauseated and weak that all he could say to Stacie was that he was sick and that he was going down to the ER and to meet him there. Reed made it to the ER where they started a work up on his heart and chest. 

Stacie and her dad met Reed later and were there when they found out that Reed had developed pneumonia. It was already a frustrating time for Reed as he was already being treated for an infection that had been going on for the last month and a half and now he had to battle the pneumonia. To make matters even worse, right before they were going to let Reed go home he was given another shot of antibiotics to help with the pneumonia. Within a few min Stacie noticed that Reed was starting to act differently and knew what was happening. Reed was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic, something Stacie had felt before. 

She called Reed’s nurse who quickly gave Reed some medication in his IV to stop the allergic reaction. They monitored Reed for a little longer and after everything seemed to be okay they let Reed go home. This seemed to really knock Reed down and he was not able to do much or eat very much due to the severe nausea that he was experiencing. Although Reed felt extremely sick we now realize that it may have saved Reed’s life in what was about to happen.

Reed had been home all week from work because of the pneumonia and for some reason he just seemed to struggle to feel better. Reed couldn't eat due to the nausea and for a few days could only keep down some rolls and Gatorade. Five days after going into the ER and finding the pneumonia Reed started having a harder time breathing and his stomach and abdomen started becoming so sensitive that the slightest touch would cause him pain. Stacie kept urging Reed to go into the hospital to be checked out but Reed wanted to wait to see if he would get better. He was even trying to rock Camden to sleep when Camden shifted his arm across Reeds stomach and the pain and pressure almost made him jump out of the chair. 

That is when Reed noticed that his abdomen had started to distend and the pressure was quickly building. It wasn't until Reed came close to passing out that he realized he was in trouble. Something other than the pneumonia was happening and Reed agreed to go into the ER. Stacie arranged for her mom to watch the boys while she took Reed to the ER and Payton helped his dad get to the car and helped him get in and buckled up. Reed still remembers the panic, frightened look that Payton had on his face as he repeatedly asked “Dad are you going to be okay”? Reed assured him that things will be just fine and that he just needed to go to the hospital to get checked out. Payton remained outside repeating over and over “bye dad, I love you. Hope you get feeling better” and didn't go in the house until Reed and Stacie were out of sight.

The drive to the ER seemed to take forever and just as we got to the parking lot Reed started to throw up. Stacie ran in to the hospital to get a wheel chair and wheeled Reed into the waiting room. Their hearts sank a little when they realized just how many people were there. It was full of people and, being a little after 10pm, there were some interesting characters there. They quickly put an IV in Reeds arm but had him still wait in the waiting area for just over an hour before they wheeled him back into a room. Reed was having a hard time breathing and in lots of pain. The ER doctor seemed to be a little frustrated with earlier patients as he questioned Reed about why he needed to be seen. He asked Reed if he felt he needed to be admitted or if Reed felt he could treat this at home on his own. 

Fed up with the doctor’s judgmental overtones Reed finally sat up a little and explained to the doctor that he had done everything at home that he knew how to do and that he knew something was wrong. Stacie asked the doctor to do a CT scan which the doctor refused to do at first stating that we just had one done 5 days ago when Reed was in for pneumonia. Stacie insisted until the doctor reluctantly ordered a redo CT scan and in a few min Reed was wheeled down to imaging to get the CT scan done. Within minutes a page came up overhead asking for Reeds doctor to go the imaging room and that is when Stacie knew something was wrong. 

Within minutes of the page, Reed was being wheeled back into his ER room followed immediately by the doctor who had quickly changed his tone and informed us that there was indeed something very wrong. The CT scan had revealed that Reed had pneumatosis of the hepatic flexure with pneumoperitoneum. Reeds colon had spontaneously ruptured and air and fluid had already entered the abdominal cavity. It was considered to be life threatening and he would require emergency surgery. The doctor had already contacted the surgeon and said he would be in soon to talk to us. 

Reed and Stacie sat in silence for a few minutes not believing what they had just heard. Reed kept picturing all of the emergency colon ruptures he had been called in for when he worked in the operating room and it made him extremely nervous. Stacie quickly called both of their mothers and they were headed down to the hospital to be with Stacie while Reed was in surgery. The Surgeon came in and explained how serious the problem was and that there was up to a 50% chance that Reed may not make it out of surgery. He warned us that, depending on what they found during surgery, Reed could wake up in ICU, may have a “T” shape incision that covered his entire abdomen, could be on a ventilator, have multiple IV’s, a catheter, a colostomy bag and several different monitors. 

He estimated that Reed could be there close to two weeks if things went well. It was everything that Reed had feared and worried about, and Reed and Stacie braced themselves for what might happen. Stacie and Reed quickly took some pictures with each other and then Reed recorded a simple message on his phone to his boys, who were home sound asleep, to let them know how much he loved them. Stacie’s dad was able to call some of his friends who were working the night shift at the hospital and they came and gave Reed a priesthood blessing which helped ease their minds. It was amazing just how much peace and comfort we felt after getting a blessing from two men that we had never met before but everything said in the blessing was everything we needed gave us strength and hope.

Then at 2:30 am Mother’s Day morning, while surrounded by all the mothers in his life, Reed was taken in for emergency abdominal surgery. The surgery lasted about 4 hours and then the surgeon came out to report on how the surgery went. They found that his colon was severely dilated and had indeed ruptured. Reed had to have his entire right ascending colon, about 13 inches long, as well as some of his small bowel and some of his transverse colon removed. Reed was able to make it through the surgery and did so well that he did not have to go to ICU but up to the medical surgery floor to recover. They diagnosed Reed’s ruptured colon to be a result of Typhlitis also known as Neutropenic Enterocolitis. They believed that the lack of food Reed had eaten the last few days, on account of the nausea from the pneumonia, had played a part in how well Reed had done.

If there had been more content in Reeds colon when it ruptured it may have been more serious. Although not very fun, we believe we were once again shown another tender mercy and felt we were being watched over. Payton and Camden were finally able to visit Reed at the hospital where they brought him a soccer bear and a superman figurine to remind their dad that he was their superman. They were relieved to see dad up and moving around and even took him on one of his walks around the hallway. The doctor was amazed at how well he was doing, and after only 5 days from having surgery the doctor allowed Reed to go home, with strict instructions not to hesitate to come in if anything changed and to follow up in a few days. 

Reed had made it through a scary ordeal and was finally home. He was only home a few days before sickness return again to our family. Camden developed an upper respiratory infection and was very miserable. He had stopped eating and would not drink. Nothing seemed to help him feel better and after a few days the doctor recommended that we take him to the ER. They were able to give him some IV fluid and it seemed to be just enough to allow Camden to get on top of things and a few days later he was back to his normal self. 

With all that had happened so far this year and with taking care of Reed following his emergency surgery and the boys being sick with different illnesses, Stacie’s body finally couldn't take it anymore. The physical and emotional stress had finally taken its toll on Stacie and at the end of June she found herself in the ER with adrenal insufficiency. She was given a steroid and a few liters of IV fluid and monitored for a few hours. She took a few days to recover before starting to have some energy and strength again. She did not get much of a break though, because more trials were just around the corner.

Camden started having a fever and started vomiting. For the 5th time this year Camden was treated for an upper respiratory infection and another ear infection. He was again given a steroid and an antibiotic and waited for him to feel better. Usually Camden responded after only a few days after getting a treatment but this time was different. He seemed to get worse and his symptoms started to change. After a week we took him back into the doctor and we found that his respiratory infection turned into croup and his ear infection had progressed and he had formed a blockage in his eustachian tube. His doctor changed his medications and with some time he started to recover.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” –Harriet Beecher Stowe

Camden finally started to feel better and recovered just in time. We took a trip to Yellowstone for the very first time for our Kennington family reunion. It was a much needed break from such a crazy first part of the year and we enjoyed spending time together with our family. We got to experience new things and new places and we will never forget it. After we returned home Payton was able to go with his Grandma and Grandpa Sargent to Lake Powell, a family tradition that we do each year. He had a lot of fun and was able to wake board alone for the first time!!

Reed was allowed to start back to work after having two months off to recovery from his surgery. Reed was anxious to get back to work and back to normal life. But getting back to normal was much harder than we thought it ever would be. In just over a 2 1/2 year time frame Reed had been through two back surgeries, a mouth surgery and an emergency abdominal surgery as well as several infections, treatments and procedures. He had lost close to 60 lbs during this time and his body was extremely worn out. But his body didn't seem to get the message as signs of yet another infection surfaced again in August. 

Due to his recent ruptured colon his doctors were very hesitant to start him on any antibiotics unless there was no other way to fight the infections. When Reed started to have some more pain in his abdomen his doctors started a series of test that went on for several weeks. The testing was very hard on Reed and included gastric emptying test, colonoscopy, a small bowel follow through, CT scans and blood work. The test results started coming back showing that something was not right but they still could not find the main cause of Reeds symptoms.

But Reed would not be the only one who was struggling to fight off infections. Camden started to have some symptoms of another infection towards the middle of August that would not improve on its own. After 5 days, Camden started to develop a fever and wouldn't eat. He was taken to the doctor and they diagnosed him with a sinus infection and another ear infection. He was once again started on an antibiotic and after about a week he started to feel better.

Already, August was becoming a struggle but not all of it was bad. Payton turned 8 years old and at the end of the month he decided on being baptized. So on August 31st Payton was baptized by Reed and became the newest member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We couldn't be more proud of Payton and the choices he was making. He is a great kid and has been instrumental in helping our family get through some very hard times.

Payton’s influence and support was greatly needed especially for Camden. Camden is a very active and has a big personality and even goes nonstop until his little body has no energy to move. In fact we often find out he is sick when he sits longer than a few min at a time.



In the beginning of September, that is exactly what happened when Camden had yet another infection appear. He had another bout of croup and an ear infection for the 7th time this year. Luckily, he had his older brother to keep him company while he was getting better and make the time go by quicker. 

It was that time of year again when the flu season starts and we wanted to keep our family from getting even sicker so we went to get the entire family the flu vaccine. This year there was a new form of the flu vaccine in the way of the flu mist. The boys did well with it and we went to run some errands. Once at home Stacie noticed that Camden’s eyes looked different and within minutes the swelling grew dramatically.


Stacie took him to the insta-care and they gave him some Benadryl. We were sent home and told to report to his pediatrician first thing the next morning. When we got there his eyes were still very swollen and they gave him an oral steroid.

Although he was not feeling well Camden still continued to smile throughout the whole ordeal! 

The doctor had never had a patient that had an allergic reaction to the flu mist and he reported it to the CDC who followed Camden for the next couple of weeks. 

During this time he ended up having yet another infection, his 9th this year. Camden came down with Croup and another ear infection. It had become apparent that something was limiting Camden’s ability to fight off infections and he was becoming more and more susceptible to everything that was going around. Camden’s pediatrician wanted him to be seen by his ENT for further testing. His ENT ran several tests and found that his IgG levels were extremely low. Due to this finding and his complicated medical history, Camden was referred to see an immunologist at Primary’s Children Hospital in Salt Lake City to have more extensive testing done.

Stacie started to have symptoms again of constant pain and went into see her doctor. After the doctor finished his assessment he was concerned that with her worsening symptoms and past history of problems Stacie’s endometriosis had returned. He discussed the situation at length including potential risks, alternatives and benefits for a diagnostic laparoscopy to remove the endometriosis. Reed and Stacie discussed it and felt it was something that Stacie needed to do so on September 30th Stacie went in for what would be her 14th laparoscopy. 

During the surgery, the doctor found several endometriosis implants that he was able to remove as well as some located on her bowels that presented a different risk altogether. If the doctor tried to remove the implants on her bowels they could end up causing it to rupture and put Stacie in even more danger. Because of what he found, he recommended that Stacie see a gastroenterologist to address possible solutions for Stacie’s new complication or to decide if she would need a bowel resection to correct the problem.

Just days after Stacie had surgery Camden came down with yet another sinus infection. He went through his usual routine to feel better but we were advised to keep Camden home and away from public places. The hope was to keep Camden’s exposure to a minimum until we could find a way to correct it. 

Even with keeping Camden away from public places and groups of kids Camden continued to get sick. At the end of Oct Camden came down with croup and another ear infection, the 11th time this year. We started to look for other sources around him that were causing his sickness. We even had our apartment checked for mold and other allergens. The test came back negative with no explanations as to why Camden was getting infections what seemed like every two weeks. Although we didn't have a definite explanation we continued to look for ways to shield Camden from getting sicker. 

With the effort to keep Camden from getting sicker we kept a closer eye on anything that could be causing it. A few months back Stacie began to notice Camden had some spots on the back of his top four front teeth located in the center of each tooth. She took him to three different dentists and finally the last one was able to tell her exactly what it was. Camden had bad acid reflux when he was just a few months old and that is what had caused the problem with his teeth. The dentist said that Camden would need to have a procedure to fix each tooth but the procedure needed to be done at the hospital as Camden would need to put to asleep while they fixed his teeth. That included four root canals and then crowns to cover each tooth. The dentist also worried that he could have infection in those teeth as well. The soonest the dentist could get Camden in was December 31st, which was ideal given that they had already met their out of pocket maximum, at least for the hospital portion. So we scheduled him for the 31st and prayed that he could remain healthy until then. 

It lasted for about a week when Camden started to have a fever, reduced appetite, sore throat, and a feeling of being unwell. We thought he was having another ear or sinus infection, but after a day or two he developed a skin rash with flat red spots on his hands. That is when we knew Camden had developed Hand, foot, and mouth disease, or HFMD, for a second time. It was not as bad as he had it in 2012 but because it is caused by different viruses, all we could do it manage his symptoms and keep him well hydrated to keep him from getting worse.

In November Reed met with his Neurosurgeon to reassess what they found earlier in the year and decide what can be done to fix the problem. Reed was struggling throughout the day and even more so at night. He had been sleeping in a recliner at night to get some sleep but after his abdominal surgery he was unable to last the entire night in the recliner. He had to change in the middle of the night to sleep for an hour or two in bed to keep pressure off his stomach. With this change and the other symptoms coming from Reeds back the doctor ordered anther MRI to follow up on his degenerative disc. He found that it had progressed even more and now affected the entire lumbar spine with a disc bulge at each level and moderate to severe neural foraminal stenosis at the L3-L4 level. 

To make things even worse, it was believed to be accelerating ever since having his abdominal surgery in May. Having some core strength had kept some of the pain and symptoms at bay, but after they had to cut into Reed’s stomach muscles to fix his ruptured colon, his back started to take the added stress resulting in more degeneration. The doctor discussed the options with Reed and it was decided that in order to fix the torn ligaments and fix the bulged discs.

Reed would have to have another surgery requiring one, if not two more levels fused. In doing so, Reed would lose the ability to bend and twist and have a weight restriction of about 20lbs for the rest of his life. He was told to go as long as he could and when he felt he could not function anymore then they would do the surgery. We were determined to exhaust every other option before making the decision that could impact our future in a big way.

Another decision we had to make is what we were going to do to get Stacie better. Stacie was able to meet with the gastroenterologist who wanted to do a colonoscopy to see if there were any changes or damage to Stacie bowels due to the endometriosis. In Early December, Stacie had a colonoscopy which revealed some new changes and abnormalities in the wall structure of her bowels. The doctor was unsure about the cause of these abnormalities and again the possibility of a bowel resection was talked about. Stacie was also advised to exhaust every other option before having the surgery. This seemed to be easier said than done. Having Sheehan’s syndrome, Hashimoto’s disease as well as going through hormone replacement therapy, Stacie’s body was just trying to normalize itself. With all that was going on, her body continued to fail and Stacie would have to go in for steroids and IV fluids to compensate for what her body could no longer do on its own. It was very frustrating for her and it continues to be a major struggle in her life. 

Reed was still having a difficult time with infections and problems. In the search for some answers, Reed turned to his cousin who knows all too well how it is to struggle day to day with health problems and enduring the physical and emotional challenges that come with fighting a never ending battle. She helped get Reed into her rheumatologist to check for some autoimmune diseases that not only she is currently fighting, but that run in the family. The doctor ran a series of tests and scheduled some specific MRI’s to rule out any diseases. The results were just as puzzling as the reasons for all the infections and sicknesses that had plagued Reed for so long. The doctor felt that Reed was experiencing most of the symptoms of ankoloysisng spondylitis but his MRI showed that his SI joints were clear of degeneration. 

The MRI did confirm that Reed has degenerative disc disease and also discovered a new problem that was unknown to that point. He discovered that Reed had two torn ligaments, one in both of his hips, which was yet another sign that something was happening inside Reeds body. But with all these findings the doctor could not identify the underlying cause that would account for the reason Reed was suffering so much. With these new findings and Reed’s recent history of pneumonia, colon rupture and a constellation of recent infections and symptoms, it was then that the doctor recommended that Reed be evaluated by the Mayo Clinic.

Camden was having a hard time staying away from school and church as he is a very social person and loves to be around his friends, but in order to keep him from getting sicker we had to limit his time out in public. It only seemed to slow down how fast he was getting his infections though until 5 days before Christmas Camden came down with his 13th infection of croup and a sinus infection. He had to get an antibiotic and a steroid injection which he tolerated well but it also meant that he could not have his surgery that was planned at the end of December. He had to be able to be off any steroids and clear of any infection for a 4 week period before he could be cleared to have his surgery. We rescheduled his surgery for the end of January and tried to do all we could do to keep Camden healthy until then. 

Stacie had been having problems with her feet and had tried several things to try to relieve the pain. She finally went into the Podiatrist to figure out the problem and he decided to check for some possible fractures in her feet and ordered some x-rays. He did not see any fractures and diagnoses it as plantar fasciitis. He planned on giving Stacie a series of steroid shots in her feet over a three period to help with the pain and inflammation. If it didn't help then he would talk about doing a surgery. So Stacie started the shots in feet that day and then went home. A few days later, on Christmas day Stacie began to get extremely sick and only seemed to get worse over a week She went in for a follow up visit and the doctor concluded that she was given a dose of steroids that her body was unable to tolerate and that she would need to hold off from any further procedures until her body could recover fully. 

And with that 2013 was finally coming to an end. We had started the year with hope that our luck and our health would finally be better but we quickly found ourselves being overwhelmed and greatly discouraged. We could have never foreseen the events that would consume our everyday lives and leave us with questions, doubt and fear. We had gone through more than what we could have imagined and more than what we thought we could have ever endured. We struggled day to day but we made it through it. Our heavenly Father blessed us with the ability to see our silver lining and to be surrounded by love ones to keep us strong.

The things we struggle through and experience are often, over time, how we start to define ourselves. We become so bogged down from constantly fighting to make it day to day that we quickly forget the reason we started the fight in the first place. But what we have learned through all of this is that our trials and struggles do not define us, rather how we overcome them does. When you no longer allow the pain, fear and frustration of your trial determine who you are going to be, that is the point when you realize that you cannot be defeated. It is at that point when you realize you had the power all along. 

We can often think of hope as being something that is intangible, something physically unattainable. But our experiences have shown us that hope is very much tangible. It exists in our family and friends who, in every sense of the word, embraced us and lifted us up in our worst moments and helped us see a brighter and happier future. You all gave us hope and encouragement which gave us back the power to overcome our adversities. 

“Don’t Quit.

When things go wrong
as they sometimes will…
When the road your trudging
seems all up hill.
When the funds are low
and the debts are high
And when you want to smile
but have to sigh.
When care is pressing you
down a bit
Rest, if you must
but don’t you quit.”

Thank you for all those who have always been there and never allowed us to quit!!