After my parents left, Bryan went to an army course to get the coveted EFMB badge. Its a two week course, but you can fail out anytime after the first week. Its supposedly one of the toughest badges to get in the army. So I had the girls all to myself for two weeks. The last day of the course is a 12 mile ruck march/run. That was the easy part for Bryan. Or so I thought.
Bryan told me the night before he wanted to set a personal best. I should have told him to just walk across the finish line under 3 hours, but I didn't. I woke up the girls early so we could see daddy cross the finish line. Its about an hour and 15 minutes to the base he was competing. I got the the finish line around 7:20 am and stood for about 2 minutes when his boss came over and told me Bryan was in the medical tent receiving treatment. The first thing I thought was "seriously! you couldn't have just completed the stupid ruck march". When I got the the tent, it was much worse than I anticipated. I had to walk out because I didn't want Kate to remember her daddy like that. The medics and PA did their job well- cooled him off with icy blankets, started fluids, monitored vitals. Bryan wasn't all there for sometime. When the ambulance arrived, he was more alert and oriented. He wanted to see the girls and me before he took off.
Bryan spent 19 days in the Weiden Klinikum. His heat stroke and exercise exertion caused rhabdomyolysis, that caused acute kidney failure. He was put on dialysis two days after getting admitted to the hospital. I had no clue and just showed up to his room with him being dialyzes. That was the toughest moment of my life. I had to be strong for the girls, but my insides were screaming.
It was a very hard time for me and him, of course. I had just had a baby, Kate and I were an emotional wreck, and the hospital was and hour and a half away from home. Oh, and did I forget to mention the language barrier? My church, my friends, and Bryan's co-workers were such a support to me during this time. My family volunteered to come out and help, but I didn't want to inconvenience anyone, especially since its not really cheap to get to Europe.
Bryan gained 40 pounds of water weight because his kidneys shut down. This picture was taken two weeks after he was in the hospital and on the mend. Both of us look pretty bad.
This picture was taken two days after the picture above. Bryan's kidneys were really starting to pick up, as you can tell by his loss of water weight. He was losing almost 10 pounds a day once his kidneys started to function.
Bryan was released from the hospital on my birthday, September 21. He was (and still is) weak and needed to be cared for, but he was home.
I am so grateful for everyone that helped, whether it was being a shoulder to cry on, bringing dinner, watching the girls, driving with me to the hospital, cutting my grass and hedges, or praying for our family. And although it was hard for me to except the help, I needed it so badly.
