Lea had a fairly stable day today for a change. In fact, she slept most of the day. Her blood pressure dropped late this morning, and nurse Chris put her head down and her feet up, trying to avoid having to restart her on medication, but she had to have a little help. It may be because she has been taking off fluid so quickly for the last couple of days, and just needed help to bridge the gap.

Dr. Mah came in early this morning and pulled her abdominal drain out another half inch, with no immediate visible affect. Chris changed her abdominal dressing early afternoon, and she had the electromyograph done mid afternoon. The EMG took about an hour, and Dottie and I had to leave the room so all the required equipment could be set up around the bed. I’m not certain when I will hear the results of the EMG test, but am sure Dr. Mah will be around to see me when he has information to share. Although he was in the unit for a few minutes tonight he did not stop by the room.

The drain installed in her chest yesterday has drained over 1100 CCs of fluid so far. The fluid being taken off is a watery red color, and doesn’t appear to have infection in it. Only a culture, though, will be able to tell us whether there is anything growing in it. The drain will remain in place until her nutrition level improves to the point that her vessels quit leaking fluid through vessel walls into surrounding tissues. Right now, it is a matter of trail and error to find the right balance of medications.

It is difficult to deal with the hour-to-hour ups and downs, and I get so focused on the challenge she’s fighting at the moment, I forget how far we have come. As I look back through the updates at the beginning of the month, I remember that we almost lost her twice in two days when her heart gave up, and twice in the next two weeks when her lungs collapsed from fatigue.

She is still very, very sick. She is still delusional, still shuttering with withdrawal symptoms, still on the ventilator when we hoped she would have been off it for at least a couple of weeks by now. But, she has been pretty stable, clinically, and seems to be busy building up her body’s systems again. I expect her to kick the fever in the next day or two and get back to work on the ventilator. Hopefully, we will see some real improvement by this weekend.

We will keep praying for that miraculous healing, according to God’s will, and that the healing will return her to full health and vigor. Please know that we are extremely appreciative of your emails, eGreetings and greeting cards. It gives me great pleasure to read them to her each morning, and I am sure she enjoys hearing them. I am certain she will enjoy reading them when she is able.

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