Answered Prayer!!

Jan just called to say that after initially being told no by ICU that they have reconsidered and are now going to move Donna to ICU. This doesn't guarantee a improvement in Donna's condition, but we feel she will be able to get some relief from her mental state there! God is so good and we praise Him for answered prayers, big and small.

Pray It Up!

We are not trying to cause alarm here, but Jan called this morning to ask for a specific prayer and we're calling all warriors to pray!

Once again today the ICU team has been called in to assess Donna for admission to ICU. Donna's vitals and other statistics have not changed, no better but not worse, but her mind and body need a break. So far every time ICU has come to assess they have declined to take her. Donna's nurse is pleading to get Donna to ICU because she needs sedation so that her mind and body can get some much needed relief. However, Donna cannot be sedated without a breathing tube and she cannot get a breathing tube without being in ICU. This morning the nurse called Jan around 7 a.m. to come to the hospital to help with Donna. Donna has become very agitated and combative, pulling out her tubes and taking off her oxygen, and even gets herself out of bed if no one is in the room to stop her. Jan and Monica do not believe Donna has recognized them yet today. The nurse believes all of this is her brain's reaction to the lack of oxygen.

I'm sorry that I don't have better news, but we felt this was an urgent prayer need and wanted to get it out to everyone so that ICU will take Donna today. Jan plans fully on fighting the entire hospital, including administration, until ICU agrees to take Donna.

It Is Well

We probably aren't going to have a lot to update about today. Not much has changed with Donna's condition and what we are being told is that today is going to be a "day of rest" for her. My interpretation of that is that they are going to try to allow her as much rest as possible without doing a whole lot unless, of course, it becomes necessary.

Today I share with you a song that sums it all up best...It Is Well.

We believe in the healing power of our awesome God. We also believe God has a perfect plan for all our lives. We pray that God's perfect plan for Donna is complete healing, but we also know his perfect plan may take Donna from us sooner than any one of us wants. Whatever God's perfect plan for Donna is, It Is Well With Our Soul.

(see the previous post for a special request from Crystal)

A Special Request (see last paragraph)

Jan, Mom, and Crystal will be heading to the hospital in the next hour or so. They will get a newer update on Donna's condition and when that happens I will post it here.

As you can discern from what we've been posting over the last few days, Donna's current condition is not very good. At this point she is experiencing multi-organ failure. Her body is fighting hard to keep things going, which is causing her organs to overwork themselves. At this point she is holding on. As I said in a prior post, I don't want to cause any false alarm or give any false hope. One of the nurses summed up Donna's condition perfectly, which is that Donna is holding steady for now but cannot get any worse without having dire consequences. Having said that, we also know that Donna is in God's hands. He is going to guide her in the direction of His perfect will for her life.

Donna cannot communicate verbally at this point, but she is able to communicate with head nods and eye movements and seems to understand what is being said to her.

At this point, based on nursing recommendations, we are again asking that phone calls be limited to Donna's family. What Donna's body needs most (other than prayer, of course!) is rest.

Many of you have expressed a desire to help. Of course, prayer is the biggest need at this point, but if you would really like to do something to help, the next biggest need is food for the apartment. Much of Donna's family (and those of you who know us know that there are quite a few of us!) will be converging in NC over the next few days. It would be a HUGE help to have food available in the apartment to feed everyone. I know that there are some very creative people reading this blog who can find a way to get food sent to the apartment. That is one way you could do something. If you want to try to arrange that, feel free to email me (baw2b@comcast.net) or call me (443.655.7295) and I'll do my best to coordinate things.

Thanks to all of you who pray constantly for Donna. Words cannot express what it means to all of us.

Bev

Short Update

I'm not quite sure what to tell you all about Donna's condition right now, except to say that she is very serious and she needs prayer now like she's never had before. The best I can tell you is that the doctors say her condition is "touch and go." We're all on our knees here, and I trust you are too.

Monday, 12/29

We're at another one of these stages in Donna's treatment where it gets hard to discern how to give an update without causing false alarm or false sense of security. I'll do my best to give an accurate update, though keeping up with the information is difficult as her condition changes up and down almost by the minute. At this point, we just try to gather the information and sum up the day.

Donna is still very, very sick; however, as one of the health care providers told Jan yesterday, every indicator they are checking showed a small bit of improvement. For example, her white cell count went from 0.5 to 0.7.

Some other abnormalities have shown up in her blood work, such as problems with her potassium and blood sugar. As I understand it, they believe that the labored breathing is causing her kidneys to overwork, thus resulting in higher than normal sodium, and that the steroids she is receiving are elevating her blood sugar. They are also testing her for Clostridium difficile. (C. diff). I haven't heard yet of the results. In short, C. difficile is a bacteria that is not uncommon for institutionalized patients (such as hospital and nursing home patients). While it makes you feel terrible, it typically is treatable with strong antibiotics. I would assume that this is the case in Donna's situation also. I'm not sure how much, if at all, her current condition will effect the treatment/recovery of C. diff if she in fact has that.

As I understand it, the DAH (diffuse alveolar hemorrhage) is basically stable right now, meaning it hasn't worsened. They did lower her steroids on Saturday (I think; it might have been Friday evening). As far as I know, they left her at the lower dosage of steroids.

Some of the care providers told Jan yesterday that while Donna is very sick they have also seen patients as sick as she is, and some sicker, who have turned around just as fast as they went downhill.

Jan assures me that they are giving Donna top-notch attention, basically ICU-type care with one-on-one nursing.

For your prayer list, the best I can recommend is to obviously continue to pray for Donna, but also for her doctors and nurses, and those who are at Duke helping to care for Donna. As you can imagine, being there and watching Donna go up and down is very difficult. Jan and Crystal made comment over the weekend that they have no idea how Joel held up doing that all alone for 4 weeks.

Speaking of Joel, I know I don't have to tell you to keep him in your prayers also. As difficult and draining as it had to be for him to be there for 4 weeks, I can only imagine that it is just as difficult and probably more so not being able to be there daily.

Donna knows that people all around the country are praying not only for her but her family also. I know she is humbled by it and covets those prayers.

Saturday 12/27

Crystal is in NC visiting with Donna. Following is an update from her:

Day +17.
Mom's had an exciting morning of constant nurse's attention. The end result is all been positive as they're weaning her off the steroids, backing off the pain meds and reducing the amount of oygen she's getting. She's still very weak and her breathing is very labored, but she's awake and alert and we're having a great visit.