Update on Sara ~ 10/21/08

So I went to visit Sara last night. It was a medication reaction, though they still don't know what. It actually started with the fevers coming back, then they gave her some medications and it snowballed from there. They moved her to ICU on Saturday and now she is a permanent resident until her discharge. They cannot figure her out.
She is doing better, but still very splotchy. Her highest temperature was over 105 degrees, so she has a sunburn-like sheen and is peeling on her face. They have her on constant monitoring, so she has an EKG permanently hooked up, an oxygen glo light on her finger to tell how she is breathing and of course, the dreaded blood pressue cuff going off hourly.
She had to have a new PICC line put in as the other one failed. It took them five tries to get it in. She certainly has me beat for most pokes!! I asked her if she was going for a world record. HA!
They took the spongey suction device off of her leg as they were thinking it might have caused toxic shock syndrome, but they can't confirm that either. It is just bandaged wrapped again like after surgery. They change the dressing at least once a day, twice if it is more weapy than normal.
Her sister Beth brought up KFC for dinner last night, so she was happy to have something non-hospital. The tray they brought her had swiss steak and potatoes and she didn't like even the looks of it. Her dad ate it.

They will proceed with skin grafting this week, though not today as originally planned, they will do it Thursday. She has good granules growing from where they removed the skin on her leg, which is what the doctors were hoping for. It helps the new skin attach better. It is apparently a quite painful process, they have warned her on several occasions. I imagine she'll be doped up pretty good for a few days.

Target date of release was end of the month, but that may be wishful thinking at this point. The delay in skin grafting surgery is part of the cause, but the fevers of unknown etiology are more annoying than anything at this point. Like I said, the doctors cannot figure her out. She is a medical anomoly. I asked if they were writing a paper or several about her. She said they were discussing it.

Jacob was there last night visiting. He is still having a hard time not having his Mommy full time. He was doing really good until they went to leave, then he had a breakdown and got all clingy and cried. Sara of course is upset about it, but there really is nothing she can do. Please keep Jacob in your prayers as well. Oh, and Grama is getting a cold or something similar, please pray for her to get better.

So, pray that the redness goes away. The reason for the delay is they don't want the transfer skin peeling, so they are taking precautionary measures to make sure that the fever doesn't affect that skin. The skin grafting is Thursday, not sure of time. Please just be in prayer all day, they will intubate her again for the surgery, so pray that goes well, in addition to the grafting. Pray the grafting takes. Pray that her pain levels will not be so bad or that she'll be able to tolerate them with medicine at the very least.

We are nearing the one month mark of being in the hospital, so she is really quite in good spirits despite everything.

Thanks for your faithfulness. I'll update hopefully Thursday or Friday with news on the surgery.