Dialysis

Hello Family and Friends,

Here’s the latest from Austin, Jennifer is still on the regular ventilator but they have to keep her on her stomach to keep her breathing level / states up. When they move her on her back they dropped fast. So for now, they must keep her on stomach. We may have to go to the stronger pump.

The pneumonia is still about the same and they still don’t know what kind it is but they have her on about 8 different medicines. It may be next week before they find out what type it is and we hope that the medicines will help by then. She has 13 I V pumps hooked up to her and they had to add three new lines to get all the fluids in. They have one in each arm and one in her neck. She still has the central line also.

With all the fluids going in, her output is not keeping up. This is causing her whole body to swell up bad. Her feet, hands, face and body is really bad and they are giving her new medicines to try and flush it out. Her creatine level (kidney functions) is at 1.4 today. Anything over 1.2 is high and the doctors have to keep a close eye on it. But with all the medicines, it will probably go higher.

So, its been a long day and Jennifer is hanging tough.

Mary and I would like to thank everyone for the comments on the web page and ALL THE PRAYERS!!!!!! It’s POWERFUL to see the support TEAM for Jennifer.

Thanks
Tim

PS…….Jennifer Poem “The Mountain”

When the task at hand is a mountain in front of you, it may seem too hard to climb. But you don’t have to climb it all at once — just one step at a time. Take one small step…and one small step…then another…and you find…the task at hand that was a mountain in front of you … is a mountain you have climbed……..

****Thursday, November 17th, 10:30 am
Laurie Randel here. I just spoke with Mary and she told me that due to the severe water retention and swelling, Jennifer is going to need dialysis. Her kidneys are showing signs of stress with the higher than normal creatine levels, but are hanging in there and aren’t functioning as poorly as they were before (I think that was after the 1st transplant, if I remember right). The dialysis is meant to help reduce the severe swelling. They don’t know how long she will need to be on it yet; it will be a take it as it comes kind of thing.

Also, Mary found out that the cause of the pneumonia may be due to the shingles/chicken pox virus hanging around too long. Apparently when kids have trouble getting rid of that, pneumonia can develop.

So again, the family is under tremendous stress and can really use all the prayers and support possible. They are climbing the mountain one step at a time.

Lovingly,
Laurie

note: the above entry is a copy originally posted on our ‘Caring Bridge’ website.