Quick Update

I'm in Birmingham on my husbands blackberry so this is short and sweet. I'll update with more details tomorrow. Emily is stable, not much has changed for better or for worse, and it is swine flu. Keep praying.

Settled

Just talked to Jason and they are now settled in Birmingham. He mentioned several times at how amazing the staff was when she arrived. From the moment they wheeled her down the corridor, they were all over her doing just what she needed. The transition to getting her hooked up to everything could not have gone any smoother. Jason himself seems so much more relaxed and at peace as well. The staff at UAB just knows what they are doing and how best to care for her.

She is on 70% oxygen and holding steady at 98 for her O2 saturation. He doesn't know yet when they will start trying to wean her down again but it will probably be soon. She is still in the low pressure room and will be until they figure out the results from the H1N1 flu. Jason was not able to stay with her last night but is now in the townhouse next door and once Emily's dad gets there tomorrow, they will be able to switch out to have someone stay with her at all times.

This will probably be the last update until tomorrow night or Sunday as I am leaving to go see her as well and am unsure of my ability to update the blog or when I will be back. Let's keep praising God for what he has done and ask him to continue to work a miracle in her body. Pray that she makes significant improvements this weekend.

In Birmingham

Tim, Emily's Dad has called to say that the plane landed and that she is now at UAB and in a room in the most acute intensive care unit aka "Emily's home away from home" :-). She had one episode in Lubbock as they were loading her up but it sounds like the rest of the transport went smoothly. UAB sent their own transport team and transport plane, came in their special 'jumpsuits' looking very professional and competent but I can only imagine the gut wrenching feelings going through the family members that were watching her go.

If you know Emily personally, you know the profound impact that she has on people and I believe both hospitals have come to love and care for her deeply. Tim asked one of the doctors in Lubbock this morning as they were discussing the possible transport: "If this was your daughter, what would you do" and after thinking for a minute responded with "I would transport her to Birmingham." The concern is that since she has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now, the risk of secondary infections increases and if something else were to set in, it is best for her to be at UAB where they are used to treating a myriad of things for transplant patients.

My hope too is that Emily will relax at UAB more because it is familiar with her. She has been there so much that she knows the doctors and nurses and they know her. She also knows many of the patients that come in and out and there is this amazing sense of community there because of all that they have been through together. I know that there is a sense of trust that Emily feels by being there that she has not felt before with other doctors and hospitals. I'm praying God uses this in her favor.

THANK YOU for praying tonight! I know the family appreciates it as do I. God is so faithful and it encouraged me tonight to see each time slot covered and to know my very best friend was being prayed for by so many other friends.

A couple of other updates:
* I think the ultrasounds of the liver, kidneys, and gall bladder to not show any significant findings
* The biopsy of the lungs did not grow anything
* They know for sure she has the flu but have still not confirmed about the swine flu
* Faith is sleeping and eating well and after Jason explained to her about what was happening today, she said "Ok" and he left without a major crying episode.
* Please lift up the family in Lubbock tonight who are now so far away from her. God knows no boundaries but the physical boundaries of this earth are sure frustrating at times like this.
* Jason cannot stay with her in this section of the ICU so pray for rest and good sleep for both of them.

Emily, we love you and miss you and cannot wait for you to get better. Don't give up fighting. We are all pulling for you. God, protect her and be with her tonight as only you can.

~Emily T

LifeFlight

Emily is being life flighted from Lubbock to UAB in Birmingham today at 4:30 PM. The flight should take 4 hours. How about we try and cover her entire transport in prayer from start to finish? Let's start at 4 PM and end at 10 PM. Sign up in the comments with a 15 minute block of time to be on your knees for Emily. I'll take the first block from 4-4:15pm.

The meeting this morning included the 3 doctors that are overseeing Emily's case. Dr. Young at UAB and two doctors that are new to Emily's case in Lubbock. Jason and the family have made it known that they would prefer to stay in Lubbock if at all possible but if it is better for Emily to be at UAB they are more than willing to move her. The decision was made this morning they believe there is a slight advantage to her being at UAB that is worth the risks of transporting her.

As much as Emily made progress yesterday from where she had been, she really has not been getting any better. And with being on the vent for one solid week, she really needs to be improving in order for things to progress and the possibility of coming off the vent a reality. So far, she isn't moving that direction. Jason mentioned that he is looking forward to having a new set of eyes and a new perspective for Emily's case. You just never know what a fresh approach can do.

Jason will be able to be on the medical plane with her (huge praise!) and Faith will be staying in Lubbock. Depending on which room Emily is moved to, Jason may or may not be aloud to stay overnight with her.

Don't forget to sign up to pray for 15 min from 4-10 PM.

Progress

Things looked more positive today and Emily has medically made some progress. She is now at 40% oxygen on the vent which is back to where she was before all of the episodes. Yay! They have also identified that she does have a flu strand of some sort and should find out tomorrow what type and if it is swine flu. Because she has the flu, she has been isolated and doctors and nurses have to scrub up before they go in her room. Also, her PEEP number (I'm really not sure what this is...Katey might could comment and let us know) has been at a 10 which is not too good but today it dropped down to a 5 which is much better! If she can maintain these oxygen/peep numbers, they can do a CPAP test which basically means giving her a test run at breathing on her own to see about taking her off the vent.

There has been some more talk about her needing to make progress now that she has been on the vent for about a week. Apparently the time limit for being on the vent is 2 weeks and at that point she would be looking at a tracheotomy which is definitely not ideal. There is a meeting in the morning that will determine the next course of action from here. If she had not made the progress she made today, I believe the level of concern was going to be a lot greater and life-flighting her to Birmingham would probably have been next.

A few specific prayer requests....Jason to stay well (he started feeling 'something' earlier today), for her numbers to stabilize, for Emily to stay CALM, for her to continue to make progress.

A New Day

Although Emily has not made any drastic improvements, she is not getting any worse. Thankfully she had no episodes overnight, her vent dependence has been moved back to 45% and they are hoping she will stabilize there. She is not quite back to where she was prior to these episodes and it is still a very serious situation, but it sure feels like some good news for this new day. Keep praying for her to fight and for this infection to be overcome.

Faith slept through the night and although her world has been turned upside down, she seems to be doing ok this morning. Her cousins are keeping her entertained. What a blessing to live near them.

Sickness continues to be an issue for the family so keep praying for it to not spread any further and for everyone to recover quickly. Keep praying for Jason to stay well too and for strength for him.

For the Alabama crew...the plan is to keep Emily in Lubbock if at all possible. The UAB team is overseeing the Lubbock team and there is nothing different that UAB would be doing at this point. If that changes, Dr. Young at UAB will not hesitate to life-flight her to UAB. It sounds like the team that she now has in place in Lubbock is actually doing a very good job. Emily has always struggled with doctors and getting the right care that she needs so if it is going as well as it sounds, this is a big praise. She feels most comfortable at UAB but when given a choice before she was put on the vent, she did not designate a preference. I know it has to be so much easier on those caring for her to be in Lubbock.

Keep Praying

...for Emily to fight and for her body to keep fighting against this infection

...for her continued episodes today to stop as she is now heavily sedated to try and prevent them

...for Faith who misses her Momma, that she sleeps well tonight at her Aunt & Uncle's house and that her cousins do a good job of providing joy and distraction from what's going on

...for extended family who is sick to get well so that they can care for and support each other well and for those that are healthy to remain that way

...for Jason to have strength, patience, courage and hope as he provides continued care for Emily

...for there to be improvements tomorrow and encouraging news

...for God to continue to be glorified in Emily's life

Jason & Updates

I just spoke to Jason and he is extremely grateful for your prayers and asks that everyone continue to cover them in prayer. He was able to go home and get some sleep last night and Stephanie stayed at the hospital. Tim, her dad, will be staying with her tonight so that he can sleep again and be with Faith at home. He is doing well for what he is facing as usual...he always amazes me and am I so grateful that my closest friend has such a loyal companion...but it is always better to sleep and to trust God. He has had to once again lay down his control and trust God's control of the situation and there is amazing peace that comes from that.

Emily has had a couple of episodes (one at 3 AM and one earlier today) where her oxygen saturation went down to the 70s and they have had to increase her dependence on the vent back to 100%. She was able to get down to 40% last night and they are hopeful she will get back to that soon but are allowing her to recover from a couple of tense times earlier today. Jason thinks but is not sure that it is related to the anesthesia/amnesia drugs they are giving her. When those get low, she starts to panic and her heart rate rises which leads to some rapid breathing and thus the low sats. Hopefully the drugs will work so that she doesn't have to remember any of this.

The good news is that she is not on any sort of decline and they are still optimistic that she can reduce her dependence on the vent and continue to make progress. Hopefully this is just a bug that needs to run its course and she can get on to recovery soon.

She did have an ultrasound of her liver, kidneys, and gall bladder today to check for damage to those organs. Jason specifically asked that we pray for there to be no damage to them. It is really good that she was able to get off of the harshest drugs but with the many medicines that she is on and her continual battle with CF, the liver and kidneys especially are vulnerable to damage and deterioration. Let's pray that she can get out of this with a miraculous set of organs that will continue to help her in this fight. Let's also pray that she has an episode free night and that by this time tomorrow she is back to 40% dependence on the vent.

Initial Results

Sorry for the delay in updates today. A little earlier this afternoon the initial results came back from the biopsy that there is no rejection (HUGE praise!), and that there is no fungus present (another HUGE praise!). Because of that, she has been able to get off of some of the stronger meds that are so harsh for her kidneys.

She has continued on the vent/oxygen around 50% capacity which basically means she is doing about the same but no worse. She has slept most of today and emotionally she still seems frustrated at the lack of ability to communicate well and from just being so restrained from the vent but the word anxious has not been used as much to describe her.

So let's keep praying for good test results but for the doctors to identify the true cause of all of this, that she continues to rely on the vent less and less by her body healing, and for emotional strength and endurance for Emily. Also keep the extended family in your prayers as well. Several of them (Faith and Emily's Mom for sure) have been sick. I'll try to get a better update on how Jason is doing as well but I know as Emily's faithful husband, that the physical and emotional toll on him is massive as well. Pray he remains healthy and that he is able to love Emily & Faith well through this when he is giving so much. Thankfully their entire family is in Lubbock to help support them.

Some Good News

The biopsy went well. The doctor was very pleased with how it went (minimal bleeding, good lung tissue, etc). She now has 1 chest tube below the incision area to help with healing and to drain off any fluid, etc from the procedure. They told her there was a possibility for 3 so one seems like the better end of the deal. Some results will be available fairly quickly while others they will have to wait several days for.

One specific prayer request...pray that the infection is not a fungus as the medicine they have to give her for that is very taxing on the kidneys and she is having some back pain that the doctors believe is related to stress on them.

Another praise is that she is staying fairly alert which means she is adapting well to the tube/vent (not as anxious...a praise!) so they are not having to keep her as sedated. She is communicating via a message board and able to interact. They also lessened her dependence on the vent this afternoon.

So all in all, still a serious situation but one that is celebrating some good news right now.