Katie Update #2
Once again, thank you all for your continued outpouring of support for Katie and for all of us. It has been truly wonderful to realize exactly how blessed we are to have so many wonderful friends and such a supportive community. As a relative "outsider" who has lived away from Augusta for the better part of 14 years now, it has been extremely uplifting for me to know what an impact the better 3/4'ths of my family has made on all of you. I want to thank especially those who braved the cold tonight to attend the prayer vigil at Trinity on the Hill on Katie's behalf. We really believe that these and all of your prayers will bring Katie back to health quickly. She will also enjoy seeing and reading your thoughtful "hand" messages along with all of your e-mails. Trinity also provided us with a "Prayer Pager," which Katie's mom is carrying. If you are praying for Katie and want her to know about it as well as God, just call (706) 730-4-GOD and leave "777" as the number.
Today has generally been much more positive than yesterday, though little has changed definitively. As we expected based on the "plan" from yesterday, doctors kept Katie in a state of total brain repression (i.e., she was "flat lining" in terms of brain activity) for all of Thursday night. This morning, the neurologist determined that her brain activity levels had been suppressed sufficiently, so at around 11 they started the process of reviving her brain. This took most of the evening, with only about 70% of brain function returning prior to the neurologist's departure at 7:30. At that time, he had yet to see any further seizure activity on her EEG scan, which is very good, but only preliminarily so. She needs to be at 100% brain function for 8 hours or so without any seizures before we can be somewhat confident that we are past this stage of her recovery. She appeared to be at 100% brain function when I left her this evening, and my "expert eyes" saw nothing that appeared to be seizure activity, but realistically it will be tomorrow morning at the earliest before we know whether this process has been successful. If not, then we are prepared for the possibility of repeating this process for as long as it takes for her to cease seizing so that we can get her back to consciousness.
Many of you receiving this know Charlie and Kay Parker. They are long-time friends of our family and of many here in Augusta. Not long ago, their son Davis was diagnosed with Leukemia. Ironically, Davis has temporarily become our neighbor in the pediatric intensive care unit. He has had a number of complications with his treatment lately, and they have put him into PICU for observation. Please add Davis, Charlie, Kay, Davis's brother Chase, and the rest of their family to your prayers as well, asking for a quick end to the complications and continued positive results in battling his terrible disease. Thanks again to everyone for all of your ongoing support and I will do my best to order up some really positive news for tomorrow.
Today has generally been much more positive than yesterday, though little has changed definitively. As we expected based on the "plan" from yesterday, doctors kept Katie in a state of total brain repression (i.e., she was "flat lining" in terms of brain activity) for all of Thursday night. This morning, the neurologist determined that her brain activity levels had been suppressed sufficiently, so at around 11 they started the process of reviving her brain. This took most of the evening, with only about 70% of brain function returning prior to the neurologist's departure at 7:30. At that time, he had yet to see any further seizure activity on her EEG scan, which is very good, but only preliminarily so. She needs to be at 100% brain function for 8 hours or so without any seizures before we can be somewhat confident that we are past this stage of her recovery. She appeared to be at 100% brain function when I left her this evening, and my "expert eyes" saw nothing that appeared to be seizure activity, but realistically it will be tomorrow morning at the earliest before we know whether this process has been successful. If not, then we are prepared for the possibility of repeating this process for as long as it takes for her to cease seizing so that we can get her back to consciousness.
Many of you receiving this know Charlie and Kay Parker. They are long-time friends of our family and of many here in Augusta. Not long ago, their son Davis was diagnosed with Leukemia. Ironically, Davis has temporarily become our neighbor in the pediatric intensive care unit. He has had a number of complications with his treatment lately, and they have put him into PICU for observation. Please add Davis, Charlie, Kay, Davis's brother Chase, and the rest of their family to your prayers as well, asking for a quick end to the complications and continued positive results in battling his terrible disease. Thanks again to everyone for all of your ongoing support and I will do my best to order up some really positive news for tomorrow.
posted by Paul York @ 12:40 AM
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