FRIDAY MORNING STATUS

***Update 11:40am*** Shannon just texted and the request was for no visitors today.  She's simply not up to it.

***Update 10am*** Her supplemental oxygen flow has been decreased from 2% to 1%.  A positive development.

This blog was set up to communicate Kristina’s status and with her wide scope of friends, Kristina accurately predicted difficult times when she’d be unable to effectively communicate.   We’re in one of these time periods now. 

 Last Tuesday she had a fever during the day of just over 100 degrees and then it spiked to 102.5.  Since Tuesday the high temps have hit 103 and 104.  She’s on Vancomycin, a heavy hitter antibiotic.  She’s on oxygen as her blood oxygen dipped to 83 (on-line resources say ‘seek immediate medical attention below 88, ‘normal’ is around 97 *** per the 10am update, this may have changed to a more favorable number as her supplemental oxygen has been reduced).   

 

Kristina’s neutrophil count (those ‘good’ white cells that fight bacterial infection) was still zero as of yesterday.  We’re still within a general bandwidth of ‘normal’ (there’s nothing normal about this process) for Kristina as her neutrophil counts lag after the G-Clam treatment, but we’re entering a time when her body needs to produce them.  She needs her immune system to recover.  As a housekeeping note, that level needs to be at 500 for discharge and most of us have levels around 1,000. 

 

Yesterday they did confirm she’s fighting a staph infection but weren’t sure what’s causing it.  A cat scan was taken and there’s fluid in the lungs for reasons as yet unknown.  Her blood pressure last night was 116/67.  Low, but it’s been lower. 

 

Shannon brought some bone broth over last night and hopefully Kristina could keep it down.  The nurse said she’s been battling waves of nausea.   Shannon also said that Kristina is pretty weak. 

Kristina is sporadically responding to texts as energy allows.   From a personal standpoint I’ve been trying to economize my texts with her as I know she feels compulsive to respond to each one despite her energy level. 

 

So this is where we are at the moment.  If you are on the calendar for a visit, text in advance to ensure it’s still ok.  She is pretty weak and about 10 minutes of concentration were about all she could muster yesterday, then would drift off to sleep in mid-sentence.  

It’s just a very tough, tough time right now.