Abby Update - Tuesday, December 22

From Brent

The end of our last post where I was wishing you Christmas blessings… it was not sarcastic or in response to someone’s negative comment. I may not have communicated it well but it was nothing more a reminder for me and Michelle, that we don’t want everything to be about us (love us, think of us, care about us). We want to make sure that you know we are thinking about you, appreciate you, and care about you too. It was a poorly communicated reminder that we think of you, as you think of us.

From Michelle

Abby was admitted to the hospital at 11:00am this morning after a very long night in ER. Abby’s white blood cells have tanked. We start keeping her home when her ANC is 750 (her immunity; the number that represents her body’s ability to fight infection). Abby’s ANC is now 300. Not good.

Abby is very nauseated, so she is not eating or drinking much of anything. She is not keeping it down anyway so there is no point in making her eat.

She looks tired when she is awake but breaths fine. When she is asleep her breathing is labored and there are brief periods of time when she stops breathing completely. Then she sucks in this asthmatic sounding breath. As you can imagine I don’t sleep when she is awake and I can’t sleep when she is asleep either when she’s doing this.

Her doctor expects Abby’s intracranial pressure it be elevated on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It is hard to figure out what to do for all of the kids when Abby will probably need a spinal tap on the 24th or 25th.

Thank you for praying for Abby.

For those who want more detail about the medical situation, continue on….

Abby specializes in VERY rare medical problems/side effects. Stinks for Abby, but the good news for everyone else is that these problems rarely occur. Abby is sleeping as I write this and having periodic apnea. Makes it very hard to concentrate on what I am writing.

Abby returned to ER at 3 am because of breathing problems. She was admitted to the hem/occ floor at 11 am today. When Abby is awake she is breathing normally. The only change I notice when she is awake is that her voice sounds monotone.

When Abby is sleeping she is constantly retracting above her collarbone when she breathes in. She occasionally has periods where she is retracting in between her ribs and below her sternum. She has some nasal flaring and makes a noise in her throat that has been diagnosed inspiratory stridor. Abby's O2 sats have gotten no lower than 90% on room air. She is working hard but maintaining adequate oxygenation.

Abby is having periods of apnea lasting 5-10 seconds. Her chest x-ray is fairly clear and a CT scan diagnosed her with a sinus infection. Even though she has a sinus infection, I don't think the above is related to it. Her sinus infection is very mild. Abby's ANC has dropped to 300, she is nauseated and vomiting, and not eating or drinking.