Laughter is NOT the best medicine today.

It is Daddy-O at the keyboard tonight. Instead of heading home on Saturday as expected, it turned out to be more rough days in the hospital for Emily.  As Jane explained in yesterday's post, since early Friday morning Emily was struggling to get deep breaths, had body aches and pains, and was flirting with a fever.  They ran tests and all of the big items and all of the major concerns were ruled out.  Her heart and lungs had looked good on Friday, but since then the body aches have turned into very strong pains in her torso.

Trips on crutches to the bathroom became agonizing slides out of bed to her bedside commode.  Quick movements made her torso feel like one huge pulled muscle.  The sharp pains made breathing very difficult and short breaths made her oxygen levels drop below satisfactory levels.  Once she slowly, and gingerly, settled back into bed, she could begin to catch her breath.  It was a very stressful cycle. Very early this morning, her fever reached 102.9 degrees.  Hiccups, burps, and even laughter caused excruciating pain. Frankly, the pain, stress, fatigue and discomfort made Emily look like a cancer patient. 

Another CT scan and an echocardiogram was taken today.  Her heart continued to look good, but the CT scan showed some fluids building up in her lungs.  We are still not exactly sure what is causing all of this discomfort.  Right now it appears to be Pleuritis, an inflammation of the lining of the lungs and chest (the pleura) that leads to the pain.

 

They continue working to determine the cause, but at least now Emily is receiving antibiotics and pain relief.  She is feeling much better.  The fever is gone and the pain is manageable.  She even ate subway (her first meal since last Wednesday) for dinner.  The GI track sores still exist, but they have not been an issue relative to the pain in her torso.

We knew Emily’s path and timeframe would be based on how her body reacted to all of this treatment.  Her initial map called for another treatment to begin on Wednesday. That treatment has been postponed until Emily recovers from her current issues.  She will likely be in the hospital for another couple of days and then a new map will be drawn.

It has been tremendously painful for Emily, but it has also been tough on all of us who care for her. We try to make her comfortable.  Sometimes all we can do is lighten things up with a stupid comment, joke or pun. But we are especially helpless when one of the few things we can do makes her hurt more. She may not be able to laugh without pain, but she sure can smile…and man do we love that smile. We look forward to Emily posting her own update the blog.  Nobody does it like her. Tomorrow is a new day. 

We hope that all her friends returning to school got off to a good start today.  Make sure you take advantage of the opportunities you are given.  Keep getting smarter.

Congrats to the Billikens and Saintsations for a fantastic season.  We sure enjoyed the way you competed and were cheering loudly from M50.  We think your fan base in Cleveland has grown exponentially…much like the love and support for Emily.

Peace and love to you all.