Wednesday, July 22, 2009
July 22nd
Elena was stable today, but we are still working hard to find a way to have her transferred to Jackson Memorial because they offer a different kind of ventilation. We're hoping for this to happen tomorrow. The staff at Kendall Regional has been amazing, but they have done all they can for our little girl.
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Ron, apparently I've been living in a barrel, because I just heard of your daughter's illness today.
ReplyDeleteYour daughter, your family and friends will all be in my prayers and I will get you all on my prayer chain at once!
God be with you all...
EVERYONE PLEASE READ THIS SUCCESS STORY!!! I have been searching for any information or resolution to this unfair illness our girl is dealing with. Today I saw her and she is fighting!
ReplyDeleteAt thirty-three years of age, Eileen left the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office as a criminal prosecutor in order to create her own private law practice. Married for only a year to a Chicago police officer, she was healthy and active. Therefore, when her lower back started to hurt her, she applied heat, continued talking to clients, and kept going to court.
When the pain increased, she went to her internist, who examined her and sent her home with muscle relaxants. As another five days passed, the pain not only increased ten fold, but also moved into her chest, causing difficulty breathing and decreased functioning. Another visit to the doctor only produced more of the same medications.
The next twenty-four hours proved critical. She deteriorated quickly and was unable to drive and barely able to walk. A visit to another internist revealed her blood pressure to be only 70/50. Blood was taken and a chest x-ray done. When Eileen finally entered the hospital emergency room the next morning, her white count was three times higher than normal.
Once at the ER, Eileen was placed on oxygen and admitted directly into the Medical Intensive Care Unit. That evening, her kidneys failed. A little over twenty-four hours later, she went into respiratory arrest and was intubated. Although a definitive precipitating cause was never revealed, Eileen was diagnosis with both Sepsis and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Eileen's husband, parents, two brothers, and twin sister were told the prognosis of ARDS: her chances of survival were not good.
Eileen was forced into a drug-induced coma, insulted with tubes and assaulted with machines throughout her body. As the days turned into weeks, the physicians told her family the grim reality of her illness: it was time to start thinking about removing her from the ventilator; it was a "quality of life issue" because if she did survive, they said, she would likely "never breathe on her own again." Her family refused to give up hope and sat with her each day, all day, talking to her, singing to her, just holding her hand. A tracheotomy was performed after she was hospitalized for about two weeks since it was clear she was nowhere near getting off the ventilator.
After four weeks, the doctors finally gave Eileen steroids, which allowed a minimal improvement, and that allowed them to bring her out of her coma. Still, her condition was extremely critical. Almost immediately, she suffered a psychotic episode. Following the hospital psychosis, both lungs collapsed a second time and she was losing blood. Five chest tubes, eight blood transfusions, high fevers, and more infection followed. Another four weeks on the ventilator, and Eileen was finally able to breathe on her own after having been vent dependent. She spent a ninth week in the hospital and months of recovery to restore a body that was down to 82 pounds.
Eileen did not go back to work for eight months, but began working part time at a less complex job to ease herself into the day to day tasks of working at four months after getting out of the hospital. However, she was able to get pregnant only six months following her release from the hospital. She now has two daughters, Lily and Dana, works part time as a trial attorney, and is President of the ARDS Foundation. She feels extremely lucky to have very few major medical concerns as a result of her experience with ARDS and tries to support those who are dealing with ARDS as patients or family members every day.
I hope that all is well and Elena has been transferred to Jackson Memorial. Looking forward to a new update with good news! I'm sure the family is incredibly exhausted trying to juggle everything .. including this blog. I hope you're taking care of yourselves as well as Elena. This must be extremely draining on everyone.
ReplyDeleteMy prayers and thoughts continue to be with Elena, Ron and the entire family.
Sheila Kittle