The atmosphere at the hospital today was much more sober than yesterday. As they prepared Amanda for surgery this morning, she had a bad coughing spell. She arched her back and came up off the bed, then coughed so hard that she couldn't get her breath and turned blue. Her mother was present during all this and was really frightened. She also was exhibiting a great deal of pain which was hard for her mother and father to witness.
We were warned this would be a roller-coaster ride, and today was one of the down days. She came out of surgery fine and it only lasted two hours. But they have determined that her lung was filled with mucous again and tried to clean it out during surgery, unsuccessfully. Later today, they performed the procedure in the ICU unit.
They surgically implanted a feeding tube, changing the location from the original plan due to the amount of intestine (139 centimeters worth) that they have removed. They are concerned for the long term that she will not have enough small intestines to remove all the vitamins and nutrients from her food, but that's an issue to deal with later.
They also removed her packing and discovered that she was still "oozing" (we're not sure what that means - if it's another word for bleeding or not), but they were able to locate the source and sewed it up. They put the Wound Vac, a system with sponges that absorb moisture and a vacuum that sucks out any moisture along with infection, back in place and left her open once again. The orthopedic surgeon who consulted decided that her pelvic reconstruction is too extensive to be tackled by anyone other than a pelvic trauma orthopedic specialist. From what we've been told, there are only two in the southeastern U.S. - one in Columbia, and the other on his way to this hospital. The day of the accident, they talked about airvacing Amanda to the hospital in Columbia to be treated by the expert there, but that's never materialized. There's still talk about that being a possibility in the future.
My sister asked the trauma doctor if that might happen. He responded that Amanda's in no condition to worry about her pelvis just yet and that, if they even tried to helicopter her out now, she'd die. He said she would never survive the transfer, that she's "very, very critical". Her mother was concerned about that lung that keeps collecting mucous and asked about the possibility of pneumonia. The trauma doc said that she may very possibly get pneumonia because she can't move, but that they're prepared for that. My sister got shook and said that lots of people die in the hospital from pneumonia. He responded, "We don't know for sure that she will get pneumonia. If she does, I can't promise that she'll live through it. But when people die of pneumonia, they're usually elderly and have other health issues. She's young and can fight."
After being told yesterday that she's no longer on the critical list because of her injuries, but because of the tubing and apparatus attached to her, I was surprised by a lot of this information. I asked my sister about her take. She paused for a minute, then said, "I think they were just trying to give us hope yesterday."
We knew that this would be a long road, but we really had a bit of false hope yesterday that we were somewhat out of the woods. Those hopes were quickly dashed today. They are still just trying to keep Amanda alive.
If we focus on all the progress, perhaps we can keep from being discouraged, but it makes for a very hard day when you get the news we got today and you watch our precious girl struggle. We have four specific needs for prayer today.
They are: 1. for her lungs to be protected, for no pneumonia, for the one that keeps collecting mucous to be miraculously free of mucous - in general, pray for protection of her lungs; 2. for her fever to go down and stay down - it's up and down like a yo-yo, first due to the trauma, now due to the problem in her lung - she needs to stay free of infection which will elevate her temp and free of any other reasons for fever; 3. for her to not experience pain - it's so hard to watch her, so frail right now, and struggling with pain, she'll have lots of pain to deal with in the future, she needs a break right now; 4. for grace for the family to not look down the road, to only deal with today's challenges today, to trust God that He is planning for the future so they don't have to.
And pray that we can all hang in there for the long haul - my sister and her family, my parents, my family, and my other sister and her family. Over time, traumas like this tend to be forgotten and people intercede for it less often. We will need heavy intercession for a few more weeks as we struggle to support these needs.
God bless. Have a good night. And go hug your children, kiss them, and think about my sister who can't kiss or hug her child who so desperately needs it.
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