Daily Blog - PCMC Day 24

At the suggestion of a member of the Rainbow Kids team, I decided that I am going to post on our blog every day now, at least for a while. I hope this will accomplish a few things for me and my family...

1. Provide daily updates for our family and friends to know what's going on through Sarah's current hospital stay.
2. Help me journal this experience in our life a little better and more accurately.
3. Give me a place to write my feelings and insights into what this experience really is to me, and how it affects me and the people I love.
4. Help me take a few minutes every day to reflect on blessings we're receiving and things we're learning through this experience.

PCMC Day 24

Sarah is doing pretty well today. She is feeling a little more sleepy than she has been, but it's been a pretty good day otherwise. Her tummy is a little smaller and she still has some diarrhea and fever, but her appetite is still really good, and she's pretty happy, considering we're still here. She is no longer receiving any antibiotics right now, with the assumption that the bacteria that's causing the fever will be able to grow better if it's not sterilized by the antibiotics. They have assumed the fluid in her belly is what was infected, and there were inflammatory markers and elevated white cells, but the cultures didn't grow. So, with no antibiotics on board, they are repeating a bunch of tests for common intestinal illnesses through blood and stool tests. At this point, we're hoping for some more symptoms to rear their ugly heads, cultures to grow something definitely yucky, or for things to just taper off and get better.

Tomorrow, she is going to have a bone marrow aspirate (collection of bone marrow cells through a needle) to rule out salmonella and a few others that sometimes "hide" in the bone marrow. While she's sedated, they will also do a GI endoscopy and colonoscopy to "see" what's going on inside and can do biopsies of anything weird at the same time. She's pretty nervous about new tests like these, but will be sedated and safe, and I'm confident she will do fine. The hardest part is the unknown, only second to how weepy and tired the sedation makes her feel.

Today we're grateful for fun distractions like games, puzzles, Teen Night and a long walk through the University of Utah campus.

Today I learned that there is not pathway or sidewalk that takes you just around the hospitals, and that taking care of yourself is not neglecting someone else.