Saturday, September 10, 2005

Hell Week

I am sorry it has been so long without any updates. I got back from LA on Monday and was not in town for much more than 24 hours before I was back on the road. I am writing this from the LA Ronald McDonald House.

On Tuesday, at about 11 am Emily's defibulator fired a shock into her heart. It had detected that her heart had gotten stuck in a very bad rhythm and just before she blacked out it went off. She felt the whole thing and thought that her mom had hit her in the chest with both hands. After the shock they gave her some medication fro the pain and she was able to get some rest. Later in the afternoon, while she was talking to a transplant patient who came to talke to her, it fired again. Then in quick succession it fired several more times. This caused a great deal of pain and panic which just seemed to feed the problem. At about 4pm PST she was sedated and intubated.

My sister and I drove over Tuesday night to help calm Kathy who was very near an emmotional breakdown. We spent the next two days together with Emily. It was very tough to see her with the resperator connected. She wakes up every once in a while and the first thing she wants to know is if she has a new heart. It is very touching. On Friday my parents drove over with the two younger kids.

I took my mom and dad to see Emily today and Kathy stayed at the RMH with the girls. It was really good for Kathy to spend the day with them becasue it has been so long since they have been together. My parents had a tough time with the visit but they came through it OK. Emily is resting and her heart is doing much better. It was good for them to see that she is being well cared for by this excellent staff. UCLA has really wonderful people!

As for Emily, not much has changed. We are still waiting for a heart. She is sleeping most of the time now and when she is awake she cannot talk. Through all the medication Emily is still there and is still fighting. She will get her heart and the doctors believe it will be soon. Unless something happens tonight I will be returning to Phoenix tomorrow. I hate leaving...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is sister still in CA? If so, can I get her cell#? Hang tough, sounds like frustration in large scale. She'll get her heart. Gotta wait for the right one....
We're with you, call if you need to vent.
Love ya,
Kent

Anonymous said...

To Emily, Bob and Kathy and family,If and when you get this. This is just to let you that you are in our prayers and if there is anything we can do please let us know. EMILY hang in there, soon we'll go for a ride on the blke again!!!
with all our love and prayers
Lee and his girls

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to let you know our thoughts and prayers are with you.