Prayers Needed

This is the first posting for Jennie Savickas. Lots of prayers are needed now for Jennie. I am the sister in law of Jesse Smith, who is Jennie's older sister...so many of you may not recognize my name. Jesse and Patti (Jennie's Mom) are spending all of their time at the hospital, so I'm trying to help keep everyone updated with Jennie's information. Hopefully they will be able to add some comments along the way also...

Jennie was in a very serious car accident on Friday 11/27/09 right before 6:00 pm. A lot of the details are not clear at this point, but the accident occured near Independence Blvd/17th Street. The other vehicle involved in the wreck was a UPS truck, and the impact was on the passenger side of Jennie's car. Luckily, she did not have anyone else in the car with her, but Jennie was apparently not wearing her seatbelt at the time.

Her family received a phone call about 1 hour after the accident, and Jennie was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center here in Wilmington, NC. She has a serious head injury, and the CT scan showed some swelling and bleeding from her brain. She also has a broken left arm, and bruising to her left knee area. She was given various medicines to help stabilize her in the ICU. Her family has been at the hospital with her around the clock since Friday evening. Please pray for the family's strength during this journey, as they are very sleep deprived and worried about Jennie.

As of Saturday afternoon, they did some tests to check for any brain activity if they slowed down some of the pain medications, and stopped the ventilator, which Jennie was 100% dependant on for her breathing. When they turned off the ventilator, Jennie took several breaths on her own. This was great news!! Her body did also show response to pain, and she began to show movements, which is proof that her brain is functioning. She still has a long road of improvement ahead. Her ICP (Intracranial Pressure), which is the level of pressure on her brain, should be at 20 under normal circumstances. The night of the accident, Jennie's ICP was at 44...but on Saturday it was above 100. Some different medicines were given to Jennie, and her ICP dropped to 80, but this number still needs to decrease quite a bit.

To help with Jennie's recovery, she is not allowed any visitors at this time. Also since she is in the ICU, they do not allow any flowers or gifts. Please feel free to mail any cards to our church, and we will give them to Jennie's Mom Patti, or sister Jesse. Mail to Crossroads Baptist Church Attn: Jennie Savickas 340 Covil Avenue Wilmington, NC 28402. Also if you would like to email a prayer or special note of encouragement to Jennie or the family, please send to me at lucindasmith3@hotmail.com We will put together a scrapbook with all of these items so that Jennie may enjoy them and remember all of our love and prayers for her during this time.

As of Sunday afternoon, Jennie did show a gag reflux, which was a good sign also of her upper brain activity. Today her blood pressure was a little high, and her heart rate was fluctuating some also. We still need for her ICP to lower as well.

Please share this blog with any of Jennie's friends and add her to prayer chains at your church also. We need all the prayers possible for Jennie right now.