Slow Journey 12/3/09,

I have an update as of this evening from Patti, Jennie's Mom. She met with a special team at the hospital today who is working with the family on Jennie's case. They reviewed the Cat Scan results that were discussed yesterday.

As Patti was told yesterday, there is still some swelling in Jennie's brain, though it has gone down. There is still some blood showing in her brain, and they are not certain if this is from when the injury originally occured, or if her brain is continuing to bleed. The only way they could determine that is if they continue to do Cat Scans and compare them. This causes an issue with Jennie because her body is very sensitive to sound and touch, and when they move her around and reposition her body for the Cat Scan, it raises the pressure in her brain, which we want to avoid.

Jennie is in a natural coma, not one that is medically induced. The only medicines that she is taking currently are morphine for pain, and mannitol to relieve the pressure of her brain. Today, her ICP (Intracranial Pressure) was very erratic, and the number fluctuated between 38 to 100+. A normal ICP for a person is less than 20, generally around 5.

Jennie has maintained a fever since she has been in the hospital, today her fever stayed between 100-102 degrees. Her fever is due to her brain sending the wrong signals to her body.

Her right eye was thought to be more injured after her accident, and today it was responding to the light, which is a good sign. Her left eye is currently not showing any response to light, and the pupil remains fully dialated.

Some things that Jennie will have coming up are:

~Filter - they will insert a filter in a main vein going to Jennie's heart to prevent any blood clots.

~Tracheotomy and peg (feeding tube) - will both go in on Monday, Dec 14th. The feeding tube will go directly into Jennie's stomach.

I did not get an update on the pneumonia, which is in one of her lungs, but lets continue to pray for this to clear up. Jennie also has a broken left arm, and they had it in a split when I saw her on Friday night after the accident...I will check to see if they have taken any further steps with her arm and the bruising to her left leg and knee area also.

I told Patti I feel like we are taking baby steps, and that is OK...some of our baby steps move us forward, but some of our baby steps have also moved us backward. The important thing to remember is that we are still moving and taking those steps, which means Jennie is still with us and fighting.

Please continue all of the wonderful prayers and encouragement for Jennie and her family and friends. At 6:00 pm, we marked Day #6 of Jennie's Journey - it is a slow journey, but she has a lot of people who love and care for her, and we are all on the Journey with her.