December 16 2009 Update

Erika has been in Ok City, back on her rotations, for the last two and a half weeks. I followed her up to Ok City and planned to stay a couple days for her first week back. Well on her first morning she had a weird thing happen with her vision that scared both of us. Although it cleared up quickly, I decided to stay for the week and am glad I did.

Friday morning around 3 AM she started throwing up again. This majorly concerned me because this is how everything started the first time around. We were in Ok City, 3.5 hrs from home and her doctors. There was; however, one symptom that she had not had before and that was diarrhea. When the store opened in the morning I went and bought a thermometer to check her temperature. I was never so happy to see someone have an elevated temperature in my life. You see, Erika never had an elevated temperature or fever during the initial symptoms following her hemorrhage. Around 5 PM I loaded her in the truck and we made the dash for home. The 3.5 hr trip home was pretty miserable, but we made it home with only one stop and a lot of prayers. I got her settled in bed around 10 PM and collapsed in bed. I had been up since 3 AM and my nerves and emotions were shot.

The next morning she woke me up around 8 and said, “Would you help me get the Christmas decorations out of the attic, I want to decorate today.” Crazy woman!!!!!!!! We had just gone through a very emotional day and now she wants to decorate the house!!!! I guess that is good news though. It ended up being a stomach virus that hung on for about a week.

So we were home for Saturday and then Sunday morning she had me drive her 6 hours to Wichita, Kansas, for an evening dinner with the resident doctors and an all day residency interview on Monday. She hadn’t eaten for two days and we are going out for a dinner????? She said she felt like a wino during the interview because every chance she got she was going around the corner to drink her Pepto Bismal. After the interviews I drove her the 3 hours back to Ok City, got her settled in, and drove home.

She drove herself home this past weekend, managed to put up three more Christmas Trees, attended a Christmas Party and baby shower, and drove herself back to Ok City for another week.

So how is Erika????. Erika still gets low grade headaches and sometimes I can see in her eyes that she doesn’t feel very good; however, she is doing amazing things that the doctors and I thought she would not be able to do. I have had people ask me if her hemorrhage had been misdiagnosed. The answer is no….she had a significant hemorrhage. I cannot explain why or how she is doing so well by reason or logic. The only conclusion I can come to is that God has big things in store for her and who am I to hold her back. I guess if I had my way, she would be home sitting in an easy chair, being served like the Queen she is.

The doctors are still working to figure out the cause and may have a lead. She is also to have another anterior gram the end of January.

To answer a few questions I have been asked:

Have I been taking good care of her? I try, but I can only do so much. She is a girl on a mission. How is her rotation going? Good. They are taking very good care of her or I would not be at home. As to rest, she is able to sleep much better now.

Thanks again for all the support and especially your prayers. Like I said before, this has been a win for all of us. I hope that this has increased your faith as much as it has mine.

Please continue to pray for her complete recovery and for wisdom for her doctors.

Best of regards,

Tim