August 25 Update

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3: 5,6

If you have faith, even as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20

I've listed these verses before, but they are 2 of my favorite and I refer to them often, as they give me such great HOPE and comfort. Just wanted to give everyone an update on Jodie. I think the last information we sent to the "group" was a couple of weeks ago from Beth. Since that email, Jodie has had several appointments with Dr. Yablon, her doctor here in Jackson. Due to our uneasiness and distrust at the Specialty Care Center, where Jodie has been a patient since being released from Shepherd in Atlanta, we decided the best solution would be to take Jodie where she would be most happy and the rest of us would sleep easier - HOME.

Two weeks ago (following the email from Beth), Jodie's cat scan showed there was fluid that had built up around Jodie's brain, thus leading the doctors and us to believe her shunt (to drain the fluid) was not working properly or possibly blocked. Jodie's doctors determined that we would wait a week or so, do another scan, and then determine the best (medical) way to proceed. Last Wednesday, Jodie had another scan of her brain and on Thursday she had an appointment with Dr. Yablon and Dr. Harkey (head of the neurosurgery dept. at UMC). During this appointment, it was discovered that the fluid around Jodie's brain was to an extent that surgery would have to be done to correct it and replace her shunt with a new one.

They scheduled this procedure for Tuesday (yesterday). We admitted Jodie into UMC Medical Center (here in Jackson) on Monday morning. She underwent surgery yesterday morning at 7:30 am to replace the shunt and correct the fluid-buildup problem around her brain. During the procedure, the doctors discovered blood around Jodie's brain and some blood and brain tissue in her shunt drain, that was causing the blockage. They decided they needed another scan of her brain to determine what steps to take regarding the blood and blockage, so they couldn't continue with the surgery (sent her to recovery and for another scan). The scan showed not enough blood to go back in and drain - but too much blood to put in another shunt at the time. So the doctors told us we would wait a few days to see if the blood either dissolved or resolved itself.
Needless to say, this news rocked us a bit. We were a bit uneasy at the news, until they rolled Jodie in the room from recovery. She looked great - and was responding to us remarkably well (following a surgery in her brain!) She was hugging us and even making sounds to try to talk. She was very alert. This gave us great Hope, despite the problems with her surgery, and that we were in the right direction to correct the problem and that this was just another "bump" in Jodie's journey. Before the afternoon and evening were over, our bump became a crater and we were on a "detour".

Sometime yesterday afternoon, Mama called us to say that she had had the nurses call for a doctor because Jodie was becoming lethargic and not responding well. In the meantime, her blood pressure dropped, her heart rate soured and her fever shot up. Dr. Esposito (another one of her neuro doctors) consulted with us that Jodie would need an emergency external catheter inserted into her brain to relieve the pressure by draining fluid and this would allow them to monitor her ICP's (inner-cranial-pressure). They transported her from her room into ICU and Jodie underwent surgery around 6:45pm. We were not able to see Jodie until about 9pm last night during visiting hours. The nurse told us that Jodie went through the surgery well and her ICP's stayed at a low rate. The report this morning was that her blood pressure dipped a little in the night so they had to give her some more fluids and they were monitoring her ICP's (got up to about 9 during the night) and her CBP's (cerebral brain pressure - this became low in the night and had them worrying, and the fluids they gave her should help with this.) We just received another report from Dr. White (who performed the procedure last night) and he reported that Jodie was stabilized and would be in the ICU (actually the NS-ICU) for a couple more days.

When we know more news and updates, I will keep you all posted.

Please pray for Jodie and our family in the days to come. We know that God is taking care of her and this "detour" is all in His plan for her. It's just hard to see how far she's come and then the scare of last night. Being back in an ICU waiting room and being around all the "tragedies" of other families again, put things back in perspective for me last night. She is such a fighter and I have no doubt that she will recover from this and be back on her road to recovery very soon.

Jodie's birthday is next Tuesday, August 31st and she'll turn 23. Jodie loves birthdays and if she could talk to us right now, she'd say (and I quote from previous years) "there's only 6 more days 'til my birthday"!

Jodie is in the NSICU room 13 - the number to the waiting room is 601-815-5356. Visiting hours are 6am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm. We can all be reached on our cell phones or at the bunker (my house) and the number here is 601-968-9042.

Thank you for your prayers and God Bless you all.
Jennifer Eastland