Urgent Prayer Request

Jodie was taken to Greenwood-Leflore Hospital by ambulance last night around 8pm after suffering a bad seizure. She has never had a seizure like this before or as long (45 minutes) or been as bad as last night. (she's only had one other seizure since her accident that was mild and more of a "zoning out" tensing of her body and muscles) - last night was scary. She bit her tongue, which caused some bleeding but luckily the neighbor across the street is a nurse and she came over and assisted until the paramedics arrived.

Once we arrived at the hospital, they gave her medicine that stopped the seizure and it was pretty strong so it pretty much wiped her out - which was good because she was worn out. She was also burning up with fever.

They ran lots of tests and all her vitals were good - good heartrate, blood pressure, breathing okay. But her fever was high - 103.7! Her white blood count was also a little high so they were alerted to an infection somewhere. We spent the rest of the night going through more tests, a CT scan, chest Xray and upper body scan. They also called in the neurosurgeon and he pulled some spinal fluid from her shunt and was able to run some tests from that. All preliminary tests have come back normal but the doctor talked to Mama this morning and something did show up on the chest xray that they think may be the early stages of pneumonia in her left lung. They have her on a heavy dose of antibiotics and medicine to prevent another seizure and to help attack whatever caused her fever.

They admitted her into ICU around 2am this morning so they could keep a close eye on her. She's not critical - the doctors determined that was the best place to observe her (which we were grateful for, too, knowing that she would have around-the-clock care and observation).

She is scheduled to have an MRI at some point this afternoon, and as soon as I know results, I'll try to post. The neurologists is supposed to see her this afternoon.

Mama is out of town and can't get a flight back in until tomorrow. So the doctors and I are on the phone with her regularly keeping her updated.

Since Jodie is in ICU, we are only able to see her during visiting hours. I was with her this morning and she was awake and aware. The strong medicines were starting to wear off, so she was becoming more alert and even smiled at us :) The nurses in the ER had a hard time getting an IV and line last night, so her left arm is pretty bruised and obviously hurts her. I asked her if it hurt and she said "uh-huh" very deeply and ragged. She is very tired - her poor little eyes kept drooping but we kept talking to her so she'd know we were there. When Geneva (her sitter) came in, Jodie immediately started to raise her weak left arm to hug her so that was a great sign! She even cut her tired eyes at me when I told her to close her mouth! :) Her nurse said that the doctor ordered a regular diet so she was scheduled to have solid food at lunch - so that should put some spunk in her this afternoon.

We ask that you pray for Jodie today and that the doctors will determine the cause of the fever and infection and get it under control and please pray that she doesn't endure another seizure. Hopefully, the medicines and antibiotics are helping to take care of that now. Pray for the doctors that read her tests and are overseeing her care. Please pray for Mama to stay calm and that she has a safe flight back home.

I just wanted to send a quick update to let everyone know what's going on and I will try to post again as I know more. The doctor is supposed to call Mama and let us know preliminary results from the MRI. I have to leave now to go back to the hospital. Please pray for Jodie.

PRAYER WORKS!

God's blessings to all,
Jennifer

JEREMIAH 29:11