It is a bacterial infection

A gift from her Aunt Theresa and her cousin Haley! Haley says "If you just believe"

Liz came down with a bacterial infection in her blood this past week; good news is we were already at Children’s when she really needed medical attention quickly. She was admitted on Wednesday and we will be staying at Children’s for a minimum of 10 days. Everything seems to be under control, her blood pressure is now stable and she has received multiple blood transfusions to help with her hemoglobin, the oxygen carrier in the blood.

I felt bad for Randy on Thur. of that day. He walked into Day Hospital just as everything started to go askew. He was wonderful though, he never lost his composure. He calmly walked over to the chair, placed his items on it, turned around and walked directly to the bed and took her hand and rubbed her face. It was such a tender moment to witness. Lizzy's blood pressure had just dropped to 70/35, if you know anything about BP, you know this is extremely low and dangerous. Her normal BP is 107/85 or 107/90. This is the time people with a bacterial infection slip into septic shock.

Septic shock is a life-threatening reaction to a severe infection. During septic shock, the body tissues and organs do not get enough blood and oxygen. The problem may start with a small infection that overwhelms the body's defenses and spreads. In some severe infections, the germs make harmful toxins that can cause fluid to leak from blood vessels out into the tissues. The toxins may also prevent the heart from beating strongly enough. Together, these reactions lower blood pressure. If blood pressure gets too low, the body and its organs become deprived of oxygen. The body tries to help itself, but without enough oxygen, it makes too much of certain waste products. These extra wastes can do additional harm.

Septic shock is an emergency that requires treatment in the hospital. Thank God we were at the hospital and it did not go into septic shock. However, her treatment is the same regime as if she had gone septic.Liz was put on medicine to fight the infection, plus IV fluids. Without treatment, septic shock is usually a killer. The sooner you receive treatment, the better your chances of recovery.

Red Man Syndrome is a reaction to the drug vancomycin. Patients typically develop symptoms within 5 or 10 minutes of receiving the drug, and they experience itching and flushing of the face, neck, & torso. They may also experience swelling of the lips, face, or eyes and/or a drop in blood pressure, but this is less frequent. Red Man Syndrome is not a true allergy, even though the symptoms look similar to an allergic reaction. Red Man Syndrome can usually be avoided by pre-treating the patient with antipyretic and antihistamine medications (like acetaminophen and diphenhydramine) and infusing the drug at the slower rate, which is what they did with Liz and she has been ok since then.

It will be a race to see if Lizzy's ANC count comes up by Sun. If not, she is in here until they do. At the moment she is blazing a trail at ZERO. Appearance wise Liz is looking much better but her insides, where the battle is waging, tells a much different story. I truly understand the old adage, "You can't judge a book by it's cover". Lizzy needs God's will, your prayers, and the advances that the medical profession and researchers are making.

May God grant you nothing but beautiful thoughts today.

Christine