Rachel Update #4

Here's a Christmas update from Anthony:

Dear friends,

I am finally getting around to an update here. I am sure most of you have heard by now the news that she is awake and breathing on her own. Praise the Lord for his mercy! With her being awake it has been difficult to be away from her-- so the lack of updates. I'm sure you'll understand.

I will be fairly brief and hit the main points because there is so much that could be said.

She was essentially breathing on her own Sat. night although still hooked to the ventilator. Sun. morn she seemed to be doing well enough on her own that they decided to take out the breathing tube. They stopped the sedation meds and removed the tube. It all happened rather quickly after so many days of waiting. She was very foggy mentally but was able to breathe on her own with supplemental oxygen through a nose canula. It was wonderful indeed to have her awake. That occurred around 11am. She has been slowly getting stronger thru Sun. and Mon. It has been a rather arduous processes and emotionally exhausting. There was concern on Sun night that she might have a blood clot in her leg because her breathing rate has been rather elevated. They did an ultrasound on her legs and found a small clot where her IV port was in her leg. That most likely came because of the IV. In the meanwhile they started her on heparin (blood thinner meds) to insure it didn't move to her lungs. That was a difficult few hours of wondering if we may be heading into something serious again. Her respiration rate has continued to be high which makes it more difficult for her to rest. The docs have said that there is no reason that they can see for it. Her lungs look and sound good. Most likely it is just a recovery process.

She is very weak and has to cough frequently which almost takes more strength than she has. She was not able to sleep well since she woke up. She has stayed awake from 11am Sun. and has only slept a little as of this morning despite 5 or 6 different sleeping meds. They are walking a fine line with them because they don't want to interfere with her respiration drive and have to put the tube in again. They had to give her a feeding tube through nose Sun. night because she was having trouble swallowing (a common temporary after effect of breathing tubes). I talked to the nurse this morning and he said she is still a bit confused and had pulled feeding tube out last night. It was really bothering her yesterday. They will revaluate her progress tomorow (she couldn't pass the swallow test today.) They were planning to leave it in a day or two.

She is getting stronger slowly and is getting more clarity back mentally. It was pretty hard most of yesterday because she seemed to be progressing so slowly. I was once again crying out to God that he would intervene on our behalf and move the process along more quickly as I didn't feel I could take it much more. He most certainly answered my prayer by giving her much more clarity in just the next few hours before I left. We were able to talk about things and I could tell she understood me better.

I left around 5:30 Sun eve. so that I could carry on the Christmas traditions with the kids as best as possible. It seemed to do them good to have me there. (I had spent the night with Rache on Sun. night.) It has been a difficult last 12 hrs without Rache here for Christmas, but I am so thankful that she is at the point today that she is. It would not have been uncommon for her to still be on the vent and unconscious. God is gracious.

Please continue to pray for speedy recovery as I know you have been. Sometimes the process looks to big to handle, especially at night. The mental recovery is almost as difficult as the physical. She seems to be almost more confused at times today. Part of it I'm sure part of it is lack of sleep if nothing else. Pray for a quick and full recovery there. As for visiting her, I know all of you are anxious to see her. Right now she is very weak and is still pretty confused. Visitors seem to be good for her but a few days later will probably be a better time to visit.

Thanks again for your prayers.

By His Grace,

Anthony

We'll post more on our Christmas later, which was pretty much non existant with the Witmers due to the stomach flu being passed around here at Mom and Dad's. The flu started Sunday with Elliot, then I (Sylvia) had the flu Christmas Eve, then Mom, Dad, and Martin on Christmas day. A fun Christmas indeed. We're postponing the celebration until sometime in January. The most difficult part of this has been that we've not been able to visit with Rachel due to this highly contagious flu. But I think all of us are pretty much recovered now. Thanks for all of your prayers on behalf of Rachel, they are certainly felt and appreciated.