The doctors think Leigh has a virus in her heart. Her cardiologist thinks that her youth and strength was a bad thing before she went down, because she compensated when she should have just lay down and said, “I am sick.” He said her youth and strength is a good thing now because it will help her to get better.
Tests have shown that she has damage to her brain from oxygen deprivation. Even though Rob was there to give her CPR, that will only provide 50% at best, of the needed oxygen to the brain. Her heart is only pumping 10% right now and it is enlarged enough to take up half of her chest. The outlook is grim.
Today when the respiratory nurse gave her her treatment, she opened her eyes a bit. She does not like the “treatment.” We take that as a good sign. Rob saw her look at him. I felt her press down with her hand that I was holding. We are clinging to any thread of hope. This is better than it was on Wednesday night when we were all feeling hopeless.
The nurses and doctors have made her their “Special Case” at the hospital. They have a meeting each Thursday and one of the things they do is discuss and choose a patient upon whom to focus their attention and prayers. The people there are wonderfully attentive and helpful.
When I went into her room in the ICU on Wednesday night, I told the attending nurse that Leigh was a special lady. I told her that she was brave and strong, and that she has bungee-jumped out of a hot air balloon, climbed up the back side of Half Dome, she flies planes, and climbs ice glaciers and is my son’s life. I wanted her to know that we had to make her get well. The nurse stood at the foot of Leigh’s bed ALL night long when she wasn’t attending to her.
Stood there.
Leigh has had over a dozen family members hovering over her since she was admitted to the hospital. All of us are in shock and disbelief. We have been on a gut level need here. Your prayers and love humble all of us.