Big Turnaround

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday at this time Carly was in a very critical state that had everyone worried, including the medical team. Her temperature was up to 104F, her heart rate was 220 beats per minute, her respiratory rate was 105 breaths per minute, and her pupils were unresponsive to light. Around 10pm everything started to settle out and by midnight all of her vital signs were back within her normal range. The team ruled out a shunt problem, and although some blood cultures need a few more days to finalize they are pretty certain that the symptoms were not caused by an infection.

The latest thought is that Carly was suffering from something called paroxysmal autonomic instability. This means that the autonomic part of her brain which controls critical vitals like heart rate, breathing and temperature basically got out of whack and worked itself into a state that it could not recover from. This is something that Dr. Gupta has seen with patients that have had brain injury, and it can also occur with someone who has had surgical procedures like Carly. He said that he has not seen it to the extent that Carly suffered from last night, but added that typically it is a transient occurrence that people eventually grow out of. The symptoms looked very similar to what Carly suffered from during our month long stay in June, but they have never occurred at any other time. Most likely Carly's body was pushed too hard with everything that she has gone through here and her brain could not compensate. This also means that it is not very likely that we will see something like this on the outside.

The best news from the day is that Carly nursed for the first time in over five days. This is always her sign that she is starting to feel better and it certainly makes Christa and I feel relieved. She slept for most of the day, catching up on some much needed sleep. If she can continue this trend there is still a chance that we will be able to go home by the end of the week. While that would be an amazing gift, just seeing Carly feeling better is all I could ask for. (Ok, I'm asking to go home too.) This is yet another experience that is harder than anything we thought we were prepared to handle, and we have no doubt that you have all given us the extra boost we have needed to make it though. The love of many with a shared focus is a powerful force.

Love, Brad