Third Time's A Charm

Busy this morning with 9 quarts of chicken soup on the stove and Tater Tot Casserole in the oven, we were interrupted by an urgent summons to the hospital. Aiyana was in trouble.

Last evening we celebrated that her fever broke around 8pm. Man, we all thought we were home free but overnight she had distress breathing as a lung infection took hold, and she was moved into Pediatric ICU around midnight.

Her condition steadily worsened throughout the early part of the day and the prognosis was grim. She had an infection, a rapidly moving infection that had compromised her lungs at a time when she essentially had no white antibodies to fight it off. By the time we arrived, she was hooked up to all sorts of machines and tubes to try and stabilize her. The doctors had already exhausted the first of three treatment options and were midway through the second which was appearing ineffective.

Really long minutes ticked by as the family huddled with the Minister and her parents stepped out from time to time with updates. We paced and held hands and waited. When we were able to go in briefly to see her, she lay bloated and unconscious on the bed with her small chest vibrating from the breathing apparatus attached to her lungs. Her little heart was beating over 200 beats per minute.

And then code blue. We pasted ourselves along the walls as doctors and nurses tore past us to help the flurry of people working to resucitate her. Her mother and dad watched, hands over their mouths, shocked to be seeing what they never hoped they would. And then Aiyana came back, strong and stable, and it was decided to go for broke.

We are on the third and final option now, one used for temporary bypasses during pulmonary surgeries. Essentially the huge machine attaches to her veins and arteries and pumps blood out of her body, artificially oxygenates it and returns it to the body without using her lungs. What the doctors hope is that Aiyana's lungs will be able to rest and heal themselves. We've already been told it will get worse before it gets better. I can't imagine how much worse it can be than today.

And yet. Aiyana has defied all the odds since the day she was born. With cerebral palsy and epilepsy, her parents were told she wouldn't walk, but she runs and dances and rides her bike. They said she wouldn't talk but I dare you to stop her. Her wonderful father says: give her the chance and she will do what she's always done: defy the odds.

But a double helping of prayer will do wonders, too. Please join us every day until she is well. She needs you now more than ever.