Saturday Desta Update: New Answers, New Symptoms

There’s been a lot of information over the past 24-hours, so here goes…

1. The anti-viral medication for the chicken pox has worked well and almost all of her spots have dried up and scabbed over.

2. Desta’s labs showed that she had salmonella. If it gets in the bloodstream it can cause a fever, so she was treated with antibiotics as if this had happened. Fortunately, this has brought her fever down.

3. Drawing any blood from Desta is an ordeal, to say the least. Her chicken pox sores make this even more challenging than normal. She does not give up the blood very easily. Which leads to…

4. In the middle of the night, Desta’s IV (which had been in her foot) came out and was no longer putting fluid in her veins but into her foot, causing it to swell. They tried for about an hour to get a new IV in to her other leg, arm, etc. with no success. If they cannot get an IV re-established, then she will need a…

5. PIC line and a move in to the PICU. We would like to avoid this, if at all possible. She will need to be put under anesthetic in order to have the PIC line inserted, and we are told it is painful going in and coming out. Please pray we can avoid both the PIC line and the PICU today.

6. Desta has developed cold/cough symptoms as well. We’re not completely surprised by this, as that was the progression of symptoms for many of the other children at the orphanage. Lastly…

7. Desta has a few sores that could either become bedsores or become infected. We are trying to keep her as clean as possible and on her side to allow some of those to heal.

Right now we have no clear picture of how long she will be at the hospital, but our next step is going to be getting a new IV and avoiding the PIC line procedure. We are still waiting on a number of other lab tests for various other ailments, but right now she is responding well to the current treatment for the fever.

Thank you again for your prayers and support!