Johanna (Cataholic) & Sister Jessica continue to Request Prayers for young Samantha

[Cinder & Smoke]

Oh, MY ~ What a **CUTIE** you are, Sammy!!

Cinder here ~
Dad ALSO sed "MOM's kinda *CUTE* too! Must run inna Fambly!

Dunno if this will work or not;but I "stole" the Photo of Mom & Sammy
from the Hospital Care Site ... here goes >>>


Meet Mom Jessica and SAMANTHA >>>






/s/ Phred
..

[lbaker]

Oh Phred, oh heavy sigh's of love. What a beautiful picture to light these fire's of love towards.

[jenluckenbach]

She's BLONDE! I expected a dark haired Chinese looking girl. sorry, just an observation to lighten the mood

I did not join that website, I will hope to still find my updates here.

More thoughts and prayers.

[prechrswife]

She's BLONDE! I expected a dark haired Chinese looking girl. sorry, just an observation to lighten the mood

My thoughts exactly, Jen.

Little Samantha is still in my prayers.

[kimlovescats]

Samantha is BEAUTIFUL and I just know she is going to make it! Still praying!!!

Hugs,
Kim

[Logan]

Prayers continue.

[Cataholic]

These are the entries from the Carepage, for those of you that can't make it over there. I will post updates as they are given.

This is the first entry, from May 17, 2005:

Hello, everyone. As most of you know, it's been a long, nightmarish week here at Children's ICU. The miracle is that Sam is still with us, and is making small improvements each day. I'll begin this with a little background, then will try to update as often as I can; please feel free to leave messages. The support of our family and friends means so much to us.

Background: After enjoying a wonderful first Mother's Day, Sam had an uneventful Sunday evening; she skipped her nap, and fell right to sleep that night after a bath. She'd had a cold since earlier in the week, w/an occasional low-grade fever and runny nose. Nothing major. I called the ped's office a couple times, but they assured me that it was going around, all the kids had it, etc., etc. Monday morning was a different story; she had a high fever, was vomiting, and was lethargic. In short, she wasn't herself at all. Ped's office still said these were the kinds of symptoms kids were having--which was, and still is, true--but we'd never seen Sam like this, and we took her to Mercy Clermont's ER. They brought down her fever, and tested for a couple things, but found nothing--but then a small rash started to develop. It was just a few small marks in a couple places. We also found out the week before that Sam has a platelet disorder, and this concerned the ER doc since it's a rare disorder. He decided to have her admitted to Children's, and we arrived in their ER early that evening. Immediately, they knew something was wrong--the rash had worsened, and they suspected it was meningitis. They told us it was unlikely she'd survive the night, but luckily, she's strong, has tons of folks praying for her, and is under the care of excellent doctors. The diagnosis: meningocoxxemia, w/purpura fulminans. (As many times as I've seen the words written down now, I continue to screw up the spelling, but those are close.) She has the neiserria form of meningitis, which is the most serious. About 20% of us carry the bacteria in our noses or throats, and suffer no ill effects from it. Unfortunately, it enters the bloodstream of some--Sam being one--and causes rapid, aggressive infection and damage. There is no rhyme nor reason--simple bad luck dictated this. It's unrelated to Sam's albinism or platelet disorder.

Moving on to today: the doctors and nurses are amazed that Sam is still w/us, and continuing to make small strides. She's on dialysis (though they hope the kidneys will come back), a feeding tube (she had a BM, which is a good sign), as well as a breathing tube, and she's been receiving blood products. They are trying to wean her from her various tubes--her lung and heart function is good, her bp is stable, and though she hasn't had a CAT scan yet, she grimaces, flinches, coughs and moves her eyes a lot, and they have every reason to believe the brain is okay. They are removing fluids from her body, so the swelling is starting to go down, and a doctor from Shriner's (pretty much next door) is coming to see her tomorrow; if all continues to go well, she will be transferred there, so they can deal with the effects on the skin and limbs. There have been so many doctors and so much information, and I'm likely leaving some things out, but that's the gist of where we are right now.

Thanks, everyone, for your prayers, support, phone calls, visits--we are indeed blessed w/family and friends. Keep Sammy in your prayers, as we have a long road ahead of us. She's such a strong little girl and has been through so much in her short life.

Jessica & Rob

[Cataholic]

Here is the second entry, from May 18, 2005:

Another day has passed, and Sam is still pretty stable. Two docs from Shriner's made it over last night; they couldn't say a whole lot at this point, as they'll have to look her over in more detail in the OR, as soon as she can be moved. At this point, her upper extremities look okay; her feet don't look so great. A guesstimate as far as her transfer would be maybe late next week. They are talking about wanting to do a few procedures sometime this week, but they're still debating, and all they've done today so far is put in a new feeding tube. They are also cleaning & treating her skin a couple times a day. She's coming to a bit, and makes a lot of faces when they're doing anything to her; her eyes open a little here and there, and she did make a little cry yesterday, but she's still heavily sedated, and they assure me the pain is under control. She moves her head, as well as her arms, so we definitely know she's in there! One of the nurses put her hair in pig tails, and w/a lot of the swelling down, she's resembling our baby girl again. Her white cell count was up yesterday, but they're not sure why yet; I haven't heard anything new about that today, but am praying a new infection won't set in--that's the last thing we need right now. We're also waiting for her kidneys to start doing their thing again. So, it's a lot of waiting, and a lot more hoping and praying. Thanks, everyone, for your prayers and thoughts--it's nice to see so many names, both of folks I know and folks I don't. Sam can use all the prayers she can get!
Jessica

[anna_66]

First let me say what a great site the hospital has. I joined and that picture of the two of them is precious. I'm still continually thinking of her and hope things keep going her way.

[Karen]

She will continue to be in our prayers. Thanks for posting the updates, Jo.

[Albea]

Still sending prayers and good thoughts for Sammy's recovery.
What a beatiful little girl she is!
Thanks, Phred, for posting the photo.

[ramanth]

Thanks for that link Johanna. I've signed up.

Hugs and continued prayers for Sammy.

[popcornbird]

Awww. There are some more pics of Samantha up there now. She's so sweet! Still praying for her!!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks for the updates. I'm still continuing to pray for her.

[Barbara]

Having been away for a day I only could read the updates now. I think this is already very good news- regarded how dangerous this disease is and we will hope for more- in time of course