Chapter 75 "On Hiatus But Not Abandoned"
A/N: I'm so sorry. This isn't a chapter, it is notice that it will be awhile longer before I can continue on the story. Real life has thrown a few minor wallops, and then it threw a really big one.
Once again I am asking for prayers, not for me, but for my older sister, who at this time is fighting that awful H1N1 ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which I call ultimate pneumonia on steroids). She's in ICU on a respirator, unconscious and intubated, with a feeding tube and half a dozen IVs. She was in critical for a while, but now is in stable, still can't breathe on her own, and they can only keep that intubation tube in there for so long before they have to switch it to a trach. I'm glad she doesn't realize what's going on, because frankly she's a horrible patient, so the real problems are going to start when (I can't get my head around "if") she makes enough progress that they can allow her to wake up. The doctor says that may be a few more weeks yet. "It's going to take a long time." WE know that they are all gonna wish she was back on the ventilator when (I know, I know, there's that awful "if" in there) she comes off it. A full recovery is not likely due to the amount of damage this has already done to her lungs. Nobody knows what's gonna happen, what her life will be like, if she shakes this as much as she can. The best we can hope for is months of recovery, the worst is a year or two. I won't stay on hiatus that long, just till she's out of the woods.
We've been dealing with this for awhile. This thing hits so fast, and so hard. Her lungs were okay, and less than fourx hours later she's in critical condition in the ICU, literally fighting for her life! She's stable now (like I said, we've been dealing with this for a while, and the doctor keeps telling us that "It's gonna take a long time.") They can't give us a prognosis. They don't know yet. Stable is good and bad. It means they have things steady so she's not getting worse, but she's not getting any better right now. But with this, not getting worse is good. We are very aware that people with cases of ARDS just like hers have died from this. It's horrible. It's like it's evil!
So please pray or send her good thoughts? I promise promise promise I will finish the story, but at this time I just have to call this a hiatus. I don't know when the next chapter will be up. I appreciate your patience. You are the best, kindest people. Thank you so very much for the prayers and well wishes. They are beyond appreciated.
Love,
Jean