Still Critical

Maggie is relatively close to how she was last evening. Not a lot of big changes. We are getting more information about what we're up against, which is at times unnerving. Her chest x-ray shows significant "hazing" in both lungs. They believe that she has ARDS, or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. This is the inflammation that happens to the lungs, essentially an injury to the lungs. This is dangerous, just as the infection is. But it is a necessary and expected part of the recovery process. You get worse before you get better. The organism that is causing this is still unknown. And, they may not ever know. They've made a few adjustments to the medicines to cover a wide range of infections--viral, bacterial, and fungal.

Another warning that we have been getting several times over is how long this recovery could take--we've been told that it will be several weeks, up to a month, or more. If they offered us a 4 week recovery (or 20 weeks for that matter) that she will survive, we'd sign up in less than an instant. There are still no guarantees that she will make it. But we can handle an extended recovery; if that's what it takes, that's fine. We also know that the course of this kind of illness is that it fluctuates a lot. We will have good moments, followed by scary ones, and hopefully more good ones. We want, at the least, steady progress.

We feel blessed to still have Maggie, but still praying for the miracle to continue. It is not close to being over. Thanks for the overwhelming support and interest.