I'm writing this morning to ask all of you to continue to pray for my friend Al's wife Katy. Al is the percussion teacher at my school and his wife has been in critical condition for the past three weeks after delivering her third child. Praise God the baby is healthy and Katy is still alive! Al keeps a blog updating how Katy is doing (the link is under my blog list to the right).
For those of you who don't know about the situation at all, Katy had a very rare complication with type A strep. This particular problem only happens in 0.02% of all cases of women who even have that strain of strep to begin with. Usually it's dangerous for the baby, not the mom, so doctors/midwives test women going into labor and if it comes back positive the mom takes some antibiotics to protect the baby. Well, Katy's test came back negative three times. However, after baby Arielle was born the strep "kicked in" and attacked her uterus and colon.
After a few days she started having a lot of pain so she went to the ER. These events followed (if you have a weak stomach, please skip this paragraph, especially the end!): renal failure, septic blood, dialysis, toxic shock syndrome, emergency surgery (removal of colon, uterus, part of bowls = only 5% chance of making it through surgery), medically induced coma, naturally occurring coma, blood complication (I forget the name - blood thins and clots at the same time causing major clots in the extremities and the rest of the blood is so thin that it seeps through porous membranes, skin included), possible stroke during coma, MRI showing no stroke, woke up from coma and was coherent and able to respond to questions, lots of pain = medically induced coma, move to new facility (Dallas), dangerous situation with toxins from her extremities leading to the amputation of all four limbs (one arm below the elbow, all others just above the major joint). After last Friday's amputation surgery she was able to wake up and respond again to questions and conversation. She had follow-up surgery for the amputations on Monday and again today. She isn't breathing on her own yet but they are hopeful that she will be able to by next week so they are delaying a possible tracheotomy. They are now looking in to being able to move her back to Houston.
So again, please pray for Katy, Al, and their family. They have a daughter in high school, son in young elementary school, and the new baby. The outpouring of support for this family has truly been amazing. Katy and Al are both self-employed and uninsured so this is a very stressful time financially as well (there are details of how to contribute financially on Al's blog if you are so inclined).
I've been the main contact on campus up until Al started blogging, so pretty much any time I walk through the hallway I get stopped and asked for an update or for a listening ear while the faculty tries to cope with this situation. Please pray that I would have the words God wants them to hear from me when I speak with them. A few of our students found out the details yesterday and one came to my office with the horror of it clearly on her face. This is what I told her, and what I tell you as you think and pray for Katy:
When I found out last Friday about the surgeries Katy was having this week, I started praying for several things: First, that God would put Katy on my heart throughout the day that I would be reminded to pray for her (physically and spiritually); Second, that after I finish each prayer that God would protect my mind from obsessively thinking over the details and that He would protect my mind as I sleep that I wouldn't have nightmares about this; Third, that God would fill Katy with love and forgiveness and compassion for Al to prepare her for when she finds out what has happened to her and that ultimately this would lead to their salvation; and Finally that God would protect the new baby in order that her family would love her and bond with her and blame her for her mother's illness.
Thank you for your prayers for this family. Praise God for his sovereignty and that he will be glorified in everything, even when we don't understand.
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