Angeline 9-14 am

I just got a call from the U of M. They are more guarded this morning. They still speak in terms of "in a couple of days" what we might be looking at for treatment or "in a couple of days" what we might expect in terms of signs of improvement, but I'm not sure Angeline has a couple of days. Her protein level has decreased slightly and they think she seems a little listless. They are adding something called Hetastarch to her IV and switching some of her medications around to see if they can make a difference. They are also consulting a nutritionist about giving her something called TPN which goes in IV and provides some nutritional support. It won't help her gain any weight but may be able to keep her stable while they work on settling down her guts and getting them able to absorb nutrients again. She will continue to get Clinicare nutrition through her feeding tube. They said her "little gut cells" need to be coated in nutrition to heal themselves. No results from the tests yet, they expect one back this morning to tell us if she is losing protein in her urine (very bad), one this afternoon hopefully to tell us if she has Addison's (normally treatable I guess but not likely in her case), and are starting another one to culture for a few other gastrointestinal things like camplobachter or salmonella. That test takes "a few days".

So I'm not sure where this leaves things except that it leaves me feeling a sense of helplessness, desperation and rage. It is not right that she should fight so hard all on her own and not make it when she is finally someplace she can get help. I try to remember Minnie, she was so thin and weak she could not stand or even sit. It was a few days in the ICU before she took her first three stumbling steps. But Minnie made it and she is healthy, happy and here. I am hoping Angeline can follow in her predecessor's footsteps.

I'll be visiting Angeline this evening and will update afterwards...sooner if I get any other news.

Thanks for reading, thanks for caring about Angeline and please keep her in your prayers.

Lynne