Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I am so sorry for my absence.....January was full of many beautiful moments and experiences and I want to share all of them with you, but I just received a call and Claire is in pain at the hospital and I need to run back. This last Saturday, February 10th, Claire started with a low grade fever during the day at home but required admission to Sutter Memorial late Saturday night. Within three hours after her admission, her frail and weak body was fighting to survive a very serious bacterial infection. Her fever was so high it was unmeasurable and her abililty to be responsive and breathe independently was jeoparized so close to a full body coma state its hard to relive again. The bad news is her infection is e-coli, one of the deadiest and fastest growing bacteria to a zero white count body there is, the good news if you are able to catch it in time, it is very responsive to anti-bacterial medications. Claire beat the infection by about 2 hours the physicians estimate, meaning if we had not aggressively treated her infection within 2 more hours we would have lost her. I recall crying and yelling at her when she was drifting away from me during the horrific hour late Saturday night - I could not believe she has beat all the odds and medical prognosis' with this evil tumor so far and now could leave us because of a microscopic bacteria every healthy child and person controlls naturally - " I REFUSE", I repeated over and over to her. We all have e-coli and other bad bacteria in our bodies naturally but we can fight it and never know it presence. After 6 rounds of high dose - almost lethal chemotherapy her intestinal lining and normal body functions are so compromised a little bit of e-coli escaping into her blood or other organs is fatal in less than 4 hours. But she did it again and only in Claire style too. There were about 4 nurses and other allied health professionals treating her during this crisis and after a long struggle, Claire suddenly opened her eyes and was able to track us and yelled with such strength and conviction..."LEAVE ME ALONE!". One of the nurses responded asking her which one and Claire looked at them all and thought for a moment..."ALL OF YOU!". The staff and I broke out into more tears but this time with screams of laughter as we all knew - Claire Won!!!! She did it again. She is fever free since Monday, although with the life saving medications comes painful bowel activity, stress and discomfort and the only relief is being held my your mom or dad when you feel so lousy. I promise I will back track and share all the fun stories and Claire moments that accompany the fabulous pictures above taken during an incredible January. Thank you for your unwavering support and love - we feel you!!