Update on Lauren

SENSITIVE: Please don’t read this if things are too upsetting to you. For those who don’t wish to read this, I will just say Lauren is in the SICU and relativly stable. For those who wish to know more, I have included some details. Just scroll down. Thank you for your concern.

I am in the SICU waiting room. I hope this will be coherent. So much has happened that it seems so unreal. As you know, Lauren had her surgery on Wed. I slept in the room with her and the docs became very concerned about some of her liver functions. They decided at 4:00am on Friday to go back to surgery and she was in surgery for another eight hours where they took a vein from her leg and tried to rebuild her portal or hepatic vein. Sorry I can’t remember which one, but I think it was hepatic. It was not functioning properly. That was successful and she was taken back to the SICU. In the early evening around 5:30, her blood pressure crashed and they felt she was bleeding inside. They prepared a sterile field right in her room and opened her up right there. If everything would not have gone as perfectly as it did, she would have been gone. There were about 30 doctors and nurses all working together. We all sat at the nurse’s station right outside the room and watched in part awe and part horror. They were paging all over the hospital for blood, different medical equipment, crash cart, and everyone came running and did their part. You could not possibly make a movie that was this dramatic. Luckily, Dr. Sonnenday was there to operate. I have a charm I wear every day with Lauren’s pic on the front and a saying on the back that says “Lauren Patrice- Forever in my heart.” Along with it I wear a St. Peregrine medal (Patron Saint for cancer). I squeezed those two together and prayed so hard for a miracle. God heard my prayer because I was thinking and praying for him to give me a sign that he heard and at that moment I heard laughter which I didn’t think was appropriate. My husband, Mark, leaned over and said, “Sometimes laughter is a good thing when people are stressed.” They had fixed the bleed from the artery and the mood changed. It was such a relief. She is by no means out of the woods, but is a little more stable today. She is on dialysis and a ventilator. She is also still open at the abdomen where it is packed and dressed in case any other complications arise, but if she improves, could go back to the OR tomorrow or Mon. to be closed. I cannot stress to you how much these doctors and nurses did to save Lauren’s life. I am forever grateful to them. I better go now because I am rambling, but I felt so bad as to not update you, my wonderful friends. Thank you for the prayers. Lauren is fighing with all her might. Love to all.

-Pam