Day 306 | JULY 13, 2022
Good evening, Friends, today is day 306 of our new and amazing life!
Today is the day that I will need and ask for your help and prayers.
Our mornings are becoming consistent, London is doing a great Job waking up early to school, and Baby Julien slept in after going to bed late yesterday.
The day went by very fast today, mainly because I was worried about Charlie, not to the point of being unable to work, but to the point of going down the rabbit hole of medical research.
As of this afternoon, they still trying to find out what was causing so much discomfort and pain to Charlie, they finally announced that Charlie is extremely Anemic, it is expected for burn survivors to Anemic, however the many procedures in the last two weeks, have cause her to lost a good amount of blood.
VCU is facing a shortage of blood, but they do prioritize the burn unit, so her doctor order blood for Charlie to help with her symptoms, he also told Charlie that tomorrow during her surgery, they would give her more blood, so Charlie being Charlie, always thinking about others, decided that she would hold off on today's blood and she would only get blood tomorrow, since she knew of the shortage and wanted to make that blood available for someone in need.
Well, her symptoms got worse, and by 7pm she was feeling very clammy, with a fever and an elevated heart rate. Based on her symptoms, her doctors also decided to start her on a broad-spectrum antibiotic.
Charlie had a good morning before she started to feel too bad. She pushed very hard during her PT session, and she was able to take a few steps in a walker, she was so proud of that achievement!! You go Charlie!
Right now, Charlie has a massive headache and her whole-body aches. I am praying that she feels some relief soon, the antibiotics just start, and I am hopeful that in a few hours she will start some sort of relief.
Tomorrow surgery will be a big one, they will remove donor skin from her upper back and possible her head, if they use her scalp skin they will shave her head, but is not for sure, they will focus in grafting her right knee, both ankles and maybe her elbows, her buttocks will have to wait until the next surgery.
But what will be possible even more painful, is the manipulation of her right arm, they will try to extend her arm and force some range of motion, she will lose the use of her right arm for about a week and the hope is to regain some range of motion on the arm and maybe her right hand, I am praying that Charlie is able to tolerate the pain after the surgery.
I have been praying a lot today, Charlie needs God's mercy and strength, she is dealing with a lot of issues and all at the same time, she is strong, but she has been put to the test once again.
Due to the blood shortage at VCU, our amazing group of moms are working to put together a blood drive, to help Charlie but also VCU hospital in general, Charlie is a O- the universal Donor, but she can only receive O-.
I would like to ask kindly if you could donate blood, we would greatly appreciate it and we would help not only Charlie, but a lot of people. I will share the details of the blood drive once we have them in the next 48h.
I am also asking for your prayers, Charlie needs all of your love and prayers, tomorrow will be a very difficult day in terms of pain.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
May God Bless You!
André
