I’ll start with the positive… the new antibiotic has kicked in & Emerson is starting to feel betterJ.  She is still in some pain, but her urine looks clearer, she’s sitting up, & she’s much more alert throughout the day.  That’s the good news.

Now the bad… the drug we started yesterday cannot be used alone to treat this infection, so the team has added one additional antibiotic.  This puts us at the last possible combination of drugs available.  We are now officially out of options.  There is nothing left.  Period.  No single drug, no combination of drugs.  Nothing.  And to make the bad news even worse, the final drug they started today interacts with her anti-rejection med & can cause sudden cardiac death - sudden death, unexpected, at any time.  They did everything possible to avoid this drug.  They tested several obscure antibiotics in the lab & all returned resistant.  So, she’s on 2 antibiotics – 1 can cause permanent kidney damage, the other sudden cardiac death.  It’s not a pretty combination.

Needless to say Emerson won’t be leaving the hospital until treatment is completed (which could mean a dreaded life flight back to Omaha).  She’ll be receiving regular EKGs & is on a heart monitor.  Course of treatment is 2 weeks from the date of the first negative culture (which we don’t have yet).

At the end of the day, I’ve gone from believing she’ll get through this one & being worried about the next few infections to being worried about this one & terrified of the next – not the next few, the next one.  This sucks!

We sure would appreciate your prayers at this time.  Eme’s angels have their work cut out for them in the coming weeks…