An Update on Katie - from Davey

From the official source of news on the progress of our friend Katie Bloom:

from davey - 11:45am
Just got this message from Davey:

"We had our little Sawyer on Tuesday, the 8th, and were allowed to go home on the 9th because things were going so well. Over the next week things were normal until this last Wednesday. If you know Katie, headaches are a consistent part of life, so when she began to complain of a headache we were not overly concerned. Her doctor prescribed some heavy painkillers for her (over the phone). After these really didn't have much effect, she went in to see him and he prescribed some other pain meds to deal with the increasing pain and stiffness in her neck. As a precaution Dr wanted her to get a CT scan at Methodist. She went in Thursday afternoon and the CT scan came back clear so she went home. I picked up the new meds for her later that afternoon and she began to take them.

However, around 10pm she woke me up and said something is really wrong. Most of you know, Katie has a very high pain tolerance. I've seen her take a kidney stone before, but this was different. Katie's vision was blurring and she was in intense pain. I rushed her to the ER where they got her in right away and the first thing they did was try to deal with the pain. So basically they started pumping her full of narcotics which did help some with the pain, but did not take it all away.

She started throwing up and her vision continued to blur. In about two hours she slowly drifted off to sleep, which we all assumed was a good thing as she was finally peaceful. An emergency room Dr came to see her after a little while and was concerned that he couldn't get her to wake up. He told me that this is not a drug induced sleep but rather a very deep coma, and he immediately ordered another CT scan. This one was bad. He immediately called in the Neurosurgeon for a consult.

She came in within 30 minutes and after reviewing the CT scan basically gave me two options. 1) let her pass away, 2) do surgery. The Neurosurgeon warned us that even if the surgery was successful in keeping her alive, it would not alter any brain damage that has surly happened. We obviously opted for the surgery which began around 5:30am.

The surgery lasted until about 9:30am and she was then moved to a recovery room as there was no room in the ICU wing. The neurosurgen informed us that the surgery went very well, but still did not give us any hope that she would ultimately recover. However, as Katie began to come out of the anesthetic there was immediately some very good signs. She was responsive to some voice stimulation (i.e.. squeeze my hand Katie, move your toes). In a few hours she was moved to ICU where she is as of now (11:30 Saturday am).

The good news is that Katie continues to advance in all areas. She as said a few words, has kissed my hand, as good strength in her hands and legs (in fact she actually pulled the intubation tubes out of her nose and mouth). She has partially opened her eyes, but that continues to be a concern. The surgeon who initially worked on Katie was in Friday night and was very pleased.

All of this is good, but we still have no real direction regarding the issues in the brain (i.e.. cause of bleeding). However, it really doesn't matter what the issues are as God is at work and is presently healing Katie. Please continue to pray believing prayers as God loves to honor the faith of his children. Hope this helps to put things in perspective and help with any rumors that may be out there. "