Teenage Ben Hur

My Dad, Jere Johnson, is a Natural Horsemanship Clinician in the Central Hill Country of Texas. When he was young, he did things the old way of “make” and “force“, just like everyone else he knew. Now he has a whole different way of looking at things, and the horse always comes first, with dignity and respect. This is the story(as he told it) of his mule driving days, when he was twelve years old.

MD Anderson - Weekend at the ER

Yesterday, the eighth, Felicia ran a low grade temperature all day and by 8:40 last night she had reached the number that the doctor said was the go number.  At one point, heading in last night, her temp spiked at 101.4.  So of course, when we got here she had a minimal fever.  Seems like that always happens!  Felicia said that she was hoping for a little temp, she felt foolish coming in with a 99.4, but better safe than sorry!

They got us into an ER room and began the tests!  They took blood to run blood cultures and checked various other things.  They finally ended up giving her some antibiotics and fluids.  Which have taken all night to administer.  They are now giving her a blood transfusion which is a two hour per bag operation, so by 11am that part should be complete.

The only troubling thing was her heart rate, which has been running high.  Doctor said it could be stress, but if it does not go down…then they are checking her in upstairs. 

So we sit here!  I don’t think Felicia has gotten much sleep and I know she doesn’t feel good, but she is a trooper.  Whenever I ask how she is doing, she says “I’m alright”.

8:10am 7/9/11:  Just found out that since her temp is rising, they are going to admit her and slow down the transfusion, since it is not safe to give blood.

9:10am 7/9/11:  Doctor came in and said she was going to check Felicia in for a couple of days.  She said that Felicia did this same thing, basically, the last time we had an ER visit and had everything had returned to normal within 36 hours.

9:40am 7/9/11:  Her fever and high heart rate is due to the low white counts.  So she will spend at least one more night in the hospital.

4:00pm 7/9/11:  Finally got to a room about noon, but Felicia’s temp has been up and down all afternoon.   Right now it is at 102.8. 

9:00am 7/10/11:  After a fitful night (neither of us slept much) the doctor came in this  morning and told us that if Felicia could take it, she would go ahead and give her the blood transfusion.   She did not have any temperature last night, so of course she had a 100.2 this morning!  She has to stay in one more day, so hopefully we can go home tomorrow.

7/11/11 –  She got two pints of blood last night, so hopefully she gets to come home today.  She felt real good most of yesterday.  They just would not release her with her heart rate up and her blood counts down.

Your continued prayers are coveted and we trust God will see us through this!