Update on Rhonda, Saturday 10-11-2019

Rhonda has been hanging out with her buddy, Snoopy!

This has been a very challenging week for Rhonda. Today is the 19th day she has been in the hospital. All but two of those days have been in ICU. She has had four surgical procedures since early Monday morning. The first was to find and repair a bleed in her abdomen. The second was on Monday night and it was a surgery to relieve the massive pressure in her abdomen caused by the collection of blood. The pressure was causing her organs to shut down. She could not breathe, they could not keep her blood pressure up, even though they were pushing four different medicines to raise it. Her kidneys and liver were struggling to function. We were told she would not survive if the pressure was not relieved. The danger of the surgery was that by relieving the pressure things could “explode” out and damage her organs. They refused to give us a percentage of her chances if she had the surgery, only that she would not survive without it. The surgery went well and they removed 10 liters of blood from her abdomen and she immediately began to improve. They left the incision open with a wound vacuum. On Wednesday she had the third procedure to clean out her abdomen and check for new bleeds. Everything checked out great. They continued with the wound vac. On Friday she had her fourth procedure of the week to close up the incision. She has been on and off a ventilator several times this week. Today the breathing tube was removed and she is doing well. Tonight she has started a “clear liquid” diet and if she tolerates that well they will remove the feeding tube. She does still have one nasty wound on the back of her leg, which is were all of this started. Please pray for that to heal and that there will be no more infections.
She is getting stronger every day. We do not yet know the plan going forward. They plan to start physical therapy soon to get her moving. That is somewhat complicated by the wound on her leg. We are looking forward to getting out of the Surgical ICU and into a step-down, or normal room. We anticipate a stay at a rehab facility will follow. Please pray that there are no further set backs and that she can return to normal activity soon.
we appreciate every person and church who has prayed, and also those who have reached out to us via email and texts. We know that all of this was in God’s plan and is sent by His hand. We love Him and trust Him.
God is always good, He is only good.

-The Brandenburg Family