Update of Rhonda Brandenburg - 10-08-19

Praying over Rhonda after surgery. Thanking God for His goodness.

Rhonda had a very rough day yesterday. She had a bleed in her abdomen where the blood was collecting and pressing on her organs. It was distressing her breathing, pressing on her heart, causing her blood pressure to stay very low. It also was affecting her liver function and kidneys. These combined caused her to have great trouble breathing, her blood pressure was so low they were giving her 4 meds to raise the numbers. She was in incredible distress and fading quickly. The surgeons discussed a surgery to open up her abdomen to drain the excess blood and look for any additional bleeds. It was very risky with her other conditions. They did not think she could handle the surgery. Yesterday afternoon it became obvious that she would not survive if they did not get the pooled blood out. She was in surgery for about 45 minutes. The surgeons said she did very well in the surgery. They took 10 liters of blood out of her abdomen. Her blood pressure numbers immediately began to improve. They have remained strong and her breathing is improving. They had to leave the incision open to drain and is has a vacuum to remove the old blood and drainage. They will take her back to the operating room tomorrow to clean out her abdomen and reevaluate everything.

God has been so good to give Rhonda strength though this trial. She is still very sick and the next 48 hours are critical. She is on the ventilator with lots of medications and they are still needing to give her blood products. The surgeon told us today that she is “still deep in the woods.” She cannot tolerate another infection and needs to continue to heal and get stronger. This will be a very long healing process, but by God’s grace she is headed in the right direction.

We are thankful for the prayers, texts, calls, and visits from Pastor. Your demonstrated love for Rhonda and support for our family are more helpful than we can express. God has a plan in all of this and we trust Him. 

God is always good. He is only good.

-The Brandenburg Family