Update on Rhonda Brandenburg 2019-09-26

Update on Rhonda Brandenburg – Thursday Afternoon 09-26-2019

Rhonda was brought to the ER very early on Tuesday morning, September 24 and admitted to the hospital after several hours in the ER. She is dealing with infections, lymphedema, and breathing issues.  

Last night she had a good, quiet night. She was able to sleep for long periods of time, as much as they let you in the hospital. Today has been a good day as far as getting answers and starting to plan the road to recovery. To recap, she is in ICU at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. She is currently on a ventilator, but they are testing her breathing now on how she will do without it. The trend looks like they will be able to remove it tomorrow. Because of the breathing tube, she has not been able to speak, but that has not stopped her from communicating with us. We have a large legal pad, and a pen on her bed and she writes messages to us. The humbling thing is that she has better handwriting being sick, with IVs in her arms and hands, and all of the other things attached that I do on a good day! She still has her humor and is still feisty! (She poked John and Zach with the pen to keep them in line!)

They have identified the infection. They were treating her for three different infections; lung, urinary, and in her blood from the wounds on her leg. They no longer believe that there is an infection in her lungs or urinary. They have narrowed it down to a bacterial strep type “c” in her blood. That is being aggressively addressed with antibiotics.

While running a sonogram of her heart they have discovered that her pulmonary artery is greatly enlarged. This is probably a result of the multiple pulmonary embolisms (blood clots) she had many years ago. Now that this has been identified, the other symptoms are making more sense. This means we will be able to start addressing CAUSES, rather than symptoms in these issues. The tests today ruled out an infection of the heart valves. That is really good! She has been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension and will require some new treatments and care for this newly diagnosed condition.

She will be in the hospital for a while yet. Certainly, beyond the weekend and possibly much longer. We need to get the infection under control, reduce the amount of fluid retention, and then work on her strength and mobility. We expect that she will not be discharged from the hospital to go home when she is stable, but probably to a rehab facility to work on her strength and mobility.

Pastor Tim Berlin, Faith Baptist Church, Warren, MI

We are so thankful for the comments, prayers, phone calls, and texts that have come from friends around the world. We are thankful for our Pastor, Tim Berlin and his care for us. Last night we had a real treat when our dear missionary friend, Jason Russell, from Daru, Western Province, Papua New Guinea, called to check on Rhonda and to pray with her!

 Thank you again for your prayers, please keep them up! The Lord is so good to us!

Missionary Jason Russell, Daru, Papua, New Guinea

God is good.
He is ALWAYS good,
He is ONLY good.

The Brandenburg Family