Prayers Please.....

I apologize for the sparseness in my posts lately.  As many of you already know, Cortney battled a staph infection at the beginning of May.  She had been admitted to the hospital for 3 days and placed on heavy duty IV antibiotics.  When she came home, she had what appeared to be a hole in her leg from the infection.  We were sent to an infectious disease doc who then sent us to wound care.  Cort had 5 visits there and the decision was made to send her to a plastic surgeon.  I guess I live under a rock, because I had no idea that this was who might help her to heal.  He recommended a skin flap and told me she would be in the hospital for at least a week.  I shed many, many tears because all I kept thinking was, "How did this happen? How did my perfect, happy girl end up with this? " But I went ahead and scheduled the surgery as this seemed to be our only option. 

So this past Friday she had surgery number one.  The doc surgically debrides the wound and gets rid of all of the dead tissue.  Unfortunately, the infection had gone down to the bone, so it is deeper than we thought.  Thankfully, it did not affect the bone.......a blessing. Because of her Cerebral Palsy, the doc said they couldn't do a skin flap.  Her skin is too tight.  Instead he would perform a skin graft.  This is concerning because when we originally met in his office he had stated that he preferred a skin flap because they don't just bring skin over, they also bring over the vital tissues as well. That is what aids in healing.  A skin graft is just skin. Which means there is a chance it won't take. That will be performed this upcoming Wednesday. In the mean time they hooked her up to a VAC machine. And from what I am hearing this machine is pretty amazing.  It helps the skin tissue to revitalize and make new tissue.  So I am praying that everything I hear is accurate and it allows her skin to heal.  

It has been extremely stressful these past couple of months.  And everything is complicated by the fact that she is in a wheelchair.  All that keeps running through my mind is, what if I put her through all of this, and it doesn't work? Don't go there, my family tells me.  But I've already gone there.

She is extremely uncomfortable, and my heart breaks for her.  My sweet happy girl is miserable and it just kills me. 

I will be at the hospital the rest of the week.  I won't leave her at night.  My husband gave me a reprieve last night, which was a nice break. But he has to work so I will be on "duty" til the end of the week. 

Please pray that she heals from this.  
Thank you for your e-mails, texts, PM's etc.  My heart is grateful for all of you.