UPDATE 2
Hi all
Thank you for your support and continued prayers for Lydia. It has been a truly amazing response from you all.
The latest is that two days ago they had had her sit in a chair for a couple of hours, and although the progress was slow, she was responding a little better and she had feeling back in her right side. Yesterday they operated again as a routine procedure to move the drain of the shunt to the stomach. However since this time, she has been less responsive and is not talking. The doctors had expected her by today to be at least back to where she was before they operated as they had hoped the lack of response was just the effect of the anesthetic. However, as of this evening, she is still not talking and only eating porridge fed to her by her parents. The doctors have said she will now have to stay longer in the hospital which is quite a blow for the parents who are exhausted. Please pray she will become more responsive and that her sight will start to return and also for her parents.
UPDATE 3
Today I went to the hospital specifically to talk to the doctor since he always was busy in surgery at visiting time. He was delayed so I first spent about an hour with Lydia. She seems to be spending most of her time sleeping. She was sat in a chair and her parents were just finishing giving her a drink. She was given 70ml of fruit juice and it was a slow process as she kept falling asleep in between and sometimes even before she swallowed! The doctors want her to be more awake in the day so the parents have to keep trying to wake her up. After a short while I held her hand explained who I was (Graham the mzungu man with the scary dogs) and asked if she remembered me to squeeze my hand which she did. She was not talking other than she managed to say “fine” when I asked her how she was. The night before she had a bright spell where she asked her parents about her sisters but was confused on her mother’s name. Just before the doctor came she ate a mashed up banana fed to her by her mother, but fell asleep on the last mouthful – it looked like she was foaming at the mouth!! The doctor then came in and said that they were disappointed that she was not recovering faster but demonstrated that she was very much functioning by prodding her. He was a little harder on his waking her up than her parents had been and she lifted her arm to move the finger that was jabbing her in the chest. He asked her to lift her leg and also pinched it when she didn’t try. She said a loud ow! and tried to lift her leg. After this she seemed much more alert and was waving flies off her (yes we get flies inside hospitals n Zambia) and lifting her blanket when it started to slip down her. She is very pale so they will be giving her blood over the weekend and they hope this will also make her more alert. She cannot see at all and the doctors do not know if and when her sight will return. The doctor said that the pressure exerted on her brain had been for a very extended period, the fluid was not drained from her skull until she got to this hospital and by that time she had been sick for four weeks, it is amazing that she did not die. They want her to go home Tuesday and be cared for at home especially as the parents are camped out at the hospital and exhausted.
The main things they want is for her to eat more, sleep less, talk and move, so please pray for these things, and also that the blood will make a difference and the transition home will go well.
Blessings on you all
Graham & Sarah
Hi all
Thank you for your support and continued prayers for Lydia. It has been a truly amazing response from you all.
The latest is that two days ago they had had her sit in a chair for a couple of hours, and although the progress was slow, she was responding a little better and she had feeling back in her right side. Yesterday they operated again as a routine procedure to move the drain of the shunt to the stomach. However since this time, she has been less responsive and is not talking. The doctors had expected her by today to be at least back to where she was before they operated as they had hoped the lack of response was just the effect of the anesthetic. However, as of this evening, she is still not talking and only eating porridge fed to her by her parents. The doctors have said she will now have to stay longer in the hospital which is quite a blow for the parents who are exhausted. Please pray she will become more responsive and that her sight will start to return and also for her parents.
UPDATE 3
Today I went to the hospital specifically to talk to the doctor since he always was busy in surgery at visiting time. He was delayed so I first spent about an hour with Lydia. She seems to be spending most of her time sleeping. She was sat in a chair and her parents were just finishing giving her a drink. She was given 70ml of fruit juice and it was a slow process as she kept falling asleep in between and sometimes even before she swallowed! The doctors want her to be more awake in the day so the parents have to keep trying to wake her up. After a short while I held her hand explained who I was (Graham the mzungu man with the scary dogs) and asked if she remembered me to squeeze my hand which she did. She was not talking other than she managed to say “fine” when I asked her how she was. The night before she had a bright spell where she asked her parents about her sisters but was confused on her mother’s name. Just before the doctor came she ate a mashed up banana fed to her by her mother, but fell asleep on the last mouthful – it looked like she was foaming at the mouth!! The doctor then came in and said that they were disappointed that she was not recovering faster but demonstrated that she was very much functioning by prodding her. He was a little harder on his waking her up than her parents had been and she lifted her arm to move the finger that was jabbing her in the chest. He asked her to lift her leg and also pinched it when she didn’t try. She said a loud ow! and tried to lift her leg. After this she seemed much more alert and was waving flies off her (yes we get flies inside hospitals n Zambia) and lifting her blanket when it started to slip down her. She is very pale so they will be giving her blood over the weekend and they hope this will also make her more alert. She cannot see at all and the doctors do not know if and when her sight will return. The doctor said that the pressure exerted on her brain had been for a very extended period, the fluid was not drained from her skull until she got to this hospital and by that time she had been sick for four weeks, it is amazing that she did not die. They want her to go home Tuesday and be cared for at home especially as the parents are camped out at the hospital and exhausted.
The main things they want is for her to eat more, sleep less, talk and move, so please pray for these things, and also that the blood will make a difference and the transition home will go well.
Blessings on you all
Graham & Sarah
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