Denise Moved to ICU

Just a fast update (and some of you are newly added to
the list and may not have known what was going on).

Denise was moved to ICU at noon today.

Her breathing is becoming very inefficient (they are
considering putting in a breathing tube, which would
mean sedation and lack of ability to speak).

The meds for the Rocky Mountain spotted fever don't
seem to be working well. So a new antibiotic will be
started that is risky during pregnancy. Doxycycline
can cause bone problems. However, the doctor said that
Denise is far enough along (over 25 weeks) that this
may not be much of an issue. This is the first
antibiotic that would be used for this disease, but
they were holding off because of the pregnancy.

Her fevers are still a concern.

And they found an oddball fungal presence in one of
the blood cultures. Since it didn't show up in any of
the others, they think it was just contaminated
somehow (lab guy has athlete's foot? Who knows). At
any rate, the doctors would like to treat one thing
and not two. So we hope the fungal thing is a fluke.

On a lighter note, somebody postulated that since
Denise has Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and is
getting so many drugs for treatment, it could be said
that she'll get a Rocky Mountain High.
Good thing she's a John Denver fan.

Thanks for pulling for us! Keep it up, everybody!

:O) Phil