Evelyn has been awake for a couple of hours now!! Which is fantastic. Unfortunately, there has been another big dip in her red and white blood cell count and platelet count, so much so they have done another blood transfusion. [...]

Last night Ev's nurse called mom with some great news! Evelyn is starting to open her eyes more often! She is also starting to follow more complex commands. If she keeps it up they can take her off intubation by the end of the day![...]

I just spoke with both Ev's nurse and with Mom. She has spiked a fever again, which they are keeping a close eye on. They also started to give her a medication to help delay the spread of these blisters. They are starting to see the spread slow down a bit. They were spreading all over apparently. On previous calls I thought it was just her thumb and back. [...]

When mom got to the hospital this morning around 11:00 our time (just after 8am their time) they were turning Ev over in bed. On a chance, mom said "Hi Ev!!" and Ev opened her eyes. The nurse said "That's your sister, Cathy. Do you know Cathy?" Ev nodded. Mom had put her hand out and Ev squeezed it tightly!!!![...]

I spoke with both Ev's nurse and a DR. (I believe, doctor's apparently call themselves by first name in this hospital!) just now...

Her vitals are all stable, which of course if great news. Her heart rate is still high, HOWEVER is getting a bit lower and closer to stabilizing than before. [...]

I just spoke with Evelyn's nurse. There are some great things to report! Ev's swelling has gone down a bit, they gave her a diuretic late last night. Evelyn's red and white blood cell counts are back to a stable amount. Her platelet's are still low, but not severely low like before. She has no fever. She has been taken off of intubation periodically so she can exercise her lungs; they say she is doing very well with these exercies. They won't remove the tube permanently until she is awake and alert. They say this is because even her saliva can go down the wrong way while she is sleeping/unaware - causing her to choke. Her back is still covered with puss filled blisters and is black and blue. Dermatologist's came and biopsied her back tissue. They are now calling that SSSS - Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome. Basically, the infection in her thumb is so serious that it spread internally and is coming out all over her body (mainly her back). Infectious Disease took a sample from one of the blisters, so we are waiting to hear back from them. The other tests Infectious Disease Control did all came back negative, except for the severe staph infection. Her heart rate is still fast. They don't really know why. They decided to unhook the EEG because they had no abnormal brain waves to report in over 24 hours. Neurology will not sign off on Evelyn's case until she is awake. They are concerned that she has yet to wake up. If she doesn't wake up by tomorrow, neurology will need to re-think some things and get to work. She is starting to move her head slightly, but does not respond as they would like to all pressure/pinches of her limbs, sometimes she responds physically and sometimes nothing. [...]

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The doctors are at a bit of a loss. Mom says it is like watching a House episode... when they think they are onto something, another symptom pops up that does not go with the other symptoms.[...]

Evelyn is 66 years young, she is from Canada and was on her way to San Diego, on a flight from Syracuse - when she got very ill. An ambulance met them at the airport as the plane landed. When she got to the hospital she had a high fever. Her red and white blood cell count were low, as well as her platelet's. This signaled a serious blood infection. She has had two blood transfusions so far. She was having trouble breathing on her own, and they intubated her on Friday night. She was in septic shock. The septic shock has been downgraded to sepsis now. She was showing signs of kidney failure as well, and those symptoms have improved. They say she has Rhabdomyolysis as well, which is not the cause of all of these symptoms but a side symptom. To our understanding her muscles started to break down. Her thumb has a severe staph infection and is black. We found out later she had a blood blister there and had popped it. She now has blisters all over her back, which is now black and blue. They have been unable to do the lumbar puncture, to see if the fluid from the spine shows anything the blood tests may have missed. She is currently experiencing no fever, which is good news. Her blood pressure which was extremely low has stabilized a bit more regularly. Her heart rate is still very high, which is indicitive of an infection. ****She has yet to wake up from the heavy sedation they put her under, and they are concerned about that. She was taken off those meds early Sunday morning around 8:00am. She should be awake by now. She does not track movement when they manually open her eyes at this point. HOWEVER, the nurse says she sees response and some stirring from Evelyn when she hears my mom's voice.[...]