Carol update Wed Eve, Feb 1, Carol's brother Martin

Hello Everyone,
 
This is Carol's younger brother, Martin. I arrived in Temecula from the UK last night and it is just good to be here. For those of you who don't know, I am a doctor and so when Craig and I went to visit Carol this morning I was fully of questions, wanting to understand Carol's situation as best as I could. She continues to receive excellent medical care, and is well looked after. The big issue remains that she is in a deep coma despite being on no sedation, and this is little changed. The ventilator continues to assist her breathing, although she does have the drive to breathe for herself, and she does respond a little to pain, but not much more. She is on the right treatment and we can only hope and pray that she will start to wake up. We don't know if this will change from day to day, or if it will take much longer.
 
Other than this I was encouraged to see that the rest of her body is fighting the infection well - her lungs are coping ok despite the pneumonia, her heart and kidneys are doing fine and her fever has settled. If she were awake, she would be able to come off the ventilator without a problem. The doctors were planning to drain some fluid from the outside of the lung where she has the pneumonia, but this is not a major thing for them to do.
 
Having to look after his 5 beautiful daughter's brings a need for normal routine to life at home, and this is important both for the girls and for Craig, and is only possible with the huge response of the loving friends and family that surround Carol and Craig. The church are living out the Gospel in this place and it is humbling to bear witness to this.
 
With best wishes, continued prayers and tears, Martin

Carol update, Tuesday eve

Hi All, thank you for the hundreds of emails and texts and calls we have received supporting Carol and our family in prayer and fasting.
To help me with the overwhelming amount of calls and emails and facebook, Katie Eisemann set up a blog that I will post to and you may comment on please. http://carolposton.blogspot.com/
* For those in our area, our Rainbow Church deaconness Alice Uhler is coordinating meals. Please contact her (aliceuhler@gmail.com, cell 951.704.2352).
I am sorting out life with our 5 daughters and their needs. Thank you for your prayers for their emotions and peace as we walk through this as a family who trusts Jesus with our daily lives.  B/c of the infectious disease, children under 14 are not permitted, so the last the girls saw of their mother was me rushing in the car to the ER and Carol screaming in pain.  It was terrible.    (for those who will see our daughters, please be sensititive and not talk details. A simple "I'm sorry for what you all are going through" rather than specifics to them, I would appreciate).
At this point, b/c of the intensive care in ICU, it is not a good time for visitors yet.
 
So, another emotionally wrenching day today seeing Carol her state. Nothing has changed.
I asked the Dr. directly: is this a critical life and death issue or critical regarding Brain functioning.
He said: Carol is in life and death critical period.  We do not know how this will turn out.  Carol is in the deepest part of the valley.
 
The Dr. says that Carol is in a coma (non-permanent) and the bacteria has infected her brain stem, thus shutting the brain down. No swelling issues in the brain; it is an infection issue. 
 
It struck me this morning that about 12 years ago I was in a life and  death situation: malaria got me, my temperature raised to 107 and I was in a Dallas ICU packed in ice.  No one knew if I would make it.
Last year exactly this time we were in Children's Hospital with our daughter Laili.  She was not breathing from complications of their train accident in the Philippines the month before we adopted them. A year ago Laili was in a life and death situation.  This situation now is stirring memories of our daughter's car/train accident and hospital.
 
God continues to hold our family in His strong and sure grip.   Thank you everyone for your love for us. Please keep praying.
The Dr keeps saying, bacterial meningitus is extremely rare.  20 years since one dr saw a case. The Infectious Disease Dr told me today that someone of Carol's age and health never has this issue. "This never happens."
So, this is a Divinely given issue of which God is Sovereignly controlling. I trust God regardless of how things develop.  But I could only hold Carol's hand today and weep, "God have mercy please. God have mercy please." I told Carol she is my wife and I love her and want her with me.  We do know Jesus is with us and with Carol.
When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than me...I will trust in the shelter of God's wings (Psalm 61:2-4). -Pastor Craig

Who is the Poston Family?

The Poston Family Christmas 2011

From L to R Teah (11), Craig, Laili (11), Siena (11), Sofie (7), Gia (9) and Carol.

Sofie's picture of her family:

carol

Hi Everyone, getting ready to go to visit Carol, Tuesday morning. Give update soon, Craig

Where to begin...

This blog serves the purpose of keeping friends and family up-to-date with Carol's status as she is currently in the hospital in critical condition battling against a raging infection that has spread into her brain as bacterial meningitis. For those of you who have stumbled across this blog or have heard of Carol and do not have the privilege of knowing her or the Poston family let me begin by saying I do not know a more Christ-centered family and Carol is the most gracious and compassionate woman I know. She has 5 girls at home that she pours her heart and soul into raising, and a loving husband who is the pastor of a local church.

Carols sickness started last week as what doctors thought was influenza. She started taking tamiflu on Wednesday (1/25), but continued to get worse. She went back to the doctor on Saturday because she was experiencing left lung pain and wasn't improving, so she was prescribed antibiotics for a pneumonia diagnosis and started to feel better and even ate dinner Saturday night (1/28). Sunday morning Craig found Carol to be lethargic and in excruciating pain, a much different person from the night before. Craig carried Carol from their upstairs bedroom to their car, as she was unable to walk and yelling out in pain and took her to the emergency room after dropping off their 5 girls with a friend. Praise the Lord the ER was completely empty and Carol was able to be admitted and taken care of immediately. At that point her neck was becoming increasingly stiff, her level of consciousness was altered and she had to be held down by 4 people in order for nurses to start her IV due to her confusion and inability to hold still from the pain. It was within the first 15 minutes of being in the hospital that the ER doctors told Craig that Carol was presenting with classic meningitis symptoms and that a lumbar puncture was needed to get cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to confirm the diagnosis. Due to Carol's lethargic state the doctors didn't think it safe to give Carol pain meds and risk the chance of the meds depressing her respiratory system further, so they had to complete the lumbar puncture without medications, a very uncomfortable procedure, but absolutely necessary given the circumstances. After the doctors were confident that Carol had meningitis she was transferred to a bigger hospital that has neurologists 30 minutes away via ambulance and was put in the neuro ICU. By the late afternoon Carol stopped breathing and had to be intubated to keep breathing. Again, thank the Lord she was in the hospital when she stopped breathing so she was able to be intubated immediately and was not deprived of oxygen for a long period of time.

Today, Monday (1/30) doctors have confirmed the diagnosis of pneumococcal meningitis that started from the bacterium streptococcus pneumoniae in her lungs creating the pneumonia, which spread into her blood stream and carried the infection to the meninges in her brain. Currently, Carol is receiving high doses of antibiotics to cross the blood-brain barrier to stop the infection. Doctors suspect it will be 2-3 days before her brain has received enough antibiotics to fight the infection and Lord-willing Carol will begin waking up. She is not under any sedation, but she is obtunded and lethargic. She did have purposeful movement and was attempting to remove the tube down her throat which is a instinctive movement as the tube is uncomfortable, but is a good sign. High-doses of steroids are also being given to her to stop her brain from swelling.

The latest update from her pulmonologist was promising. He did a bronchoscopy and was able to clean out a significant amount of pus and a mucous plug from her left lung and didn't need to insert a chest tube to drain fluid (all a good sign because they were able to start antibiotics and prevent the infection from getting so bad that it filled her lung with fluid). Neurology did not order an MRI, because her CAT scan showed that both of her ventricles (the openings at the bottom of her brain) are still completely open (sometimes this type of infection can fill your lungs with pus and cause pus in the brain and block the flow of CSF through the ventricles), also a good sign, because the doctors would only order a MRI if they suspected her brain to be swelling more and getting worse.

At this point it is a time of waiting and praying and ask that you pray for a full-recovery for Carol, wisdom for the nurses and doctors and peace and comfort for her family. Anytime the brain is sick it takes a long time to heal and has A LOT of God-given self-protective instincts to guard itself so the healing and rehabilitation of the brain is a slow process. The doctor today described this time for Carol as "the bottom"... meaning she has not gotten worse throughout today, and hopefully will slowly start getting better, but she is still has a long up hill battle ahead of her with the infection being spread throughout her body. The doctor followed this by saying they are hopeful that Carol can fight the infection as her white blood cell count is elevated, a good sign that Carol's body is fighting the infection.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my dear friend Carol Poston, I will keep you updated on her condition as any information becomes available.