Wednesday, March 5, 2008

A Singular Case of Mono

Before I get started, let me say that the end of the story is that Claire Reinhard is stable and seems to be improving toward a full recovery.


Let me also say that I don't know all the details of the story. Sarah has been sending email updates to those who know Claire directly. For now, this is background for other parts of the family. I'll also try to post any updates from Sarah promptly.


Okay, Claire is the second daughter of Mike and Emily in NJ. She's now a Senior in high school (which is terrifying to me because it seems very recent that she was Grace's age, a bundle of verbal skills sitting on my lap when Sarah and I went to visit . . . anyway). A few days ago Emily told Sarah that Claire had a bad case of mono and was expected to miss weeks of school. Shortly after that, Claire began vomiting blood and was taken to the hospital. They aren't sure what caused it (possibly too much Motrin to treat her fever), but her blood cells and chemistry were seriously out of whack and her liver and kidney weren't functioning properly. She was put in pediatric ICU.


After a blood transfusion last night she is doing a little better today. Although dialysis is a possibility it may not be needed as her kidneys appear to be functioning again. They scheduled an endoscopy today at 5:00pm to "cauterize the bleeders". I don't have any more information about the bleeders but if they are there, cauterizing them would have to help.


More to follow as we hear . . .

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