Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. We had to wait a couple of days for BCBS to approve rehab services and in the meantime Gabrielle’s fever returned. We moved over to rehab late Thursday and the doctors over here have been very concerned about the fever. They have done more blood cultures, urine cultures, Chest x-rays, strep tests, and now a CT scan and a lumbar puncture. The good news is that so far all of the cultures are negative. Dr. Weiner believes it is aseptic meningitis which is basically an intense immune response triggered by the brain surgery itself. We continue to pray the cultures will remain negative and that the fever would disappear. The best news is that we haven’t seen any seizures and the follow-up EEG they did last week did not show any abnormal spiking or seizure activity. Praise God!

Despite the fever, which gets pretty high at times, Gabrielle has still been able to make some progress in therapy. She is able to sit-up unassisted for a good while now and she is beginning to move her left arm a little more. They have begun trying to stand her up which she seems to tolerate a little better every day. The fever definitely saps her energy and interferes with her ability to participate in therapy sessions at times so once that improves she should be able to work a little harder.

I have been out of commission for the past 1 1/2 days with a stomach bug so I quarantined myself to the apartment so as not to infect Gabrielle and to give myself a chance to recover. We have been trying to come up with a plan for the next few weeks. As it stands right now, Duff and the 4 other kiddos are going to head up to the “Bradford House” in NH (courtesy of the Eglintine family) while Gabrielle and myself stay in NYC and continue rehab for a few more weeks. Then, God willing, we can all head back home to NC together!

Thank you for continuing to check-in on us, think of us, and pray for us!

Love,
Kelly