Another update...

I'm typing this at 12:45a.m. with a sleeping baby on me - so I may well say "today" when I mean Thursday...

I'm so happy - I got to see Jo!!! I left the office at about 8:45 and almost headed home, but Brad insisted that I go to the hospital. "I feel like I'm imposing."

"You're not. GO!" was his reply. So...I went and I'm so glad I did. I got to the ICU just a little after 9p.m., hit the buzzer and they buzzed me back, no questions asked (visiting hours are 8-10). I went to Jo's room and her husband was there. I asked if I would be imposing, he assured me I wasn't and said, "Sweetheart, Gina's here." Jo was AWAKE! :) She's still on the vent, so she couldn't talk - she mouthed a few things and most of them I was able to decipher. They have her vent down to 40% oxygen and are waiting to make certain all the fluid around her lungs is gone before taking it out but they feel certain it'll come out today (Friday) -- that will be such a morale boost for her.

She does NOT have pneumonia - never did. It was the fluid gathering around her lungs that made it look like she had pneumonia. She does NOT have a fever any longer, either. Great news!!

She was able to have dialysis Wednesday afternoon - they gave her platelets during or right after surgery and as soon as they moved her back to ICU on Wednesday afternoon they started it. It took about 10 hours. They did it again Thursday, but did a "quicker" version that only took about 4 hours. They've pulled, I think he said 5 liters of fluid off of her at this point. Dialysis is a day-to-day decision; but her husband said they're saying they will probably do it again on Friday.

They still don't know what caused the sepsis. None of her blood cultures grew anything - none of them. That's kind of troublesome, but the important thing is she's on the mend.

She is still in renal failure. C said they said the docs expect full kidney recovery - they think her blood pressure dropping so low is what caused her kidneys to shut down but they aren't 100% sure about that either.

So the things to be thankful for are: that she does not have pneumonia and is not running fever; she is awake and alert more

Continue to pray that the vent will get to come out today (Friday) and that her kidney function will return; also pray for dialysis to go well. Her husband said that's hard on her.

It was so good to see her. The nurse in ICU asked if she was my mom. I sheepishly said, "No. But she was in the room when I was trying to deliver my first child, does that count as 'immediate relative' enough?" She said, "Absolutely!" So I didn't get kicked out. I told another friend of mine, "I think I can pray for her now without sobbing."