MIA: What Can I Say? Part 1

Wow. I have never taken this long of a hiatus from the blog. Let me tell you , it has been a week of excitement and sadness. I guess these next two posts will be what explains some things.

Let me begin with the sadness, since that is always the hardest thing to write about:

My roommate moved here about 6 years ago and the first person she met was a girl named Sarah. She introduced my roomy to her friends and showed her around. She was a good friend and a very close one to my roommate. When I moved out here she welcomed me as well and introduced me to the group. I hung with her (and the group as well) from time to time and we had some fun times.

Sarah loved to be active and was a very healthy and lively woman. She was married in November of 2006 and they were hoping to start a family soon. About a month ago Sarah felt like she was coming down with a cold or even possibly bronchitis. She went to urgent care and they gave her some medicine and sent her home. 12 hours later, she collapsed and her husband raced her to the hospital. She was put in ICU on a respirator b/c she was having trouble breathing. Three days later she had gained almost 60 pounds in water weight and her kidneys began to shut down. She was placed on dyalysis. She was dignosed with Influenza, a staff infection and severe Pneumonia (among a muscle disease which is apparently a complication of the flu which affects kidney function)This went on as she was in a drug induced coma for about 2 weeks.

Finally Sarah began to come to, the dyalysis was working and they removed the respirator. She was moved to another hospital in the area that was better suited to help in her recovery. For about 10 days or so she steadily made progress and was down to 3 days of dyalysis, was taken out of ICU, was breathing on her own and was beginning to show signs of her usual self by joking with family and friends who were by her side. 2 days ago (Wednesday) Sarah had two seizures and was placed back in ICU. The medical staff informed the family that she had brain swelling and suggested that drilling a hole would hopefully help reduce the pressure. Unfortunately it was too late. Thursday night around midnight Sarah was pronounced brain dead. She was 30 years old.

This is the story I was told as my roommate failthfully visited and stood by her close friend's bed practically every day for a month. The news I received from my roommate this morning completely and utterly shocked me . I was under the impression that she was on the mend after a scary and life threatening ordeal. How did this happen? What did the medical teams miss? Was there anything anyone could have done? I cannot imagine what her husband and family are going thru right now.

All I know is that my roommate was one of Sarah's closest friends, and she did everything she could by visiting practicaly every day and praying for her healthy return. It's been really tough on her and I hope that any support I can give her during this nightmare will be of some help. I lost a close friend once. No one should have to go thru that.

No parent should see their child suffer and die.

No husband should have to bury a wife before they even celebrate their second year of marriage.

It's all just so sad...

Some things I will remember about Sarah:

She loved Johnny Depp. He was her boyfriend.
Jessica Simpson was her homegirl.
She was fiercely liberal and loved Hillary Clinton (but that's OK):)
She had two dogs and a cat.
She was an Occupational Therapist and LOVED her job.
Giraffes were her favorite animal.
Her latest tv obsession was "Gray's Anatomy"
She gave me the cutest pair of fleece pants for my birthday: Pink with Rudolphs.:)

AND...

In February she came over to watch a movie. It was "Employee of the Month" and I am glad she had us watch it because I really enjoyed it and I wouldn't have picked it for myself.

Right now I think everyone is trying to figure out what this all means. I just hope that the family can find peace.