Katie

My sweet sister-in-law (hubs sister) is in great need of your prayers. To make a long story short, she has been in the hospital since Friday with a very rare condition called encephalitis or swelling of the brain. She is 26.5 weeks pregnant with a baby girl who appears to be handling everything well. Hubs and I have been to the hospital much of the weekend and arrived home last night. We were feeling a bit more encouraged that her condition is not worsening. However, the attending neurologist this morning was hoping she would be doing better this morning than she is right now. They will repeat the spinal tap and possibly repeat the MRI to see how her brain is doing.

I'm posting this so that you will pray very specifically for her.

Pray that Katie's immune system along with the antivirals and antibiotics will wipe this infection completely out of her brain and QUICK.

Pray that the swelling will resolve.

Pray that the use of her arm comes completely back and that there would be signs of progress in her arm soon. (compared to Friday there is slight progress...she is moving it someone at the elbow but not at her hand)

Pray for her husband Jason, and for Katie's parents who are imaginably anxious with the slow progress of things. Pray for their strength and endurance in the wake of extreme sleep deprivation.

Pray that the baby continues to do well.

Pray that if she needs a PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) for better IV access this afternoon that the procedure would go well for Katie. She is very agitated.

I will keep you posted. It has hard to talk on the phone about this especially in front of Allie, so please comment or email me for concerns.