Please Pray

Hello my dear blog stalkers!

I have an urgent prayer request for a dear friend of mine. Little Charli has Glaucoma and has been undergoing treatment to try and improve her eyesight for some time now. Last week she had a sinus infection and it got to her eye. The eye is very infected and despite the doctor's best efforts through antibiotic treatment, they are having to do surgery to save the eye.



Please pray for God's hand to be on the doctors and nurses whose care she's in. Also pray for the family - Mom - Jennifer, Daddy - Chad, and big brother - Connor.

Just a few minutes ago, Jennifer posted the following on Facebook:

"Waiting... Before they took us back to OR I was sitting with CG on her bed. I started crying... she calmly reached into her box of tissues, handed me one, and told me not to cry. God has given us one amazing little girl. Proud and honored to call her mine."

If only we all had a child-like faith like this little one!

Update (10.28.10 1:34pm) - "Charli sat up just before noon and said. "I think I want to see my presents." Many smiles and sweet visitors later she is napping peacefully. The doctors checked her eye, no improvement yet. We should transfer to Emory on Sunday"
[Charli's Birthday is soon or possibly today, not sure]

Update (10.29.10) - "Charli is sleeping peacefully. The swelling in her eyelids is almost gone and she has been our happy little chatterbox this evening Her eye looks just awful, but still we have peace. Please keep praying that we can save this eye. You guys are holding us up with prayer and we are so very grateful. Your friendship and love are humbling."
BTW, Here's a link to the condition affecting Charli's eye - Endophthalmitis.

Update (10.29.10) - I thought it would be a good idea to update you guys about Charli's condition and tell the story of how she wound up here in the first place. Because it is so complex a note seemed like the best place to put this.

Sunday Afternoon: Charli seemed to be coming down with a sinus infection or cold. She had a runny nose and complained with her head and her eyes hurting. She threw up before bed and had a little fever. I noticed that her left eye was a little puffy, but that isn't uncommon for her. Chad and I put her to bed with us and planned to take her to the pediatrician after I finished a 1/2 day of work Monday.

Monday: As I arrived at work Chad called me on my cell. Charli's left eye was swollen shut and runny. We rush her to Atlanta to see the surgeon who did her transplant. As he was out of state, we saw one of the fellows in his office. We were immediately sent to a pediatric ophthalmologist at Scottish Rite hospital. After his exam we were admitted to Children's Hospital at Scottish Rite. The diagnosis at this time was cellulitis of the tissue surrounding her eye. A CT scan and ultra sound showed that her eye was unaffected.

Tuesday: Charli begins to improve on IV antibiotics. We begin eye drops to further fight the infection. As we administer her drops that night the nurse and I get a split second glimpse of her cornea. It was greenish white.

Wednesday: The pediatric ophthalmologist examines Charli's eye in the morning. It is too swollen to get a good look at the cornea. Later in the evening we decide along with the doctor that we were going to have to pry the eye open to see, despite the pain that it was going to cause CG. An ultrasound and physical exam show that the infection had indeed spread to Charli's eye. This happened even though she was on very powerful IV antibiotics and eye drops. She was rushed to surgery that night where antibiotics were injected directly into her eye.

Thursday and Friday: Charli continues to improve on the antibiotic regime. She is in pain, but it is being managed with medication. The swelling is almost gone around her eye, although the eye itself looks really really bad. The doctors have never seen celluitis move into the eye in this way. They strongly suspect that the shunt she has in this eye is what allowed the infection to enter her eye so quickly. This would probably have happened even if she had never had the cornea transplant. Lab work shows that the bacteria is dead and or dying.

Our next steps: We will transfer CG to Children's Hospital Egeleson on Sunday. On Monday a leading pediatric retinal surgeon will perform a vitrectomy to remove the cloudy fluid from Charli's eye. He will inject more antibiotics and try to repair any damage the infection has caused. Best case scenario has us home Tuesday, but we know we are in this for a long haul. We haven't given up on her eye. She says that the light hurts her eye. Light can't hurt a completely blind eye. It is in God's hands and for today he has given us peace.

Your prayers are holding us up. Please continue to pray for our girl. We love each and every one of you and there will never be enough words to express our gratitude.

Love,
Jen, Chad, Conner, and Charli

Update (10.30.10) - "After a tough night Charli slowly but surely perked up today. She was helped along with visits from Farrah and Justin, then Grandma and Grandpa. Of course to visit the princess you must come bearing gifts. I just hope she doesn't expect this trend to continue after her recovery. We met with two of her opthos today. We had been pretty down from the rough night, but the doctors were both realistic and encouraging at the same time. We are going to stay the course of antibiotics and vitrectomy. The surgeon we meet tomorrow at Egleston is the best of the best. So really and truly the outcome is in God's hands. We transfer tomorrow at 1:00 via ambulance to the Egleston campus of Children's Hospital. I was really hoping for a helicopter ride, but BC/BS might frown on that. Please keep the prayers coming. Charli and I are planning a big celebration when this is all over. All of you prayer warriors are invited. Let's hope it is sooner rather than later."