Venita/Ezekiel Update 14 August 2010

Hello everyone,

Once again we have taken longer than we would have liked, to bring you this update. Things have been very hectic. Two weeks ago Ezekiel got discharged from hospital and then the next day Venita was also able to come home to the Unit and start going in as a day patient. This involves Venita going into the hospital most days for different appointments, bloods, transfusions etc and then spending the rest of the time at the Unit as she is not allowed to go out in public places. It will be at least another 3 months before we will know whether this treatment is working at all. So it's a bit of a waiting game. The drugs have been causing Venita pain in her joints but aside from that, so far God willing, she has not caught any infections etc. A lot of the medications Venita is on are preventative measures against infections along with a low bacteria diet. Please continue to pray that she will not catch any infections.

In the meantime however, Ezekiel is a different story. He came home two weeks ago and was just starting to get better when on Monday night he became very ill again. Allan took him to the Women's & Children's Hospital where whilst waiting to be seen his temperature became 40.7. Consequently he got admitted believing he had a possible urine infection. He was started on IV antibiotics and put onto a drip for 2 days, his temperature remained in the 40's. On further testing they ruled out the urine infection and instead he tested positive for two viruses. By this stage due to the rapid IV Ezekiel became fluid bound now causing him to work harder with his kidneys, lungs and breathing requiring up to 8 litres of oxygen. The viruses have also caused vomiting, diarrhoea and mucous causing him to become weak. On top of all this, he has upper airway obstruction and has regularly stopped breathing while sleeping. Today they moved him to intensive care as he needs assistance with his breathing and without this, he can't fight off the infections in his body. They have put him on a much higher pressure oxygen through a humidifier which so far is stopping the obstruction however if he gets worse overnight they will put him on a ventilator. Please continue to pray for him. Allan has been with him all week and it has been a very stressful time. Venita has only been able to see him briefly twice due to the risk of infection to her. Today we learnt that another 3 of his Dr's are Christians. So that was very exciting to hear and gives us a bit more piece of mind.

Thank you everyone for all your support and prayers. We will udpate you again on Ezekiel's progress over the next day.

Allan & Venita