Saturday, November 28, 2009

A personal and family battle


This is my first Grand Child, a daughter named Eowyn Rose.
Eowyn was born prematurely due to a condition called Preeclampsia.
The condition showed up suddenly and extremely in about the 24th week. Uncontrollable blood pressure in my daughter caused the doctors to take the baby after only a couple of days. The condition was looking like it would take both the lives of the mother and baby otherwise.

Eowyn was born at 1 lbs, 2 oz and was approximately 10 3/4 inches long. To get a grasp of the size, in this picture, her head is about the size of a racket ball.

Eowyn is a fighter, like the rest of her family she has not given up for even a second. The doctors at this particular center are very experienced with this condition and administered a steroid almost immediately to the mother. This steroid allowed Eowyn's lungs to clear and begin working while still in the womb.

She attempts to breath on her own now, so much so that she fouls up the machines trying to breath for her and has to be mildly sedated. All in all, she is doing as well as can be expected and we have the highest of hopes.

The love shown to her and to us from friends around the world has been inspiring and more appreciated that any of you could know.

Thank you.

Now to the end purpose of this post.

Eowyn's treatment is expensive, it requires the most experienced of Doctors and Nurses to even give her a fighting chance.

Can you imagine this situation under a state run health care system? Can you hear the death panel's decision?

Yeah, me too.

t