March 6, 2010 "One in a Million"

first, some encouraging news: kristen's mri came back showing no evidence of necrosis in the thigh. it doesn't mean there is none, but so far there is no strong evidence the nasty infection is moving up her leg. they are keeping a close eye on the redness in the thigh. they are calling it a "superficial" skin infection. this is good news and we needed some good news. relief and elation are close cousins.

earlier in the day we were introduced to dr. o'donnell, our infectious disease specialist. she was interested to get kristen's history from me and i was happy to bridge an apparent gap in understanding between the professionals at the two hospitals. all now agree the issue of a sledding trauma was a red herring. i actually felt useful for once.

dr. o'donnell gave us her impressions of the occurrence of necrotizing fasciitis in otherwise healthy people. to quote her, "it's one in a million bad luck." i have every reason to believe she said "one in a million" as an actual statistical estimate. it's like winning the lottery and the prize is a pool of shit. they have not ruled out a compromised immune system, but the way it has run so far is consistent with these rare cases of healthy people succumbing to bacteria that normally just cause a sore throat.

my dad and i just finished wrapping up clara's birthday presents. we had her party last weekend in the poconos - site of the sledding debacle - but are opening presents closer to her actual birthday, march 8. we chose sunday since it looks like kristen won't be having any surgery and will be a little more lucid to watch the gift unwrapping via skype. the plan is for mom and pop (that's me and krissy) to be in ICU on skype while opa and the girls dig in to the goodies. it's the best we can do under the circumstances.

kristen has a look of determination in her eyes and a feeling she is beating this thing. tonight right before i left she said, "i am mad at myself for ever thinking i wasn't this strong." one in a million.