When things look particularly dark...

I like to write.

So, tonight, when I could not sleep for my prayers were keeping me awake, I decided to write this little update for all the other praying saints out there. ( I've had a lot of friends ask me for more details, so for those of you who don't know this dear friend, excuse my diversion from usual topics). I hope you will join in prayers whether you know this dear friend or not!

This past week, my friend Tina had a sever allergic reaction to some very basic antibiotic medication that she'd been taking for several weeks. The allergic reaction was, at first, treated with your basic steroid shots-but things only got worse. By Friday morning she had a very high fever and was covered from head to toe with a rash that could be equated to 3rd degree burns ( in my humble non-medical opinion). I took her to our local ER where she was quickly seen ( by ER standards) and after a few hours diagnosed with Steven Johnson's Syndrome...I'll pause so you can google that.

And yes. It's pretty serious. While at first the doctor's reactions where pretty dire and I think we were all ( Tina, Wes and I) pretty scared, the third doctor to see her ( he was some sort of infectious diseases guy) was incredibly confident and said she'd be out of the hospital on Monday. And, now looking back on that, while the doctor was obviously a bit off on his projection, he did provide Tina with a bit of hope that she DEFINITELY needed. It has been understandable hard to keep her spirits up throughout this ordeal.

I, unfortunately did not spend much time with Tina today, she had some other wonderful friends looking out for her ( as well as the ever present Wes) and so I don't know as much about the details of today's events. However when I did see her, her lesions were progressing just like I've seen serious burns progress ( aka. blistering, but her tongue ( which has been particularly swollen and covered in wounds yesterday) was looking a little better... but Tina is obviously dealing with a lot of pain and fear. This evening Wes called to say that the doctors had decided to move Tina to a different hospital that has a burn unit... Where they will hopefully be better equipped to help Tina's body fight infection and ultimately be healed of this reaction.

Hopefully I didn't get too many facts wrong in this little report. Even though a doctor at the hospital DID mistake me for a nursing student ( they just assumed because Tina is, I think.)...I told them that, no, I wasn't a nursing student-just a good wikipedia user...

Tonight as I pray for Tina I have been praying for special help for her organs as they fight extra hard while her body is in so much distress...and for her eyes-they have been bothering her quite a bit ( and, who knew?! This particular illness affects the eyes particularly!) ...and ultimately I am praying for protection of this sweet Life. Tina is already an incredible testimony of Jesus Christ to those who know and love her and now I am praying for the testimony of this horrible ordeal that she is having to go through! May the Lord truly use it to glorify His Name through the healing of her body!