UPDATE ON JULIA – THURSDAY EVENING (11/15)

Julia is making expected progress in ICU.  Her body is working to heal her as the lengthy surgery shocked her system.  During the course of this afternoon, we have met with one pediatric surgeon to address Julia’s leak in her chest tube.  Her chief surgeon Dr. Campion came by to see her around dinner time.  He likes her progress so far.  The pulmonary team met with us to address the ventilator and they are running tests on lung fluids.  They will continue to monitor all of this tonight and into tomorrow.  We are hoping that maybe tomorrow they can begin to wean her off the ventilation.  Julia is medicated strongly as one would expect and nods that she is not feeling pain. We see she has discomfort with the ventilator tube but who wouldn’t.  Her swelling has come down somewhat but still keeps her from opening her eyes.  The body is working to get her fluids in check.  We and the doctors believe that the realignment of her spine has altered her anatomy such that her lungs and heart are experiencing a new function environment.

We have to share with you a short story regarding Julia’s eyes.  Since early this morning we knew that Julia was trying to communicate something to us.  She would raise one hand and open and close her fingers.  We tried to ask enough questions and follow her head movement to determine what she needed.  We knew that she was not hurting as she shook her head side to side when asked if she felt pain.  Over the course of 5 hours and after 10 or so attempts to figure what Julia wanted to communicate to us, Dad got the bright idea around 1pm to play the word and alphabet game with Julia.  We asked Julia how many words and she extended 1 finger.  We asked Julia how many letters in the word and she extended 3 fingers.  As we recited the letters in the alphabet, Julia squeezed Dad’s finger to tell us the letter “e” was the first letter.  As we went through the alphabet for the second letter, she squeezed the finger at the letter “y”.  Dad being on top of things a second faster than Mom blurted out “your eyes” and Julia nodded her head – and likely said to herself “about time dodo, it has only taken you half the day.”  She had been unable to open her eyes as they were swollen shut and she simply wanted us to open her eyes by holding back her eyelids.  After using a warm cloth to wipe her eyes, we held her eyelids open and she saw us for the first time and looked back and forth several times with her bright blue eyes.  We saw her relief after doing this. We then recalled that Julia told us before going into surgery that her wish was that when she woke up in ICU she wanted to see us first and not medical people.  And so it was that Julia fulfilled her wish.  It was a simple thing but a blessing for Julia.  She still is not able to open her eyes but we work with her periodically to open them.  She has been sleeping the entire day but will awake to stimulation.

Father Michael and Father Stathi visited Julia this afternoon and read prayers of healing. They spent a couple of hours with Julia and she was able to greet them with a simple hand and finger movement.  She knew they were in the room and could hear their prayers and otherwise followed our discussion.

Julia has had her icons of the Virgin Mary/Panagia and St. Nektarios by her side throughout.  She was able to take them with her into the OR yesterday.  The two monasteries she visited in Greece last year were of Panagia and Saint Nektarios and so she feels a special bond.

We will continue to stay by her bedside.  Mom slept in the ICU room with Julia last night while Dad slept twenty feet away in a small room with a cot bed.  We do not want to leave her bedside for a moment.  Her ICU team has worked overtime to monitor Julia and keep her comfortable.

As one would expect, this continues to be an emotional time for us but today is better than yesterday.  Yesterday was as difficult as it has ever been to know that she was passing through such a difficult procedure.  Nothing could prepare us for this experience but we believed that all had been done to get Julia ready for this surgery – physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Past surgeries were difficult but yesterday was different. Today we feel more at peace.

We will stay by her side tonight, give thanks to God for her healing, give thanks for the blessing to be parents to Julia and her sister Christina and her brothers John and Nicholas, and give thanks for the love and support all have shared with Julia.  We ask that you also keep Christina, John and Nicholas in your prayers as they have marched with Julia all of these 14 years, through her home health treatments, surgeries and doctor visits and out-of-town trips to medical facilities, and it takes special siblings to grow up with Julia and share her experiences.  We know they also can use words of support and encouragement from time to time, and sometimes as parents no matter how hard we try, we know it is inadequate.

We want to close this post by sharing with you a poem written by Julia last year that we keep on our refrigerator door.  Her Uncle Dewitt posted it earlier today but in case you missed it, here it is:

Blind, we didn’t even see the year go by

Tasteless, we didn’t enjoy the cafeteria food we had

Deaf, we didn’t hear the important information because we were too preoccupied

Look around, taste the food, listen to people

Look at everything around you

Taste the food you have

Listen to the words of others

Even if it’s just a few

Cherish every moment as if it’s your last

Take in every word said to you

Remember each moment from the past

Adore, take in, and remember the moment

By Julia Stathopoulos

Update on Julia (11/15 – 12:30pm)

A brief update to all.  Julia is continuing with her recovery in ICU. As one would expect, she has many lines, tubes, wires, etc. that are connected to her to monitor everything.  We are able to stay with Julia in her room round-the-clock and communicate by holding and squeezing her hands.  She knows we are with her and seems to not feel any pain based on her head nods when we ask.  We know she is not happy with the ventilator tube and hope that is something that she can be weaned off tomorrow.  They are continuing to monitor closely her low blood pressure and her chest tube.  They have taken x-rays and ultrasounds.  We are waiting on her chest surgeon to come by and evaluate her chest tube.  This is her next hurdle and we tell her it is one day at a time.

Your continued prayers are most appreciated.  Please pray for God to comfort and heal Julia each day.  We believe prayer is God’s prescription for healing and strengthening Julia.  We know that Julia has the Holy Spirit enveloping her.

If you have children and have not done so yet today, give them a big hug and tell them how much you love them.  In our busy lives, we sometimes lose site of this.  Nothing hurts more than to see your child endure pain and suffering but we know that God gives us the strength to overcome it.  It is faith that comforts us all.

Thank you for your words of comfort and encouragement that you are sending Julia.  We will try to update you again later.

Harry and Regina

Update on Julia – Pray for Healing (11/15, 8:45am)

I just want to briefly update everyone on Julia’s status in ICU.  She has been a little responsive in ICU, she can move her hands and shake her head somewhat.  At one point I walked in her room in the late morning hours and after saying I quietly “I love you”, she raised her right hand a little and waved her fingers at me.  We do have a few issues that the doctors are trying to figure out.  Julia’s blood pressure has remained low even after they gave her various fluids to get it up.  Swelling has increased due to the fluids.  There is concern and so more tests are being run.  We suspect she is some pain as she is trying to communicate with us but is restricted due to the ventilator tube.  They are allowing us to remain in the ICU room with her at all times.  Please continue to pray for Julia!  Thank you all!

Dad