Richmond Family Updates

Update from Becky, Kelly’s sister: Kelly is out of surgery number three. Just heard from the surgeon… they found some fluid in the intestine that has not yet turned into an infection. They caught it early so this is great. It would have caused an infection. we are praising God for this. They are leaving the incision open until Saturday at which time they will go back in and flush it one more time. Until further notice they will continue to keep her on a ventilator and in a drug-induced coma to speed the healing process and help with breathing. Please continue praying. Thank you.

Update on Kelly: Kelly is holding her own. She isn’t really better, but not worse either. Still in critical condition. Her mother in law Julie is a respiratory therapist, spent the night with her last night. Kelly became a bit aware last night. She opened her eyes and Julie asked her if she was in pain and Kelly nodded. They gave her more pain meds and she seemed to calm down and rested during the night. They will start giving her nutrition soon to give her energy. She has been fighting the ventilator, so they adjusted her sedation a bit and she is calmer. She is breathing a lot on her own. They were able to drain more than a liter of fluid from her abdomen in the last 24 hours, which is great. Please continue praying for Kelly, that we would see measurable improvement every day. Please pray for her husband Justin. He is so stressed out, afraid, and exhausted. Please pray for strength, comfort, and rest. Thank you all!

“Kelly update: Kelly is going into surgery today for surgery number four. They have left the incision open from the last surgery over the last few days to try to control the infection. today at 8 AM they will go in again to take a look and clean things out again. if things continue to look red, irritated, and infected, they will leave the incision open for another few days and go in for a fifth surgery to clean her out yet again. Please pray for Kelly as every surgery is difficult. please pray that things may look wonderful today and that they can close her up and begin the healing process today. thank you again for your prayers and support .I don’t know what we would do without it.”

“Kelly is out of surgery #4. Just met with the surgeon… Kelly still has severe infection in her abdominal cavity (peritonitis / abdominal sepsis)… he cleaned out the pockets of infection and kept the vacuum going on the inside to suction out fluid to aid in drainage. They will go back in on Tuesday for surgery #5 and clean her out again. Most likely there will be a 6th surgery for another wash out. We are praying that the antibiotics work to kill the infection, and that inflamation goes down. Thanks for your prayers.”

Update on Kelly: She is holding steady. Today she woke up out of sedation and was pretty lucid. They were able to ask some questions and she responded. She was using a bit of sign language to spell some things out. She is resting pretty comfortably today. She’s still fighting. Thank you for your prayers.

“Kelly update: Kelly goes in for surgery #5 TODAY at noon. They will do another wash out and check for any abscesses, and assess the infection and internal inflammation.

Kelly’s white count had dropped today from 35 to 30. This is good! May be a sign that the infection is starting to weaken. They have been able to drain several liters of excises fluid as well. (She has had 30+ lbs of excess fluid build up.) She is awake often and lucid. Amazingly she isn’t in a lot of pain, which is wonderful.

She is resting pretty comfortably, though still on the ventilator. They were able to release her hands from the restraints today, And she was able to stretch her arms over her head. She Was getting very restless and uncomfortable being in the same positions for weeks. She was restrained to prevent her from pulling the airway tube out. Now that she is fully awake, she understands what’s going on and won’t pull the tube out… Although she has to be restrained when no one is in the room with her.

The swelling/ inflammation in her abdomen is decreasing , which is another great sign that healing is coming. If all goes well and looks good during the surgery tomorrow, they will close the incision in her abdomen!!! If they are able to do this tomorrow, they may take her off the ventilator in a few days… Depending on her lung function. we are all very encouraged!!! Kelly was even a little feisty today too… Still unable to speak, she motioned for everyone to leave the room… Haha! Tired of everyone around all the time. Please keep praying!!! Thank you all!!!!”

Dear Jesus, we trust that YOU are in total control and will guide the hands of the doctors. Please bring Kelly into full healing and restoration.

Rejoicing over the latest news! we continue to pray!

Kelly Update: Kelly is out of surgery #5. The news is bad & good. The bad news is that her colon resection failed again for the second time and leaked into her abdomen again. They found it during the surgery… they don’t know how long she was leaking out, but they think it wasn’t long. the failure most likely happened last night. It’s good they caught it right away. They did another wash out. The colon is not healing and the risk of the connection failing is high, so they had to do a procedure of last resort. They had to do an ileostomy to allow her body to heal & recover, and to prevent further contamination. She will have this for 6 months to 1 year, at which time the procedure can be reversed. Kelly will go in for surgery number 6 in several days for another wash out and assessment. I’m kind of in a daze… it’s been one thing after another. Please pray for Kelly and Justin. Thank you all so much!

Kelly just had her sixth surgery this morning at 8 AM. We just met with the surgeon… Kelly had an abcess near her liver that they cleaned and flushed out. She also had a few other places where infection was potentially starting so they inserted 4 drains in different locations in her abdomen to further limit the chance of infection. Kelly will have a CAT scan today at 2:00 in order to rule out any other sources of infection. She will go back to surgery tomorrow at 10 am to get cleaned out again. Thank You again for your prayers.

The CAT scan was clear! No Surprises! Kelly’s surgery was moved up to 8am tomorrow morning. She’ll be inspected and washed out again. If no infection is found they might try to close her back up tomorrow depending on her swelling. Thank you for your prayers.