Mish update

Sara Mission Update

Kathy had a frantic day today speaking with the Church's Missionary Dept. about Sara's health. For some reason, they were intimating that due to her blood thinner medication she was required to remain on until the end of September that they (Missionary Dept.) were not going to accept into the MTC until after she was totally off the medication (or early November when the following group to Indonesia would arrive). Knowing how hard Sara had been working on getting her knee stronger and what another 2 months might do to her psyche, Kathy went to bat for Sara and pled with the brother over this dept. to have whoever he was discussing Sara's situation with to pray about it prior to making a final decision. She informed him what every dr. had told us -- that remaining on the blood thinner medication for a month would be no problem and would still allow her another month at the MTC (medication free) prior to traveling to Indonesia. If their concern was being on a long plane flight, Sara would promise to move around every couple hours to prevent another blood clot on the flight over.

At any rate, they called back a couple hrs. later and said they had decided to allow her to enter September 2nd after all and the dr. in Provo was already aware of her and would be ready for her in September. Thanks again for all your prayers - Sara really appreciates them.

Post by Mark Hewlett :)

Knee update

Sara and my parents have spent the afternoon and evening at the Dr's office and IMC emergency room. The specialist verified that the ACL has not been affected but only the PCL (thats good!). They were also able to see that it wasn't fully torn so they will not need to do surgery (another good thing). The Dr. said she could not leave to the MTC this Wednesday. They want to see her back at the Dr's in two weeks. Until then she will continue to wear the brace and keep her leg straight. After two weeks they are hoping to begin doing physical therapy. They are thinking she will be able to go into the MTC in about 6-8 weeks, so probably about the same time that Carter is leaving.

The Dr was concerned about Sara's circulation. Her cap refill time was slow and I thought her coloring didn't look very good when we saw her yesterday. They had my parents take her to IMC emergency room to have her circulation looked at. They found that she has several blood clots in her veins. She has been put on coumadin (a blood thinner) but coumadin takes several weeks before it reaches the appropriate therapeutic level. In the meantime, she will also be on lovenox--which is also a blood thinner but faster acting. She will be on lovenox for several weeks until her coumadin levels reach the appropriate level. This means that she will have frequent blood tests to insure she is getting the appropriate dosages of both medications. She will be on coumadin for the next couple of months.

So we will have Sara around for the summer. I know its a bummer for her but I'm excited to have more time with her :)

Count Down!

In less than a week Sara will enter the MTC and then fly out to Indonesia. This blog is to enable family and friends to access the letters and things Sara will send home to family.