Update on Mara

Some of you have asked about Mara so I thought it's time for an update. Her story has taken an incredible turn since coming out of brain surgery over three weeks ago. In terms of the "big question" her tumor was successfully removed and it was benign, but there is much more to tell.

Mara dis not recover from the surgery at an acceptable rate, and caught pneumonia and some infections a few days after the surgery. Even a week later she was not coming around, and was so weak that she could not even breathe on her own. A few days after that she was diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy, which is a condition that cause nerve tissue to degenerate, so that it can't transmit the electrical impulses needed to make muscles move--so her chest muscles were not able to make her lungs go in and out for breathing. PN does not affect the central nervous system, so there is no risk to her brain, heart, and other vital organs.

The doctors are thinking that the PN was caused by rare interactions between the medications and steriods she was taking post-surgery. PN occurs in only 1 or 2 out of every 100,000 surgeries in this country!

The primary treatment for now are plasma filterings that clean out tainted platelets and put in healthy ones, to help the nerve tissue start to regenerate. So far Mara is showing signs of responding to the treatments, but it's much too early to tell how effective they really are.

Even though the doctors are confident that she can recover, it could take as long as 12 months or more.

She had a trach tube inserted last week that allows her to get off the ventilator and be a bit more mobile--which is needed to get her muscle strength back. But, she's still in the ICU and could be there for another week or so. Once she leaves ICU, she's looking at about 8 weeks of intense physical therapy in the same hospital. After that, she advances to out-patient therapy for the forseeable future.

So, while the prognosis is positive, she faces a long, hard road to whatever recovery she'll reach. Please keep Mara and her family in your thoughts--they still need lots of support to get through this tragic turn of events.

mike