Pray for April!

Hey all,

Darrell (April's husband) called me early this morning and told me Ape had a heart attack last night. I talked with her on the phone for over an hour last night, and then she spoke to her mom, and then went to get ready for bed. He said she told the EMS worker it felt like someone kicked her in the chest, and then she fell in the floor. She coded while in the squad, and they took her to Wake Med. She coded again there, and they did a bypass (I think) and decided she needed to be transferred to Duke. I got there around noon, and April had just gotten out of surgery. She is stable but critical. Forgive me first for my lack of correct usage of medical terms..this is how I understand it. The docs said the next 24 hours are the most important of her life up to this point. If she wakes up on her own, they'll start weaning her off the "pump" that is acting as her heart to see if her heart will function again on it's own. If not, they've already started the ball rolling for getting on the transplant list. If she doesn't wake up in the next 24 hours, they'll do neurological testing to determine if there was brain damage during her 3 codes (she coded again today before surgery). The Duke doc told Darrell that in all his years of medicine, he had never seen anyone under the age of 65 have this happen. Darrell said the doc said "April's artery split." I have no idea what that means. The doc said he had no medical reason to tell us why this happened. The praise part is that when I left at 5:00, April was responding to simple commands (Grip my hand, move your foot-type commands) and she was nodding her head appropriately to questions. For instance, I asked her if she knew me and she nodded yes, and I said "Am I Trever?" (our other childhood friend/college roommate) and Ape nodded no. I then told her Trever's flight came in at 3 tomorrow and we'd see her around 3:30 and she nodded a big yes. So pray. Pray April continues to improve. Pray for her husband Darrell as he makes decisions and cares for April. Pray for Grace, their two year old who has bronchitis right now, and is at home with Darrell's mom, and with her little world rocked. And pray for April's mom, Jean. She's lost alot in the last 7 years and she's really struggling today (like throwing up in the bathroom and almost passing out once.)

Feel free to email me (jbaird9@juno.com) but I'm about to lose my voice so I more than likely won't answer the phone soon. :) Sorry for the long note.

Thanks!

Jeanie