Sabina Paradi

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Let us celebrate the short and wonderful life of Sabina Paradi. Sabina passed away today at 3:45 pm at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

My prayers are to commend her wonderful soul to the Lord, and comfort for her mother's inconsolable loss. The Lord's blessings to all who prayed for her, and those who cared for her.

Sabina is in Comfort Care

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Just a note that Sabina is now in comfort care, which is similar to hospice care. Feel free to visit, but there will be no updates on her condition, and there is no indication how long she will be there.

The location is 8-154 in Milstein.

Update on Sabina

(from J. Song)

Dear Friends,

The latest word from New York is that Sabina has been taken off the ventilator and moved from the neuro ICU to a regular room. She will still be given medication to control storming to ensure comfort, and she will continue to be fed. However, no steps will be taken to fight infections, nor will any steps be taken to actively save her life.

At this time, let us pray for His unconditional healing or for Him to take her home. Let us also pray for her family, that they might find comfort in Him during this time, and for her friends, who would be so much less without her.

And though this is a difficult period, let's keep in mind that she has survived so much already, that each and every day has been a small miracle. Let us praise Him for what He has done and what He will do.

Sabina: Last Message

(e-mail from B. Parady)

There will be no more messages regarding Sabina. There will be an announcement when there is finality.

Morning, June 28

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Not a good night. She had a storm through most of it running to over 103 fever and they had a hard time bringing it down. We thought that the storms had decreased in intensity and frequency, only to be hit with this.

She is starting TPN feed this morning. They were going to send her to Helen Hayes tomorrow but with all that is going on, she may never go into rehab.

I pray that Sabina is comfortable, recovers, gains her health, and Shelly and I remain strong in the face of difficult times.

Evening, June 27

(e-mail from B. Parady)

An uneventful day. No storms, Two BMs in spite of not being fed for 4 days. I had long long discussions with the GI team to get on it. The nurse Tom, did a great job in slow feeding Sabina contrast media through the day to prepare her for the late evening CAT scan of her gut.

The GI guy grudgingly admitted that stubborn constipation may be at the root this evening before the testing. The two BMs sort of put an exclamation point on it. We shall see. I got them to ready TPN in case we need to feed her depending on what they find.

I have her looking at the TV with Animal Planet. Her eyes move slightly side to side , but only operate in the left 45 degrees. She can only barely go right of center. So no Helen Hayes until they get the young lady to digest.

My prayers are for Sabina to endure all the hardship facing her to gain her health and begin rehab. Prayers for her mother to gain the strength to endure.

Morning, June 27

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Overnight Sabina had two BMs, even though she has not been fed for days. It would seem that she is very stopped up from meds. They are doing a GI series this morning as I type. The docs have a peculiar way of testing and testing and then saying, "can't see anything". We shall see. Vitals are fine.

Time to press the limits of my spirit, and extend hope where there is none. I have complete faith in God and where He is guiding me. Whether He heals Sabina on this earth or heaven is His to work. I fight despondency, and frustration. Most of all we fight the idea that we are putting Sabina through a process that will not lead anywhere in terms of a meaningful recovery.

Sabina is struggling for life, not having taken food for 4 days. We question the ability of anyone to recover from Sabina's injury to any meaningful level. So far, Shelly has only seen fractional recoveries from similar injuries, and parents who are despondent over finding a way forward for their loved ones. Given the robustness of Sabina's life to this point makes it difficult to see a point in taking her to some minimal recovery.

These are the times of enduring hardship. The quote for today is from Romans 8:5-6, "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what nature desires; but those who in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."

My prayers for Sabina and God's healing, on earth or heaven, and for Shelly's comfort.

Evening, June 26

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Waiting to go to Helen Hayes.

Sabina's condition is quite stable and she is almost weaned off the respirator. She is having digestive problems and has not gotten nutrition in three days. They are planning to do a full GI tomorrow.

In my view she is able to track better than ever. Her eyes move from side to side though they seem largely stuck to the right. They do move and now dart. She seems to have lost her facial expressiveness. I cannot tell if we are losing or gaining.

My prayers are for Sabina to be able to gain enough of a recovery to be meaningful, and for her mother to find strength.

Evening, June 25

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Kind of hard to explain the day and its goings on, so I won't.

Sabina had a storm last night, caught very quickly. First storm in 4 days. She was stabilized during the day. She has had no food in two days and cannot pass anything from her stomach.

The word from Mayer is that he wants to try aggressive rehab at Helen Hayes for a while and if that does not work he will bring her back for further examination. Bottom line the procedure that he proposed, he backed away from, saying that there is progress shown in successive CAT scans, so slow is better and will track progress at HHH. If it does not improve, we are back to
square one, and Columbia.

My prayers are for Sabina to make continued progress, and for Shelly who has to take on a herculian task for 2 months at Helen Hayes.

Evening, June 24

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Stable day. Heart rate 105+, temp 100+. Fourth day no storms. Eyes open, no tracking. Lots of mouth motion and some yawning.

Talked to Mayer, and he showed us the CAT scans, and suggested a procedure that he seems to have sort of a patent on, a sump shunt because of the expanded ventricle. Something to consider.

My prayers are for Sabina to get God's healing and comfort.

Evening, June 23

(e-mail from B. Parady)

No real change in her condition. Temperature at 100.9 almost all day. Pulse 100+. She stays in ICU as long as she fevers. They are working to wean her off the respirator and she is breathing deeply to compensate for her dependency.

Her neurological condition is unchanged. She stares and does not respond. We spend the days talking to her and reading to her.

Our prayers continue for God's healing of Sabina.

Evening, June 22

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Another day with no storms. The meds have not changed. The nurse says maybe the storms are over. Let's hope and pray for her comfort. Sabina had a slight fever all day, between 100 to 100.8, and pulse was between 100 and 120. She has new braces for her feet and hands that seem to be uncurling her. She does not seem as reactive to touch nor to manipulation as in the past. She is much less reactive at the brainstem level, which is a good thing.

She opened her eyes again for long periods. It is a stare or glare, but not focused or coordinated. She is still not tracking noticeably, not a good neurological sign. She may have smiled once, brought cheer to me, though it may be ephemeral.

At this point we are not encouraged that there will be a meaningful recovery. We are awaiting the return of Dr Mayer to have his review of Sabina's prognosis. He was the most optimistic of all of them here, and he is the chief after all. We seek some ray of reasonable hope that she is neurologically alive.

For those interested, here are some references on her current condition:

(1) http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/503854
(2) http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/inside.asp?AID=986&UID=
(3) http://books.google.com/books?id=M3ynlxvhv9EC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=%22meaningful+recovery%22+coma&source=web&ots=rngkwGowfD&sig=7rRHl318zVfbdhVPrjrggo39xB0
(4) http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/27/Floridian/From_tragedy__beauty.shtml

Sabina had visitors from her local church group in New York.

We continue to pray for Sabina's healing from the Lord. My thanks to all of you for your prayer and support.

Evening, June 21

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Basically a day without storms nor tendency to storming. Sabina would open her eyes wide and seem to be attentive though not track for the most part. I thought that I caught her smiling at one point. I spent a lot of time with her face to face. Her heart rate was around 120 with a 100+ temperature. Both tapered toward the end of the day. She is on a 40 ml/hr feed of 2cal/ml, so things stabilized after last night's CAT scan which for all the fuss was totally negative. The installed her brand new splints to combat the curling of her feet and arms.

Basically a stable day. The hope has been for some neurological progress which there has not been anything significant for a while. The picture painted by the doctors for a recovery is not a good one, being poor.

The word is that transfer to Helen Hayes is imminent, but date is unknown. We do not remain optimistic that rehab at Helen Hayes will be very productive.

At this point it is hope against hope. Our prayers are for Sabina to stay healthy, build strength and improve her interaction with her surroundings.

Evening, June 20

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Not such a great day for Sabina. Had a couple of storms. At times felt like she might be responding to me. The later storm seemed to be harking back to when we could not stop them. Her abdominal CAT scan was clear, with no issues so she is being fed again.

We discussed Sabina's prognosis again. She is tentatively scheduled to go back to Helen Hayes this Friday or Monday if they get her stable.

Shelly and I visited the Brady Institute, a facility for TBI that we felt was barely adequate. It was quite distressing to see them warehouse patients that could not be rehabbed by letting them sit in the hallway to give them more stimulation so to speak. The whole area of coma stimulation is kind of difficult to deal with, and has uncertain outcomes. We were given a very slim percentage for a meaningful recovery for Sabina by the NYP doctors.

I personally am not sure how long this all can be kept up, in managing Sabina's storms. As I said earlier, this may be impossible to unwind the heavy narcotics, and the storms in turn, may get a lot worse if the narcotics cannot be tapered. The doctor said it would take over 6 months to remove all the narcotics.

I am praying for Sabina, and for whatever healing the Lord has in store for her.

Evening, June 19

(e-mail from B. Parady)

This was an uneventful day. No storms all day long. Not much activity either, opened her eyes for a long period.

We had a neuropsychologist from the Brady Institute at Jamaica hospital in Queens visit to evaluate possibilities for recovery using coma stimulation. He and his assistant spent over half an hour with Sabina. Sabina did have three small storms last night but as I said nothing in the day.

She is currently being prepared for a cat scan of her abdomen to find out what the source of obstruction is so that she can start to feed. They are going to give her contrast media since she vomited bile last night. Rehab came by and is adjusting her splints to try to get her limbs in shape.

So my prayer is for Sabina's recovery to a functioning, active life.