Jane called me this afternoon and asked me to post an update on Ramona’s condition. She and Andy have been pretty busy and haven’t had a chance to write up the latest news.

Ramona spent last night at the hospital after being diagnosed with RSV. From what I understand, RSV is a pretty serious version of the cough/cold virus, and it is especially bad for babies. Normal viruses affect just the large respiratory organs, but RSV gets all the way down into the tiniest parts of the whole breathing mechanism — even the little capillaries that absorb oxygen from the lungs can be affected. Needless to say, this is no fun for anyone, but extra-taxing on babies with cardiac or respiratory problems (like Ramona). They did an x-ray on her lungs to check for pneumonia (which can develop from RSV), and so far all is clear on that front.

The hospital is giving Ramona oxygen and some kind of a basic pain reliever to make her more comfortable. They want to avoid stronger drugs if possible so she doesn’t have to be weaned off of them later. Ramona is having her ups and downs. She woke up this morning with a pretty high fever again (103°) and has slept much of the day, but this afternoon Jane came in to find her sitting up and playing with some toys. What a trooper!

Ramona is going to spend another night at the hospital tonight. For the doctors to feel comfortable releasing Ramona, her oxygen sats need to be in the mid- to high-70s with normal air. Currently, when they take Ramona off the oxygen her levels dip into the 60s. Normally, her levels are in the 80s, so that’s a big difference. They may decide to schedule another x-ray tomorrow to check again for pneumonia.

Let’s all pray for Ramona and the whole family. They are hanging in there, but any hospital stay is challenging and a little scary. Thanks for standing together with them before God!