Complications

Allow me to give a brief explanation of her illness to help you better understand. In the words of my husband, "It's kind of a chain reaction. The specific strain of E-coli produces a toxin. The toxin wounds the inside of the microscopic vessels in the organs and breaks down blood cells. This causes clotting that basically shuts down blood flow through the organs. Usually brain, kidneys, and pancreas, but sometimes the heart, liver, or other organs. Until the body can break down the clots AND repair the micro vessels, her body just needs to be supported." 
On day 4 she began to experience complications from all the fluid retention because her kidneys weren't filtering out enough fluid through her urine. She began to experience fluid build up around her heart causing a heart "gallup", fluid around her lungs making it more difficult for her to breathe on her own, and she got a fever. Then, when they started giving her nutrition through tube feeds she developed pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). The complications also meant that it would be a while before she could come off the breathing tube. All this bad news was very hard on me and I began to feel very frustrated and helpless again. I was angry at the doctors for giving her so much fluid when they could have prevented this by scaling back. We discussed this with them and they finally reduced some of her fluids, although she had to receive some because she was getting her meds through the IVs. The doctors increased her dosage of diuretics and we began to pray for her to pee more. She needed to release all the fluid inside her!
When that didn't work fast enough, they finally decided to give her dialysis on day 5 (Aug 9). Dialysis is basically where they use a huge catheter in her jugular vein to draw out blood from the body and filter it through a loud, whirring machine to remove toxins from the blood. The machine can also remove some of the excess water from the body in the process, if necessary. However, it became more complicated than that. For the process to work the catheter had to be stable and in just the right position. If it began to lose it's integrity it would have to be replaced. Also, any clots or blockages in the machine can cause the whole thing to shut down. In this case, any blood that is in the machine when it shuts down cannot be returned to her body, so she would have to have a transfusion to replace the lost blood. During her dialysis treatments we dealt with these obstacles often.

Paisley is attached to the dialysis machine, named "James Bond" because it's number is 007.

Although the machine was loud, bulky, and complicated, this treatment was a huge help to her. we could see the swelling slowly go down, starting in her hands and feet, and gradually moving to her face and body. The fluid in her lungs decreased fairly quickly and we were able to do "trials" off the ventilator, which is where they turn it off for a little while to see how she does breathing on her own. She was doing well. She also began to pee more as a response to the medications. It was a relief to finally see some real progress, but she still had a long way to go.

The orange tube going into her nose is how they gave her liquefied food while she couldn't eat on her own. The tube coming out of her neck is the dialysis catheter where they drew out and reinserted her blood. The tube in her mouth is the breathing tube. I don't remember what the sensor on her forehead was for.

Paisely still had a Pericardial Effusion (fluid around the heart) Pancreatitis, and major kidney damage her body was trying to heal and this took a toll on her body. In addition, although the dialysis helped a lot, it does damage the blood cells so her body had to deal with that as well. 

My next focus was getting the breathing tube out so she could breathe on her own and come out of sedation. It seemed like this was always delayed by something. When they put the tube in, we didnt realize how difficult it would be to get it out! The doctors were very cautious because having to put a breathing tube back in again can hurt the throat. I was confident she could breathe on her own, but I figured the doctors are the experts and "better safe than sorry", so we waited.

Day 6 was a Sunday. Myles and I decided to let the nurses watch over Paisley for 45 minutes so we could go to a sacrament meeting our church provided in the hospital for patients and their families. I remember the talks and music were beautiful. I felt they were specifically planned to provide comfort and strength to families in our situation. I felt strongly that Christ was there with us. His atonement enabled Him to feel the suffering of our daughter and ourselves. He could comfort and strengthen us because He had experienced it and knew how to overcome it. I felt the love and grace of our Savior lifting me, giving me the strength I needed to get through another day. I was so grateful for that service by our church and I knew I had a huge support system there for me through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I know that the Savior did suffer for us, every specific pain, illness, and sin so that He could succor us. I know it because He came to my aid that day.