How we got here...

Hello to all of the people that love Lannette...and there are alot of us as I have found out. I suspected but confirmation is nice. For those who don't know me, My name is Doug and I have the privilege of calling myself her boyfriend. So many people have called and texted and sent psychic messages that we decided the best way to keep people up to date is thru a blog...which is totally new to me. So please direct anyone who wants to know what the most current info is to come to this blog and find out whats going. So...whats going on is this....

I took Lannette on her first snowboarding trip to Mission Ridge on Saturday the 10th of January. We had a fantastic time. She did amazingly well. Of course, she took a few falls, as well. Early afternoon we were on our last run and she took a cute little face-plant and hurt her wrist. She was brought down to the first aid shack where she was assessed and then I took her immediately to the ER in Wenatchee. In the ER she started feeling very faint and light headed. Her falls also started to develop extensive bruising. Massive hematomas in fact. She was released to go home after about 5 hours in the ER. On Monday she was taken to the ER in Chelan as she was not getting any better. After many tests and a few units of blood, she was transfered to the Wenatchee ER and then ICU. After many more tests it was determined that she probably had TTP. Here is a link for more info on it.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000552.htm

Lannette was then transfered to the University of Washington Medical Hospital where her diagnosis was confirmed. Although it is unknown what caused the onset of the TTP the result is that her body is attacking her red blood cells and platelets. The kidneys then became clogged with the damaged cells and platelets causing acute renal failure. At this point maybe it's a good idea to say that Lannette is doing well today. As you all know, she is so very strong. The treatment plan now is two-fold. Dialysis to cleanse her blood and give her kidneys a break in conjunction with a procedure called plasmapheresis which separates the blood plasma from the blood then removed. Donor plasma replaces the old in the blood then it is recirculated back into her blood stream. The point of all this is to remove the antibodies that are doing the damage. It is now Thursday and she has had 3 of each procedures; dialysis and plasmapheresis (the third dialysis treatment is underway now)

I am going to be updating this blog as I get information so please check back when you can. If there are no new updates please do not worry, they will be forthcoming. Lannette and I would both like to thank you all for your support, thoughts and prayers. She wants everyone to know how much she loves you all.

Seth and Soren, mommy loves you both more than anything and can't wait to see you. I will update tomorrow. Thank you all so much.