Chris Swanberg's 28 year old daughter Katie Swanberg was sticken with spinal menegitis last week and is critically ill from complications which include septic shock. This beautiful young woman is fighting hard to overcome it, and your prayers, thoughts and general good karma are all solicited. Chris was just telling me how hard it is for him to see a child in such severe trouble. He feels so helpless. I am sure Chris would be comforted by your expressions. You can reach him by PM throught this site.

Best wishes to Katie and Chris - I hope all goes well for them over the coming days.

Likewise, our thoughts are with you...

Best wishes from Norway.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Geir Inge

Best wishes to Katie and Chris!

Sounds like the bacterial strain...
Katie is in my thoughts and prayers.
-C

Our thoughts are with you

Mick and Pat

Best wishes for the Swanberg family. Chris, don't forget to take care of yourself and keep up your own strength throughout this very stressful period. (Thanks to Chris B. for letting us all know.)

Our prayers are with you down here in Miami.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, hope all goes well.

Mike

Our prayers will be for her and to comfort Chris!!



Dale

Thank you all for your warm caring wishes. This is day 5, and until today with each up and down of this ugly disease process I have been alternately planning a birthday party on her birthday at month end, or dreading planning a funeral.

The bacterium had devastated her capillaries and all that was keeping her alive was a respirator and blood pressure medications. Her bed was surrounded by machines, and they of necessity had loaded her with nearly 20 liters of fluid so she was swollen beyond any recognition. It has been hard to watch.

TODAY...!! Of necessity, they have been avoiding dialysis, out of fear she might not survive it. Today was the day they finally had little choice not to do it. They started at 12:45PM and she not only tolerated it, but they managed to get off nearly 3.5 liters and in the process clean up her blood from the nasty toxins -some. They were also able to infuse a unit of blood and tonight nearly all the previously doubtful blood chemistry is headed back into safer territory and her respiration and blood pressure are markedly better as well.

Not fully out of the woods as yet, but the first day of real hope since that phone call "to get here as fast as you can" last Thursday.

Keep up your prayers and hope. My little fighter may yet pull through this. Those of you with children yet at home hug them close and tell them you love them. The rest - never miss a chance to tell your children how much you love them

God bless you all.

Chris Swanberg

Good heavens, Chris...I'm so sorry you and your daughter are having to go through this. I'm glad to hear there's some good news, and will continue to pray she gets out of the woods and into restored health quickly.

Chris, I sure there are countess others who continue to pray for your situation, most will do so invisibly without posting. Every father and mother on this list will be right with you.
Thanks for your uplifting and moving update.

Praying for Katie here in Redding!

Thank you for keeping us posted.

As a parent and someone who works in a Hospital, I have seen Medical Technology do great things.

My prayers are with you, and I hope she has a speedy recovery, she sounds like great fighter, which will help in with a positive outcome.

Brother, all the best of wishes to you and your family and may the hands and minds of those that care for your daughter be guided by that which we may never fully know or understand.

A younger colleague of me had this frightening illness few month ago.
She is now with good health and back in work.
Chris, I hope Katie will get the same improvement.

Best wishes!


Finn-Erik

Chris - so, so sorry to hear this news. I'm sending good vibes and prayers to you and your family. Tell your daughter she has people all over the world who are wishing her back to good health...

my best to you - I'll be on a Grand Canyon trip until April 3, leaving soon, and I only hope that I can return to good news for you and Katie...

I have had some contact with Chris Swanberg tonight, and his daughter is "consolidating" in his words. He believes and and his medical doctor sister also believes that she may be turning the corner on this thing......but lets not turn of the good vibes and prayers now !

Really sorry to hear about your daughter Chris. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you Chris for the update - that is welcome news. We trust that Katie will continue to improve.

Marj

We're pulling for you Katie, in thoughts and prayers. Today is Girls Day in Japan and Hawaii, because you are the best part of this world.

Well, her "improved" status meant a lot of activity for Katie today...a CT Scan, an echocardiogram etc... but it left her pretty fragile and worn out...from almost NO blood pressure meds this am to pretty heavy ones for tonight's dialysis. (which finished a bit ago, hence the late night report) They took off only todays infusion volume tonight. Poor Katie just lies there unconsciously sedated (and so fluid overloaded she is blistering and leaking fluids everywhere) and let me tell you seeing all this is tremendously difficult as a parent. My doctor sister tells me not to worry - and that Katie is doing really well and she is highly optimistic for a great outcome. Maybe I just need to have Katie squeeze my hand to believe that fully.

Your kind words and prayers are very much appreciated. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Chris Swanberg

ps. Chris Barcellos, kind soul that he is, neglected to mention he is going into a local hospital in the AM for an angiogram with possible stent, or, depending on the outcome, and later, bypass surgery. Keep HIM in your thoughts too.

pps. GEEZE, you'd think Sacramento DVInfo'ers were all addicted to visiting hospitals! (weak attempt at humor here).

Chris,

Katie is certainly in my thoughts and prayers. Hoping she has a speedy and full recovery!!

Chris B,

Good luck to you today also sir. Hope everyone reports back with good news about you and Katie very soon!

Chris, I can't imagine what you are going through. You and Katie are in my prayers.

Reed

Hi Chris,
Here's hoping for a quick & speedy recovery for your daughter. I hope too that your family is doing ok with all this.

Chris B,
Hope everything went well today. Looking forward to seeing you back online very soon!!

Regards,
Bryce

I have a 25 year old Son. My heart goes out to Katie and hope for a speedy recovery.

My report:

Best news, I think, possible... no stent, though a 30% blockage detected. Major threat by cardiologist to reshape my life style with a cardio rehab....By the way, no man in his right mind would ask for a foley cathiter to be installed while he is concious...

That's great news Chris. And a good kick in the pants from the cardiologist to shape things up! That will keep you motivated.

How are things going for Chris Swanberg's daughter?

Chris Barcellos, glad you got the report you did. You can make some changes, blockage can be reversed by diet and exercise. Happened for me some time back.

Thanks Bruce, will be working on it, and in a cardiac rehab program.

Katie Swanberg is seeing little improvements each day. Chris told me today that they are starting to see some kidney function, and that should improve daily. A great sign I understand. They are seeing positive signs every day. They have reduced sedation, though she is still ventilated. Chris Swanberg's sister, who is also an MD, is optomistic.

Keep up the positive waves out there !

First off, THANK YOU all for your caring loving support through what is without question the most difficult time of mine and Katie's lives (as well as he Mother's and sisters too).

Here is the latest update. Wednesday evening 3/10/10.

It was two weeks ago today that Katie's "supposed" flu took a markedly downward turn... in her words at 4PM that WED expressed in an email to a close friend..."I feel like I could die!"...How prophetic. The flu was in fact an infection of Meningococcal Neissirium bacteria. Read more here: Meningococcal disease - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meningococcal_disease)

By Thursday PM she was in full septic shock and her life was at significant risk. In fact, that night I was told she had at best a "20% chance of survival", and if her Mom wanted to see her she should get to the hospital ASAP. I hope none of you ever experience that chill/terror on hearing such words.

We are now two weeks later. A trip through hell I will never forget. I'll spare you the emotional roller coaster I have ridden along with Katie's Mother and Sister, but no Disney E-ticket ride would dare take you on it. YOU ALL, as my friends and family have given an immense well of love and support and while you may have felt impotent to "help" ... help is exactly what you did. As the family "tough one" I had to internalize a lot to play my role through all this... including the private making of potential funeral plans etc... and even now at times when alone and in private I still just lose it from time to time - but happily less so lately, and cry more tears of joy now.

Katie is off most all medicinal support now, including sedatives, all as of yesterday - down from several shiny stainless steel "trees" festooned with bags of IV fluids and nearly a dozen IV pumps feeding them to her inert body laying helpless in that bed, unconscious. At one point you could hardly get to her bed with all the monitors, IV's and medical machines, etc. Anyway I digress, the removal from all that means she will undergo a slow "waking up" process now. Once she is conscious they can better assess all her neurological functions, which by the way, all look good at this point. Her body and her major organs appear to have pulled through with little, if any, lasting injury forecast. She owes her life, in my estimation, to several things... the love and support and prayers of so many people (tearing up here), a physician who within 30 mins of her entry into the ICU made a treatment plan based on a gut instinct that was 100% right and started appropriate treatment right away, and finally - maybe most importantly, her age, fitness and gritty determination. As one close Internet friend put it in a subsequent get well post, the Chilean earthquake was caused by Katie punching an Angel.

She is VERRRY slowly awakening. I imagined someone sudden waking up like Sleeping Beauty (and she is and has been my sleeping beauty during all this) but that's only in movies. The process in reality is slow and gradual. She tried to open her eyes tonight, but it will likely be a couple more days before the can really "wake up."

She has been heavily sedated and on "ventilator support" (a thumb diameter sized tube down into her lungs) for 13 days now. Because it runs down through or more accurately alongside the vocal chords, we are nearing the maximum time medical professionals want it in to prevent any permanent vocal chord injury. The alternative is a tracheotomy - which as you all probably know is the insertion of a breathing tube into the trachea at the base of the neck and top of your ribcage.

While most of Katie's blood chemistry, vital signs, etc, are mostly trending " S L O W L Y" back into the good or at least "better" range tonight we were told that they expect a need for ventilator support for a longer time than her "awakening" so a tracheotomy is scheduled for tomorrow or possibly Friday. I consider this Katie's second birthing in a way, so she will have a 2nd "bellybutton" is how I like to think of this. Katie will best that 20% chance of survival prognosis I frighteningly heard some 13 long agonizing days ago. While it may be too soon to say "nothing" untoward or bad could yet happen, I think I have a "miracle child" soon to be walking around. I know I will totally lose it when I can look in her pretty blue eyes once again, and am anxious to shed those tears!

Her neurological functioning to date, appears promising - and that is always a major concern. The final test will be once she is awake, but all signs point towards a full or close to full, recovery, but it will be months before she would be able to return to work assuming the best, is what I am hearing.

I want to let you know how wonderful Katie's younger sister Kelly has been in all this - the family "tweeter", email and website guru (and rock) and who has kept the world (really - see Folsom garden blogger's readers closely follow her illness - Home and Garden - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/05/2584275/folsom-garden-bloggers-readers.html)) up to date. My sister Louise, herself an MD in Montana, has given me the good, the bad and the ugly along the way and unerringly predicted positive turns a day before they occurred and cautioned me not to worry when certain seeming downturns presented themselves along the way as well. Trust me, in the early dark days, it was her communications that kept me sane and functioning (tearing up here again). Her positive outlook was at times the only positive thing I had to hang on to in the darkest moments of all this - and there were some terribly dark days in the early going. As Katie has progressed my Doc sister has filled in the blanks, told me the questions I needed to ask and did, and answered all my questions lovingly, honestly and never given me false hope, nor unnecessary pessimism. I owe her an immeasurable debt of gratitude and love.

The Nursing staff at Mercy San Juan has taken Katie in as their own daughter. The entire Medical ICU (one of 5 ICU's in that hospital) knows her every doing and condition, and they are as thrilled as her Mother and Sister and I am that she appears to be poised to rejoin us in the conscious world. Some even check in on her on their days off.

Tonight I join Lou Gehrig in considering myself the luckiest man on earth. I am on the verge of having my daughter back. These things change you. I see things in the world around me a little differently these days. maybe time will alter that, but I don't think so.

I hope to improve my kindness and gentleness towards others. I'll never miss a chance to touch, hug and care for family and friends and will say "I love you" a lot more often.

For those of you who have asked "what can I do?" - I'd say hug your children if they are with you, and if they have flown the nest call them more often and never fail to express how special and loved they are. You have no idea how special the chance to do that is, or potentially fleeting it can seem in retrospect.

It's a beautiful place this thing we call life. Don't waste a minute of it.

Thank you again all. I love you all and appreciate your support.

Chris Swanberg

Chris, that brought a tear to my eye. I'm so happy for you all that things are making a positive turn!
Moments like these bring life into harsh, shocking perspective - some close friends of ours are in the devestating process of losing grip of their 10 day old baby girl. I just can't imagin e how they are coping....
Thanks for sharing this with us, and best wishes for your daughter's recovery and future health.
Rob

Chris, I have two daughters myself (15 and 19 y)and I can not imagine anything worse than that something bad would happen to them.
I'm happy for you all that things now are looking brighter.
Our thoughts and prayers are still with you, with wishes for speedy recovery of your daughter's health.

Geir Inge

Chris, thank you for keeping us updated on Katie's progress. All of us have been following this and praying for her, you and the other family members. I hope her progress continues and wish you all the very best for a full and speedy recovery.

All the best to your daughter and your entire family, Chris. I can't imagine what it must have been like, but your story reminds me to cherish what we have. Thanks for letting us know about your journey.

Chris,

just got back from a shoot in Cal. and happen to read this thread. Chilling, very scary. My thoughts are with you and your daughter Katie. What else can I add, other than say that I have a daughter in LA (@ USC) who frequently shows signs of flu? Very scary, indeed. A daddy's thoughts are all I can offer; I hope everything goes well.

Vasco

Chris, my best wishes to your daughter. Sorry, I just happened to see the thread now. Hopefully her condition continues to improve & she fights thru this.

Today, after 15 days into this, and 4 days of being off sedation, my daughter is conscious, though still intubated. There will be some time before she can reliably use muscles etc, but to see her blue eyes knowing she knows who I am and can on occasion manage to squeeze my hand is a fabulous gift. This was step one, of many we have yet to go, but she made it through this awful nightmare.

Thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement. You are all the best !

Chris Swanberg

Hey Chris,
Great to hear that things have turned around for your daughter. You must be very relieved with this news! I hope things go from strength to strength from here on. Now that Katie is conscious please let her know that all our prayers are with her to continue to get better.
All the best,
Bryce

Wonderful news, Chris!

That is terrific news Chris.

We have had a rough last few days as Katie has developed abdominal bleeding - so far we have added 9 units of blood over the past several days to her ravaged little body. A nuclear scan, a couple angioplasty procedures later in nuclear medicine and a CT contrast scan added in, they "think" they have it. We'll see. Thank you all for your positive energy and prayers. We have a ways yet to go it seems.

This is a Nasty bug - the following is from Wikipedia - this is what my daughter has been going through:

"Septicaemia caused by Neisseria meningitidis has received much less public attention than meningococcal meningitis. Meningococcal septicaemia typically causes a purpuric rash that does not lose its colour when pressed with a glass ("non-blanching") and does not cause the classical symptoms of meningitis. This means the condition may be ignored by those not aware of the significance of the rash. Septicaemia carries an approximate 50% mortality rate over a few hours from initial onset. Many health organizations advise anyone with a non-blanching rash to go to a hospital emergency room as soon as possible.

Other severe complications include Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome (a massive, usually bilateral, hemorrhage into the adrenal glands caused by fulminant meningococcemia), adrenal insufficiency, and disseminated intravascular coagulation."

What it doesn't say is how badly it ravages internal organs. It's repair and healing time. We hope her kidneys will survive.

Keep your hope, thoughts and positive energy. Thank you

Chris

ps. If you have a family member who is a candidate for the vaccine, I'd recommend it. The Center for Disease Control website recommendations are here: http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/vaccine-info.html

Chris,

Having almost lost our adult son last year, I know what you have been up against.

Prayers help and I am certain many were passed on in her behalf!!

Healing takes a lot of time, but it is amazing how well people rejuvinate!!!

Will continue to say prayers for recovery of you all!!


Dale Guthormsen

Chris, we have not forgotten.

Hoping and praying for the next step in recovery.

Bruce Foreman

Chris,
Now that you mentioned it, the N. meningitidis vaccine is readily available and effective. We give it to just about all of our patients going off to college (the infection is most often seen in college dorms and army barracks). It is safe with almost no side effects.
It's wonderful that she is coming out of this. You have a real fighter. Be sure that any other young folks in your family get the vaccine.

I want to thank you all for your caring support and encouragement.

My daughter's kidneys fired up over the weekend and dialysis is now a thing of the past. She is getting stronger and may be off her trach tube (placed in lieu of the breathing tube) within a week or less. They are readying her for transition to a rehab facility, and her daily progress is remarkable. She appears to have beaten long odds.

Your words of support, love and encouragement truly were helpful for me through a very dark period in my life. The light is shining in now and I feel immensely better. I appreciate my DVInfo family.

To Chris Hurd, I say thank you for allowing me to use this site for that, and encourage and support you taking this thread down if you like... it is, after all, a little odd for this site, and I am anxious to getting back to posting more appropriate things !

God bless you all.

Chris Swanberg

ps. Steve, thanks for weighing in on the significance of the vaccine. My 22 year old will be getting it. I STRONGLY recommend that anyone with a child meeting the CDC guidelines get it!!

I hadn't heard from Chris Swanberg for about a week, and called him tonight to see how Katie was doing. When he answered the phone, he said just a minute, he would let me talk to someone who knew a bit more... It was Katie herself. We spoke for a few minutes. She is anxious to get back on her feet, and a bit frustrated about having to relearn things like walk, and all...... but you can tell she is going to come back with a vengence.... you got to admire how tough that young woman is. I felt like I was talking to a miracle...

I think everyone who has been rooting for her has had an effect on her.

Gosh, that is good news!

At her age, with the fight she has shown, even if the rehab process is long and frustrating I look for her to make the fullest recovery possible for her to attain. Someone please keep us posted.

Bruce Foreman

GREAT NEWS! And thanks to both Chris's for keeping us "in the loop".