more tests than finals week!

Ok, she's had a ton of tests done and, drum roll please, we don't yet know anything! More of that to follow.

First, just a couple of additions to Skye's post (thank you Skye!) Courtney had been having a pretty mellow Thanksgiving week with a lot of rest and a little time with kids. The day after Thanksgiving, a bunch of family came over and Courtney looked better than she has in the last month. It was really good seeing her thrive with family around; it was really good for her. The next day she was feeling really tired and had a headache. We thought she had maybe overdone it a bit, but Sunday she was in bed all day and had an excruciating headache. Sunday night she developed a fever. When it raised about 2.5 degrees in less than an hour I got worried and took her to the ER. (see Skye's post below)

Now it's Monday evening and her fever is still around 100 degrees, but she's not feeling nearly as bad. She says that at its peak, the pain was worse than the natural childbirths she went through. Right now she's actually sleeping. They've done blood counts, blood cultures, swabs, urine samples, MRI, CT scan, x-rays, and lumbar puncture (spinal tap.) Not all the results are in, but it is NOT flu, there's no infection identifiable as of yet although her white blood cell count is high. Spinal fluid appears free from infection on first look, more cultures to follow.

The big plus of today has us all stumped. About 3 minutes after the lumbar puncture and removal of some cerebrospinal fluid, Courtney reported that her headache had really diminished drastically. A few minutes after that, she realized she can now see better than she has since surgery. It almost seems like the removal of fluid reduced pressure on the brain. The thing is, they check the pressure of the fluid before removing any, and Courtney was within the range of normal. She was right at the upper end of the range, but still within normal limits.

Courtney has to stay overnight, but everyone is baffled as to the cause of her pain and fever. I offered to give her a spinal tap every time it gets too bad, but for some reason she declined. The plan right now is monitor and see if she gets better or worse and see what the cultures tomorrow show. Thanks for the prayers. Someone will update again as soon as there's more news.