However, over the past weekend, Kara's vitals started trending in the wrong direction; apparently one of the valves and one of the patches had sprung leaks.  So, yesterday morning, Brian and Julie checked Kara in at the U-of-M Hospital with the intention that she'd undergo a heart catheterization to investigate what needed to be done to correct the problems.  Evidently everything went routinely, but some bleeding that they couldn't get stopped (apparently due to medication side-effects) prompted the doctors to check Kara into the Pediatric ICU for an overnighter.

A couple of hours later, though, Kara went through a series of three heart attacks, one of which triggered a life-threatening buildup of fluid in her lungs.  Surgeons were called in right away to put her on some sort of heart and lungs machine, but apparently only a ventilator was necessary.  Evidently, the same medication side effects that caused the bleeding issues also started the chain of events that let to heart attacks and fluid buildup.  A few hours later, Brian posted on his FaceBook page, "This is, by far, the scariest thing I have ever been through."

And, to be perfectly honest with you, I can't even begin to relate.  I've served 20 years on active duty with the U. S. Navy, 15 of those on sea duty.  I've pulled three combat-zone deployments and one special-ops deployment; without going into detail, let's just say I've seen and done stuff that people aren't supposed to see or do and leave it at that.  Not much rattles me anymore.

But this . . . I can't even begin to comprehend what Brian and Julie were going through last night.  I cannot get through my head the kind of helplessness that they had to be feeling while they were watching their daughter fight for her life, and there was absolutely nothing that they could do about it.

Susan J. Demas, a regular contributor to the MLive Network, reported the initial story late last night, and provided updates this morning and this afternoon.  Several television stations (WOOD-TV8, WZZM-13, WXMI-17, WNEM-TV5, and WSBT-22 out of South Bend) carried the story this morning, as did several newspapers (Detroit Free Press, Lansing State Journal, Chicago Tribune, and the Greenfield (Indiana) Daily Reporter), though the Detroit News had the most detailed coverage.

The good news is that, this morning, Kara's liver and kidney functions were normal (which means that no vital organ damage happened last night), and according to her doctor, the worst is over.  All the medical tests today produced all positive results, and considerable progress was made toward getting off the ventilator.  I suspect that the fact that Kara was fighting sedation is probably considered a positive sign.

As it's impossible for me to comprehend the grief and helplessness that Brian and Julie were enduring last night, so it's impossible for me to understand their sense of joy and relief today.

Nevertheless, a few classless individuals just couldn't seem to pass up the opportunity to comment on the MLive updates . . . and I'll let y'all read the posts there yourselves.  (Frankly, it sounds like the MichUHCAN folks from the tone of them.)  Interestingly, our current troll-of-record - he goes by B_Milligan on MLive - wasn't one of them; and he made a point that I'd like to add on to.

Many of us regulars here have taken L.G. Calley to task over one thing or another (he and I had a somewhat tense e-mail exchange a few weeks back over the bridge boondoggle), but I agree with Bill in that this incident serves to highlight what really is or isn't truly important.  For what my opinion is worth, right now we ought to give the man and his family some space; keep our comments and communications respectful, supportive, and encouraging.

We can save the lawn dart attack for next week.