Dallene Smith

Hello, friends and family. We're using this Caring Bridge website to keep everyone abreast of Dallene's recovery process. We'll be posting as often as possible to get the word out on how she's improving and what our next steps are.
 
The story: Sunday afternoon, December 18th, Ben found Dallene sleeping around 1:00pm on Sunday afternoon. He tried to wake her up, but she was unresponsive with very low blood pressure and slowed breathing. An ambulance brought Dallene to Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge Hospital's emergency room. The doctors' diagnosis that Dallene has suffered a stroke at some point early Sunday morning. Dallene was admitted to the ICU in critical condition with extremely low blood pressure and partial liver and kidney failure. She has been on a respirator to keep her breathing at a predetermined rate and is heavily sedated (primarily to keep her resting and recovering).


As of Monday afternoon, Dallene stabilized but was still in critical condition. Her kidneys and liver were functioning better. Most importantly, Dallene was somewhat responsive: she raised her eyebrows when spoken to and tried (albeit weakly) to respond to people holding her hand. 


By Tuesday afternoon, Dallene's blood pressure was being sustained at normal, and her liver function had improved significantly. Her kidneys are still having trouble functioning, but we're extremely hopeful that Wednesday's dialysis will bring positive results. She has been much more responsive and even tried to sit up for a moment. She is still sedated and on the ventilator, but she is steadily improving.


We'll continue to post as we know more information. Thank you for visiting, and please keep Dallene in your thoughts and prayers.


Thank you and God bless,
Ben and Benjamin