Update: Cora's Recovery

Hey guys, Moshi here. So...these last few days have been really wild, which is probably the understatement of our year so far. I understand that those of you in our server are especially concerned and confused considering that out of the blue on Friday evening, we announced that Cora was in the hospital and having a blood transfusion done. We didn't want to reveal everything because for one, we were still finding things out ourselves, and two, people can say really stupid things at the wrong times, and we don't want to completely disclose all of our personal business. However, since our job obviously involves our clients and friends, it is important that you all know at least know the general gist of what was happening.

This all started about 7 weeks ago. Cora has suffered from anemia and a blood issue for quite some time, so we made an appointment with an OB/GYN to see what was going on. She's been taking iron supplements and vitamins to help with the issue. Two weeks ago, she started having headaches that only got more severe, so an ultrasound was scheduled. A few days before her ultrasound, she started to have trouble breathing whenever she got up to do something. Even walking up or down the stairs was hard for her. We took her to the ultrasound, but the results came back saying that nothing was wrong. Two days later, we called her gynecologist and they even confirmed that there was nothing wrong. I found that strange considering her symptoms. She went with my father to pick up her medicine while I was at home. I took a nap and woke up to find my mother informing me that we were taking Cora to the ER. I was stunned for about 10 seconds not knowing how to process that. Apparently, she was having trouble breathing again, and my father asked if she wanted to go the ER, to which she said yes. 

We took her to the ER and she was seen almost immediately, thank God. After some x-rays and bloodwork, a doctor told us something, but first, I need to briefly explain hemoglobin so you all can understand the severity of her condition. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that helps deliver iron and oxygen throughout our body. It's vital to our survival. The average blood count of a woman of Cora's age is between 12 and 16. Her blood count was 10.6 at the end of April, so slightly below average.

When her blood was taken, the doctors told us her blood count was 3.2. The average person dies within days of having a blood count of 4 or 5. The doctors said they had never seen someone with a blood count as low as Cora's. Her hands were yellow white, her lips, her gums, her tongue and her mouth were all pale. My wife could have very well died and we wouldn't have even known why had we not gone to the hospital on Friday.

A transfusion was absolutely necessary. Your average person would probably be panicking, looking for an alternative due to the risks of a blood transfusion, but I'm not your average person and neither is Cora. We had faith she would be ok. The risk was super low as they made sure to carefully screen the blood and make sure it was clean and compatible. The hardest part of this was that Cora had to stay overnight for the 12 hour procedure. They put an IV in her arm and let the blood drip in from a bag, which they repeated 4 times.

We have NEVER been apart for more than a few hours at once since we got married, let alone not having Cora at home for the night. That night was probably the hardest night for our entire family. None of us were able to sleep well. My mother was up the whole night praying as was my dad. I prayed throughout the night and tried getting some sleep, but every few minutes, I woke up and looked behind me, since Cora always sleeps behind me. It was...really difficult not having her there. She said she wasn't able to sleep without me next to her either.

In the early morning, we started a facetime call with each other. She was already looking and sounding better, and she was potentially able to come home the same day according to one of the nurses. By noon, they finished giving her all 4 bags of blood. She was able to walk around a bit, had no headaches and had no trouble breathing. I spent 7 hours in the room with her talking about everything that had happened so far. The best part of it was just to have my wife physically next to me again. 

By 9 PM, she was discharged and our family was reunited again. Despite the transfusion being a complete success, she naturally still has to recover. She's very fatigued from the procedure and her arms are sore and bruised since they had to stick multiple IV's for the bags of blood and do constant blood work to check her blood count. Cora will be recovering for a while as well as taking new stronger medicine than before.

That covers everything that Cora is comfortable with me revealing; I won't be going into detail about much more than that for obvious reasons. Right now, I'm just happy my wife is back home and feeling better. To those of you that have wished us well and prayed, thank you; prayer really changes things. We will keep you updated with her recovery over the next week.