August 10, 2026
Yesterday I was prepping for a two day getaway to leave today with Tim while he marries our dear friends’ son. Hours later, Tate dramatically deteriorated and Tate is admitted yet again. Life sure shifts gears quickly. The heart is slower to follow.
Tatum got suddenly very sick around 9 pm last night. All symptoms of infection. Rigors and sweating, nausea and vomiting and most disconcerting was an acute mental/personality shift. We got her in the car and I only made it as far as the North campus ER, 20 minutes from our house. We typically push to get to Main as they will always transfer her there anyway to have access to all the specialists. She was started on IV antibiotics, blood cultures drawn and eventually taken by ambulance to Main. We got upstairs at 6 this morning.
Tates labs look like mostly normal “Tate.” Low WBC and all. The thermometer never climbed above 98.8 despite fevering with rigors and sweating through her clothes. All compliments of the immunosuppressants that keep her body from destroying itself but also prevent her body from mounting an appropriate response to illness.
This just feels like a defeating one. She doesn’t look great today. If cultures don’t grow, we’ll head home at the earliest tomorrow with an increasingly lowered baseline. A sleepless night is never good for perspective. We appreciate the continued prayers as we work to get out of this rinse and repeat medical cycle.