Jennifer Ann Shields

Jennifer Ann Shields is a friend to many people, but to me, she is my BEST friend. The person I confide in, the person I can say anything to with no fear of judgement or ridicule, the person I can count on thru good times and bad. She will tell me when I'm being stupid and love me anyway. She was there thru the death of a beloved step brother, she was there when I recieved my black belt and celebrated with me when I bought my martial arts school.

Saturday October 10th.

Many of you know but some don't, Thursday (10/08) Jennifer did not show up for work and she didn't call. As most of you know THAT's not like Jennifer. When she hadn't reported by 10am her boss got worried and called her sister to let her know he was calling Weatherford PD. The police arrived at her home and broke in to find her "unconscious" and unresponsive. EMS was called and she was taken to Weatherford Regional Medical Center. Her brother (Michael) was at the hospital with her as the doctor's assessed her condition. She was started on antibiotics and antiviral medications as a precaution. All blood tests came back and her vitals were good however she remained in a deep "sleep".



After several hours she began to regain consciousness but was unable to communicate or focus or have any control of her limbs. She slept well Thursday night and by Friday was able to communicate but her words were still slurred...she could focus on television and even poked fun at some of the things she saw. (As many know...Jen's favorite channel is th HGTV. She loves house "porn" as she calls it.) However she had moments where she would fire off something completely off the wall.



On Friday she was tested for meningitis and an MRI was done to rule out stroke. Both tests came back clear however there was a small amount of protein in her spinal fluid and there was swelling of her brain. The diagnosis, Metabolic encephalopothy.

Definition (http://www.thirdage.com/)

Metabolic encephalopathy is temporary or permanent damage to the brain due to lack of glucose, oxygen or other metabolic agent, or organ dysfunction. Most cases occur when the liver cannot act normally to remove toxins from the bloodstream during an acute illness, but it can also be caused by a toxic overdose, or other systemic disease.

Causes

• Metabolic encephalopathy occurs during significant metabolic derangements, after some types of poisoning, and during diseases such as cirrhosis or hepatitis that slow or stop liver function, or diabetes, heart or renal failure.


• It can also happen during medical conditions that cause blood circulation to bypass the liver. These problems keep the liver from removing toxins like ammonia, which build up in the blood as part of normal metabolism. High levels of these toxins can temporarily or permanently damage the brain, causing metabolic encephalopathy.

By Friday evening having been up most of the day and the stress of the MRI, she started to slip back to where she couldn't focus and couldn't make herself understood. The doctor told the family that he was recommending a neurologist be called. They were giving her steroids to conteract the swelling of her brain. She slept deeply and on Saturday morning her sister said she was able to focus on television and was not going off on tangents.



Today (Saturday) she is being moved to Southwest Medical Center in Ft. Worth located on 8th street. She should be settled sometime late this afternoon and I am waiting for her sister to call to tell me she is settled where I will beat feet down to the hospital to sit with the family and hopefully see Jen.



I will update this post daily, as I can, try to keep everyone updated. I will leave this open for people to post their well wishes and stories about their times with Jen and I will print them off so she can see them.