Tribe Renata Prayer

Greetings friends,

As most of you know, Renata has been treating a potential lupus diagnosis for the past 1.5 years, focusing on a holistic & naturopathic approach to medicine. It has been an extremely challenging 18 months, but within the past month Renata was finally starting to feel somewhat human again. For months, the swelling, achey joints and muscles that kept our dancing queen more or less scooting around instead, seemed to be subsiding. At home, she seemed slightly more upbeat, her hair was getting thick and beautiful again, she snagged her snowboard out of the closet, dusted it off, tossed Vita in the whip, and headed uphill for a few weekends to teach V how to shred Vail. Typical, right?!

Recently, two of our dearest friends celebrated a couple of exciting birthdays. Renata was elated to rally and celebrate both of them. "Eat, drink and be merry, finally!" Everyone was so excited to see her, she was stoked to be among friends and feeling normal again. Sunday morning she crashed.

Sunday and Monday she slept. Tuesday she went to Urgent Care at which point they advised her that she had a staph infection and gave her antibiotics. Weds she slept. Thursday morning she called me upstairs to take her to the ER. She was swollen and immobile. Her hand was the size of a grapefruit that looked like it was ready to explode. She could barely move, I combed her hair, popped on her good ol' Adidas and put her in the car.

Since Thursday, she has been placed on concentrated antibiotics, has experienced organ failure and is currently on dialysis. The bacteria of the infection is aggressive and has a voracious flesh eating appetite, it has consumed one arm pretty significantly and has moved up into the armpit, but thankfully has not spread to the chest or organs. This is a constant game of observation. The antibiotics that are used to treat the infection are difficult for her organs to process and handle due to her weak immune system. On the other hand, the bacteria that she has contracted is very aggressive and doesn't always respond well to antibiotics, it's a complete internal battle on multiple levels. She has required multiple surgeries since Friday, her incredible doctor and team of nurses are doing an outstanding job of giving our girlie a good old tune up and have been fantastic communicators and caregivers. I do not believe Renata currently has health insurance, her medical bills alone are going to be astronomical. 

Renata is currently stable, but in a tremendous amount of pain. Her infection has not spread into the chest region and is not currently attacking her organs at this time. Doctors stated that they are still concerned about needing to take her arm. She is still under close observation to work to get the infection under control. Her nurse said that he believes they will have no problem waking her up once the infection is controlled. She is not conscious at the moment.

Adequate rest and healing time is necessary due to the extremely painful nature of her wounds and ongoing daily procedures . Each day we monitor the progress of her infection, but all we can do is wait. In the meantime, Renata and Vita need love & support to work through getting everything handled as fluidly as possible to maintain their day to day financial requirements. We also ask, do to the severity of this situation, that anyone directly connected with Vittoria, to please be aware that Debi (her mother), Silas (her father) and myself are not wishing to have her present with Renata unless it's absolutely necessary, due to the critical nature of her condition. Please lovingly remind Vita that her mama is a rockstar warrior, that she has the most magical creatures on the planet working to heal her up and that we are all working together to get her mama healthy so she can come home.

Please share this with all of our magnificent tribe of friends and family, donate, pray, dance, laugh or simply celebrate the warrior being that this woman is. "Here's to our sweet sister, Renata!"

You are loved,

Drina
#TeamRenata