Karis's Method for Coping with Suffering

A family friend (or should I say, god-sister, she is my parents godchild) is undergoing tremendous suffering right now. She has no intestines, they took them out over a year ago, and she is on the transplant list to receive a new set, along with new stomach, liver, kidneys, and one other organ I can’t remember right now. Her situation is getting worse by the day it seems, time is running out. The TPN (the tube which brings nourishment straight to her veins) is giving out and she basically does not have any more veins healthy enough to be used.

We learned today that the catheter we thought was in her femoral vein is actually in a collateral vein because the left femoral is obstructed (as is the right femoral). The docs say we'll be doing well if this vein lasts for a week with TPN infusing. Perhaps that's the time we need, though, for the antifungal medicines to clear the yeast from the mediport. The infectious disease docs just shake their heads at a statement like that; they are not optimistic.

The docs have not reached agreement on what to do about the contaminated catheter. The infectious disease docs want the catheter out, and say that should Karis start spiking fevers again, there will be no more choice about that. The transplant docs say they won't let it be removed until they have certainty that there's a place to put another line, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to achieve that certainty. Both sets of docs openly say they are worried. Karis does not
have the venous access options that they usually require in order to do
transplant.

How to cope with suffering:

At one time today, three girls (other transplant patients) were clustered around Karis while she gave them some basic guitar lessons. Karis says that when she's in pain it's good for her to focus on other people and not on herself.