Update on Laura

Laura is still in the hospital. Continuing abdominal pain last night was relieved only by morphine. She met with a gastroenterologist today. White blood cell count is still elevated. The problem could be a stone or stones blocking the common bile duct. This would not show up on ultrasound. The doctor is proposing to run a camera and microtools down into Laura's abdomen through her mouth and throat; he would then widen the opening of the bile duct with a small incision, pull the stones out, then cauterize the incision. Theoretically, the pain will then be relieved.

This operation is scheduled for today at 2:30pm Pacific time.

Her return to Panama will have to be delayed.

Laura's Condition

Laura had a severe attack of abdominal pain last night and is back in the hospital again. Her white blood cell count is elevated. We don't know yet what the problem is.

Laura's Status

For over a year now, Laura has had periodic bouts of abdominal pain, usually late at night. We had an ultrasound done at one point but it showed nothing unusual.

When I spoke to her yesterday evening, she had just returned from a small get together at a friend's house and complained of some stomach pain.

Apparently the pain continued to worsen last night and Linda took her to the Stanford Hospital emergency room. They discovered that her gallbladder was inflamed and enlarged.

This afternoon the doctors performed surgery to remove Laura's gallbladder. It was removed laporoscopically and the operation was successful. Laura remains in the hospital for now. We owe Crystal a debt of gratitude for caring for Salma during this time.