My Cousin Jill

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my cousin Jill had a stroke and was in the hospital. Well, they moved her to a hospital closer to where I live so that she could get better care. She ended up not doing very well and today she is in critical condition in ICU. They cannot figure out what is going on with her. Her brain is swelling and they don't know what's causing it. They believe it could be a few different things but she is in no shape to be moved to other parts of the hospital where they can test for these other things. One thing they think it might be is cancer so they are trying to get her stable enough where they can take her to another department and do a special type of MRI that detects for this cancer. They also want to do a spinal tap to check for meningitis, but can't because if they remove fluid from her spine, it will create a pocket for her brain to swell further which is very dnagerous. They are treating her for a bunch of different things in hopes that something will improve her condition. They basically said that the drugs they are treating her with are risky but that it is worth the risk right now because the way she is now is next to dying so anything is better than that. During my visit, her breathing became rapid and her heart rate increased to 155. They said they would need to sedate her further to make her more comfortable. She also had what they believe was a seizure while I was there. She quickly moved her left arm up and she is currently paralyzed on her entire left side of her body so when her arm moved it shocked us all pretty good. Then they said they believed she was having a seizure and that it was involuntary. They said the sedation would help with the seizures and with her comfort level. I just feel so scared and sad. Right now they really don't know what is going on with her. They have no answers and it sucks. They don't know if this is something she can come out of and make a full recovery and be perfectly fine or if there is brain damage or they aren't even sure if she will make it through the night. I'm going to see her again in the morning. I just want to be there for my Aunt. My Auntie Nina (as I call her) was my babysitter from the time I was 6 weeks old until I went to kindergarten and I have a very special bond with her because of that and I hate to see going through this. It hurts my heart. As soon as I got the news today my stomach became so sick. I had to leave the ICU because I felt like I was going to get sick (I did). I came back just in time for the Neurologist to talk with us all and give us the most updated diagnosis.
Basically..... she needs Dr House. Everything is very mysterious right now as to why this is all happening and how this is all happening.
Please keep my family in your prayers.