April 14- Hello, everyone, Please pray for my mother, who will turn 76 this year. She went to the hospital today, to the ER, with shortness of breath. They told her it was her heart, and they decided to keep her a couple of days to run some tests.
This has got me kind of rattled, because Mom doesn't get sick or go to the doctor. She hasn't been to the doctor since age 49, when she was climbing a tree at 11 pm, playing hide and seek with a bunch of kids, and broke her ankle coming down out of the tree. She is always so healthy and active, barely ever takes an aspirin. So, I know that it had to have been serious or she wouldn't have come to the ER. She said she had been having the shortness of breath for about two weeks, off and on, but that she realized it must be something serious when this morning she had to sit down and rest in the middle of getting ready for church. So please pray for her.
She is in good spirits and has been joking around with the doctors and nurses, and asking all the men whether they are single, because, she tells them, she is looking for a man!
Thanks for praying!
April 15- She has had a bad morning this morning, shortness of breath has been more noticeable. But I went by to see her on my lunch break, and she seemed like she had improved some.
April 15- later in the day- Thank you so much for the prayers. She is currently in ICU, but whatever they are doing to her, it is working! She is doing much better! She has had a host of visitors, and has been holding forth and entertaining them. With the nurses trying to keep her quiet so her monitors won't go off! She aims to misbehave! But I'm just so tickled that she feels like misbehaving! God is truly answering our prayers!
April 15- even later- She is grateful for all the prayers, and she says they are working! God has done a miracle in her! We are very thankful! She is not out of the woods yet, though, so please continue praying. She is expecting the cardiologist in a few moments when he comes out of surgery, to come and tell her whether she needs a heart catheterization to find out what is wrong and possibly to fix it with stents. I will keep everyone posted! Thanks again for your prayers!
April 16- Update on my mom:
She is doing much better today. This afternoon, she had a heart catheterization to find out what was wrong. They found a 50 % blockage in one, and a 80% blockage in another. They put a stent in the 80% one, and they said it went in really easily. They said she came through the procedure fine, that she was awake the whole time, and joking around with the doctors the whole time. She had on a cow hat that she wore not only before the procedure, but all during the procedure. They tell me she will get to go home tomorrow or the next day with medications, so she is really happy about that!
Great story: She woke up about 6:00 am, complaining that she had lost her hearing aid. It had fallen out of her ear in her sleep. So I started looking around the bed for it, figuring it had gotten mixed up in some of her cords and cables that are connected to her. So I looked all under her covers, in the pillowcase, and under her legs, and under the bed, and in the mechanics of the bed, and we even called in the nurse, who helped us look. We didn’t find it, and I told Mom, "We’ve looked everywhere we can look, unless you have it stuck up your butt crack." Not ten minutes later, the nurse came back in to give her a shot in the hiney, and guess what she found? My aunt came to visit Mom, and she had left her hearing aids at home in the refrigerator (We learned later they meant ON the refrigerator). Mom said, "Well, I guess that’s better than leaving it in your butt crack!" But then Mom told my aunt, "At least I had mine ON me!"
Another great story: If you know my mom, you know that while she has been in the hospital, she has been asking every man that comes in the room if he is single, because, she tells them, she is looking for a man! So when the cardiology nurse (a woman) came in to explain to her about the procedure they were going to do in the Cath Lab. Mom immediately asked her, "Are there any single men down there?" The woman thought for a minute and said, "No, they’re all married. But there IS some nice eye candy down there." Mom said, "Well, even if they’re married, I can LOOK!" Then the woman told her, "The only ones single are myself and another woman." Mom said, "No, I don’t roll THAT way!"
But seriously, though, thanks so much to everyone who prayed. I was so afraid I was going to lose my mother yesterday, but God has truly done a miracle! She went from not knowing if she was going to be able to take her next breath, to wearing her cow hat into an operating room while flirting with all the doctors, in just over 24 hours! I am so thankful for what God has done!
April 16 – a little later - Here is one of the promised photos of Mom wearing her cow hat in the hospital. She is sleeping here, but don't let that innocent look fool you! She is a HOOT!
April 18- My mom is doing great. She is well enough to be moved to a regular room, but the rooms on the floor she is supposed to be on, are all taken up, so she is staying in ICU, but not for medical reasons. She has been taken off the catheter, and taken off the cannula, and is now only on various pills. But they are keeping her another night to do a sleep apnea thing, and then the cardiologist may keep her another day or two to try to make sure her meds are regulated. So she is well out of the woods, but it is still going to take time to get everything back to 100%. Thanking God for His continued favor!
April 19- Thanks, everyone, for your prayers! I always read her all the facebook posts, and I know they encourage her a lot! She needs to milk it instead of chomping at the bit to get out of there, she needs to lie back and let somebody take care of HER for a change. She did meet a male nurse she really likes (who is about 30 and married), and he takes her for a walk around the ICU occasionally. Last night I told him to have her back by eleven. But he is moving to LA in a few days. The course of true love never did run smooth. Lol
April 19- My mom is still in the hospital, and now Eric is in the hospital in another town. He was at his mom's house having severe stomach pains. He came to the ER, and the doctor said he thinks it's collitis, inflammation of the bowels, so they are keeping him to run more tests. Please pray for him.
My mom is still in the hospital, and they say she is going to get out tomorrow. (They have said that before, so I am not holding my breath). When she does go home, they are going to make her use oxygen when she is upright, and use one of those sleep apnea machines at night. For my mom, who has always been healthy, this will be a huge transition. Please pray for her as she tries to make this adjustment.
I covet your prayers as well, because April has been kind of rough. Eric's knee surgery, then the death of my grandmother, then almost losing my mother, and now Eric is in the hospital also. In a different hospital.
I love you all! Thank you so much for your prayers! We are so grateful to know we have your support!
April 20- Thanks, everyone! amazingly enough, I am keeping a good attitude (odd for me, I know, especially when I am under stress) but I would give ten dollars for just one extra hour of sleep. But no, like a good friend of mine said, "When it rains, it pours, but God has His own umbrella over us all, and He is taking care of us." We are doing well, in spite of all the crap. God has a plan in all of this. So we must be in the safest place we can be, i.e., in the center of His will. Thank you all so much for your prayers! Your support and love and prayers mean so much!
April 20- later- Thank the Lord! My mom is (finally) out of the hospital. She could use your prayers as she transitions from being a healthy person who rarely even takes an aspirin and never goes to the doctor, to being a person who is on oxygen and has to take prescription medications. Before this, she hadn’t been to a doctor since she broke her ankle at age 49, and now she is 75. So having prescriptions and being on oxygen is something totally foreign to her. So please pray for her as she makes these adjustments.
Eric is still in the hospital. They ran another test on him today, but they haven’t told us the results of it yet. They have him on a clear liquid diet, in preparation for a test he may or may not take tomorrow, but we haven’t heard from the doc to be sure. Last I heard, they had not even decided. He is still in quite a bit of pain when the painkiller wears off, and he often feels nauseous. I covet your prayers for him. I pray that they find out what is wrong with him and fix it once and for all.
Please pray for me, for strength and wisdom and grace. Thanks so much for your prayers.
April 23- Finally! Eric is out of the hospital! Mom has been out of the hospital and staying at my house, but I haven't been able to see her because I've been staying at the hospital with Eric. And my daughter is here helping out! All my favorite people under one roof and on the mend! I'm so happy! Thank You, God!
So, yeah, April has been quite a roller coaster. It is now May 11, and I won’t tell you about May’s stresses. At least not yet. But with everything that has happened, I am exhausted, and trying to get caught up. However, I will say this. During the month of April, losing my grandmother, and almost losing my mom, and worrying that I might also lose Eric … I have learned to appreciate my loved ones while they are here.
Today, I am celebrating my birthday (it was May 10, but we are celebrating today). I am going to spend time with Eric, Mom, and my daughter, the best gifts (other than salvation) that I have ever been given.
I’m so thankful that they are all here to celebrate my birthday with me, and to celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow. This birthday and Mother’s Day could have gone much differently, and I am so thankful that it isn’t that way. God has been good to me.
Tell all your loved ones how much you appreciate them today. Don’t wait. You never know what could happen. Take advantage of the fact that they are still with you, and say to them, now, all the things you would have wished you had said, if something were to happen to them. Carpe diem!
