Mom was discharged from the hospital on December 10th! She is home with very little assistance needed. She has a nurse stop by to do physical therapy with her and she sleeps downstairs. She cannot really leave the house for anything but doctors appointments, but she is moving around and she got to see the kids! She's getting back to normal very quickly and we couldn't be happier. I've never been so thankful to have a phone conversation or just be able to stop by and visit. I can't explain how thrilled we all are that we can have Christmas with our whole family...because without our mom it just wouldn't be Christmas!
I know I haven't been blogging lately. It's been a rough 4 weeks and I haven't felt like I had anything nice to say...and my mom always said not to say anything at all in those situations! I do have two posts waiting for pictures so hopefully those will show up in the next couple of days (probably under this one)! Those of you that know me already know this story but since it is a part our lives now I figured it should be on the blog!
On October 23rd we went to the ODU football game with my mom and dad. My mom wasn't feeling well but we didn't think anything of it as we all called it a night and headed for bed. Sunday morning my dad called after Noah had left for his golf tournament and I was home alone with the kids. He said he couldn't get my mom to wake up that morning and he was following the ambulance to the hospital. I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what to do and what does any younger sibling do when they don't know what to do - I called my big sister. Of course she panicked too but she didn't let on. She told me to get in the shower and be ready by the time she got here. She brought her husband to stay with the kids and was here to pick me up in no time. We headed up to the hospital and what I saw was not my mother. It was some kind of possessed person going crazy and having to be held down in a hospital bed so doctors could draw blood and start all kinds of IVs and try to figure out what was wrong with her. It took over four hours to get her sedated. Initially they told us she had overdosed on her medications. We didn't buy it.
After many hours of waiting the doctor finally came with some test results. She was extremely dehydrated, in kidney, liver and renal failure and in a lot of pain. She wasn't breathing well on her own so they had to put her on a ventilator and move her to the ICU. Once they got her settled me and Amy went home. Monday morning I headed back up to the hospital to find her completely sedated and getting 100% of her oxygen from a machine. They still had no answers as to why she was there and all we could do was sit around and wait. Any time they would bring down the sedation she would get extremely agitated and have to go back to sleep.
It wasn't until Wednesday that they found the pneumonia. Once this was discovered it all started to make more sense. She didn't overdose, the combination of pain meds, sleep meds and pneumonia all caused a lack of oxygen to her brain and she wasn't getting enough oxygen to wake up. That meant she went for a period of time with a lack of oxygen to her brain and there could be brain damage. They started asking us about the quality of life mom would want and how long she would want to be on the machines. It actually surprised me that I didn't cry more. I mean there were days when I cried so hard I couldn't breathe or see or think, but most days I was going through the motions telling everyone there was no change and secretly knowing this wasn't going to end well.
But I am so very thankful to say that this is going to end well (at least for now because I am still cautious and know there is a lot of recovery to be done). On Wednesday of this week they did the surgery to put in a trache and a feeding tube. This got all of the tubes out of her mouth and face and we were hoping it would help. On Thursday, day 25 at the hospital, I arrived to find mom sitting up and trying to communicate with dad. She actually smiled when I walked in the room and me and dad cried for a whole new reason and I loved crying those tears. She can't talk but she can mouth the words so we are trying very hard to read her lips. She seems to remember everything and answers questions correctly. We are still worried about some brain damage but at least we know my mom is in there. She has a long road to be home and fully recovered. She's going to need rehab and physical therapy but she's strong and she can do it.
We're going to get our mom back and where last week I wanted to skip Thanksgiving all together, now I have so very much to be thankful for! I've spent the last few weeks just wanting to talk to my mom so call your mom today and have a nice chat...you never know when it could be your last chance!
After many hours of waiting the doctor finally came with some test results. She was extremely dehydrated, in kidney, liver and renal failure and in a lot of pain. She wasn't breathing well on her own so they had to put her on a ventilator and move her to the ICU. Once they got her settled me and Amy went home. Monday morning I headed back up to the hospital to find her completely sedated and getting 100% of her oxygen from a machine. They still had no answers as to why she was there and all we could do was sit around and wait. Any time they would bring down the sedation she would get extremely agitated and have to go back to sleep.
It wasn't until Wednesday that they found the pneumonia. Once this was discovered it all started to make more sense. She didn't overdose, the combination of pain meds, sleep meds and pneumonia all caused a lack of oxygen to her brain and she wasn't getting enough oxygen to wake up. That meant she went for a period of time with a lack of oxygen to her brain and there could be brain damage. They started asking us about the quality of life mom would want and how long she would want to be on the machines. It actually surprised me that I didn't cry more. I mean there were days when I cried so hard I couldn't breathe or see or think, but most days I was going through the motions telling everyone there was no change and secretly knowing this wasn't going to end well.
But I am so very thankful to say that this is going to end well (at least for now because I am still cautious and know there is a lot of recovery to be done). On Wednesday of this week they did the surgery to put in a trache and a feeding tube. This got all of the tubes out of her mouth and face and we were hoping it would help. On Thursday, day 25 at the hospital, I arrived to find mom sitting up and trying to communicate with dad. She actually smiled when I walked in the room and me and dad cried for a whole new reason and I loved crying those tears. She can't talk but she can mouth the words so we are trying very hard to read her lips. She seems to remember everything and answers questions correctly. We are still worried about some brain damage but at least we know my mom is in there. She has a long road to be home and fully recovered. She's going to need rehab and physical therapy but she's strong and she can do it.
We're going to get our mom back and where last week I wanted to skip Thanksgiving all together, now I have so very much to be thankful for! I've spent the last few weeks just wanting to talk to my mom so call your mom today and have a nice chat...you never know when it could be your last chance!
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