Since my arrival, my mother's health had been pretty good. Even though she was no longer in remission, she kept our attitudes up instead of us needing to help keep her spirits raised. It was in the afternoon in March 2011, when I got the call that my mother was being admitted into the hospital. I packed light and was in the car scheduled to be there by 8:00pm. That was the beauty of being 4 hours away in Tennessee verses living in California, so very far away. But before I could get there I received another call which informed me she was going in for emergency surgery. It was then that I put the pedal to the metal to get there before they would be taking her away. I wanted to see her before she went in for surgery. As they always say, no surgery is without risk.
Because my mom had bone cancer, they needed to make sure her blood numbers were up. There was also concerns about clotting. But her numbers weren't up and she needed blood and platelets to even go into surgery. And then there was the reason for the surgery, her intestine had burst and toxins were slowly leaking into her system. A system that was already compromised by the cancer. Even without the cancer the toxins entering into her body was enough to kill her. When I ran into her room, I found her still there waiting for more blood. I had gotten to see my mom! When asked by my brother, I had thought it was best to advise him to fly in to be at the hospital at least by the time she was due out of surgery. The only time I left the hospital was to pick him up.
When we arrived from the airport, she was still in surgery. As we waited in the family area with her husband, I watched a very strange episode of Bonanza. Bonanza had been a favorite of my grandfather's, my mom's dad. He had passed of lung cancer when I was still in high school. I still miss him. It seemed like forever waiting for the community phone to ring in the waiting area. But when they asked for us, we were pleased to know that she had made it out of the surgery successfully. Praise God! It was nice to be able to tell the pastor of her church and the visiting committee the good news when they arrived to lift us up in prayer.
If only the surgery would have been the worst part of this hospital stay. Little did we know it was after the surgery where all of our prayers would be focused. My mother's sleep apnea made it almost impossible for the doctors to agree as to when to take her off the breathing machine she had been placed on for the surgery. Was my mom going to die by respirator failure after coming this far battling cancer and a busted intestine? She was getting weaker and weaker as they refused to take her off the respirator. Finally she came to enough for us to explain what she needed to do to get off the breathing machine. She had to tell them it was her decision to come off the respirator. So per her decision, they did. It wasn't until much later, that we learned that my mother never even remembered coming out of surgery.
She was a week in intensive care and a week in rehab with no real memories. She vaguely remembered seeing flowers and asked if my brother really had come there. She had been consciously unconscious. She never even remembered the many guests that had come to visit her in the week that she was in intensive care at the hospital. So for her to ask to be off the respirator was indeed a miracle. When we told her what she did probably saved her life, she said, "So what did I say again?"
To Be Continued...
Because my mom had bone cancer, they needed to make sure her blood numbers were up. There was also concerns about clotting. But her numbers weren't up and she needed blood and platelets to even go into surgery. And then there was the reason for the surgery, her intestine had burst and toxins were slowly leaking into her system. A system that was already compromised by the cancer. Even without the cancer the toxins entering into her body was enough to kill her. When I ran into her room, I found her still there waiting for more blood. I had gotten to see my mom! When asked by my brother, I had thought it was best to advise him to fly in to be at the hospital at least by the time she was due out of surgery. The only time I left the hospital was to pick him up.
When we arrived from the airport, she was still in surgery. As we waited in the family area with her husband, I watched a very strange episode of Bonanza. Bonanza had been a favorite of my grandfather's, my mom's dad. He had passed of lung cancer when I was still in high school. I still miss him. It seemed like forever waiting for the community phone to ring in the waiting area. But when they asked for us, we were pleased to know that she had made it out of the surgery successfully. Praise God! It was nice to be able to tell the pastor of her church and the visiting committee the good news when they arrived to lift us up in prayer.
If only the surgery would have been the worst part of this hospital stay. Little did we know it was after the surgery where all of our prayers would be focused. My mother's sleep apnea made it almost impossible for the doctors to agree as to when to take her off the breathing machine she had been placed on for the surgery. Was my mom going to die by respirator failure after coming this far battling cancer and a busted intestine? She was getting weaker and weaker as they refused to take her off the respirator. Finally she came to enough for us to explain what she needed to do to get off the breathing machine. She had to tell them it was her decision to come off the respirator. So per her decision, they did. It wasn't until much later, that we learned that my mother never even remembered coming out of surgery.
She was a week in intensive care and a week in rehab with no real memories. She vaguely remembered seeing flowers and asked if my brother really had come there. She had been consciously unconscious. She never even remembered the many guests that had come to visit her in the week that she was in intensive care at the hospital. So for her to ask to be off the respirator was indeed a miracle. When we told her what she did probably saved her life, she said, "So what did I say again?"
To Be Continued...
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| The flowers from her siblings- once she was out of intensive care. |
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| The flowers I painted the day my mom got off the respirator! |
Great article. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletePls follow my blog at www.tapthegood.blogspot.com
I enjoyed your page too! Very uplifting! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. :o)
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