Wonderful Updates on Mom

A lot has happened since I last blogged…

First my Mom is off life support! Praise God! They ended up taking her off on Saturday. My Mom was so excited to be getting it out. She passed all the tests with no complications so they thought it would be no problem to have her breathing on her own. After taking the tube out they say it is best not to talk for the first 2 hours to give your vocal cords a time to rest. She had no problem with that. She was very tired and wanted to rest anyway.

While she was resting we wanted to go and celebrate! David took us to Outback Steakhouse. We don’t usually go somewhere that expensive so it was a treat for us. If you can believe it, I actually tried sashimi (sp?) David ordered it as an appetizer and he wanted us to try it. Our waiter also said I should. I tried explaining that I don’t even like fish cooked, so raw definitely wouldn’t be good. Finally though, I gave in and tried a piece. I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but it actually wasn’t bad. It didn’t taste fishy and the texture wasn’t bad either. I wouldn’t go and order it anywhere though. ☺ After the bite I stuck to the blooming onion!

When we got back to the hospital we got to talk to my Mom a lot. Her voice was a whisper for the first 2 days and it sort of is now, just a little louder. It’s so nice to be able to talk to her again, or I mean to have her talk to me. It’s weird how often things get put into perspective for me. While in Mexico there were many times when I wanted to be doing things rather then being stuck in our room with my Mom. It was just so boring in the room with her. Now, that my Mom was on life support, everything has changed. Each morning I can’t wait to get to the hospital to see her and I like staying late at night also. Going for one week without my Mom being able to tell me things was really hard. I would cry almost every day being in the room with her, it’s hard seeing someone you love so much just laying there, not being able to do anything or say anything. Cherish everyday you have with your parents and family. Actually with everyone, friends family…all your loved ones. We really never know how long we have. Life is precious.

Yesterday we had friends and family come down to visit. My Mom really enjoyed their visit. She made a comment to me, I asked her if she wanted to rest because she had been up for a long time and she said to me, “When I sleep, everyone goes home” She thought they would all leave if she fell asleep. I assured her that they would all be here when she got up. Actually, we weren’t there, but she knew we were getting something to eat. She did get to see all of them again though. After eating dinner we came back to the hospital and Art and I played guitar while we all sang. I think my Mom really enjoyed it. I know I did. Art is such a great guitar player, I always wish I had more time with him so he could teach me some things. I learned a few things though. ☺

Last night we got a call around 11:00 and it was my Mom on the phone. She told David that he better come down to the hospital because she didn’t think she was going to make it. He asked her what she meant, and she said I’m not going to make it! David then asked to talk to the nurse and he told David that there was nothing wrong with her. She just was very nervous. So, David asked him to give her something to calm her down and call if it gets worse. Well, there was no more phone calls through the night, so around 7:00 I called and asked how she did. The nurse told me that after he gave her the medication she fell asleep for about 6 hours. (Which is really good!) When we got to the hospital this morning we asked her about the phone call last night and she just said she was terrified. She gets scared because she is in the room by herself. She really wants one of us to stay there with her, but as long as she is in ICU we can’t. She is better today though. We have been told that when a patient comes off morphene these symptoms can occur, it happened with my grandma and one of my sisters friends Dad. For some reason they think that the nurses are monsters and everyone is trying to hurt them. I know it must be so scary for my Mom.

Right now they are doing a swallowing test, if she passes they will take out the feeding tube in her nose. They couldn’t do it yesterday, because they said it takes a few days for the swelling to go down in her throat. I hope she does fine, because she really wants to eat! Then also, later today they probably will move her to a new room. YEAH! Out of ICU, and then one of us can sleep in the room with her! I’ll let you all know if she gets moved. David thinks for some reason we will be home by Thursday, I don’t know…I really want to go home, but I also really wanted to see the Dortignacs one more time, and their friends! ☺ We will have to see, I guess.

That’s all of our news…Thanks for all of the prayers!