The Beat Goes On

Only three full days have passed since we hit the Green Mountain State. We love our digs. Never mind the intermittent Internet, the warm refrigerator, and the elderly gas stove that requires each burner to be lit just before use; the views are spectacular and the bird songs are just the thing to get a person up and going in the morning.

But, Mom's infection is not going away. She was going to be moved out of ICU but her surgeon decided against it. Tomorrow she will go into surgery again to undergo either a surgical debridement of her worse off leg or the amputation of the remainder of that leg. Something might happen somewhere in between, of course. I talked to my brother at lunchtime on the cell phone and that is what he told me. He continues to think it is awful I'm not there with him. Of course, if I wasn't in VT I'd be at my house in the Black Hills. I would not be in MO at this point in her surgical recovery.

Her condition does give us a sense of urgency to see as much as we can as quickly as we can, just in case we don't have as much time as we had planned to see what we want to see. We are up and "at 'em" just a bit later than the sun and go until we drop. Tomorrow we head to the state capitol after we take an early am hike. And sometime tomorrow, if the intermittent Internet permits, I need to work on my creative writing class. Besides writing, we are learning to give and receive criticism. I've read my online classmates' stuff, and need to contribute my thoughts in a coherent and useful way.

And as I work and play, I will keep Mom in my prayers.

Doing Well!

I went home for a day and a half to MO to see how my mother was doing after her double amputation.

In a phrase, much better than anyone, including her doctors, expected.

In fact, she will be moved out of the ICU as soon as a bed in the progressive care unit comes available. She put in her false teeth and wore her glasses yesterday.

We drove 600 miles today, and I'm tired. More later, just wanted to share.

TBTG! Thanks for the prayers. My family certainly appreciates them.

Brief and to the Point

Mom was taken emergently to surgery today and both of her legs were taken off, one at the knee and one just below. I'm on my way there. Her lab results were indicative of blood poisoning related to her rotting feet, thus the sudden speed. My brother said she is headed for the intensive care unit as soon as she is discharged from post anesthesia recovery.

Continued prayers are appreciated.

And Life Continues

I know only by the calendar that it is Independence Day. Things are crazy at the house of Episcogranny and Taciturn. We do not wish to be unpatriotic (we both are military veterans, after all), but Life intrudes.

T even forgot to hang our flag out today. Most unusual.

First off, Mom is in the hospital and has been since Wednesday. I spoke with my brother earlier this week which prompted my earlier post. The night previous to the day she was to have her lung tapped, though, she could not sleep due to the pain in her pre-gangrenous feet. In fact, she was screaming. My brother and his wife got her into their car and took her to the emergency room. It took lots of IV pain medication to get her to the point she did not scream. In the meantime, the doctors ran a couple of tests which made them realize that both feet are gone. On top of that, her lab tests indicated that she had had a mild heart attack.

Yee haw.

Three quarters of a litre of fluid was drained by the lung doc the next morning from her right lung. Preliminary reports are that is clear. My brother spoke to all of her doctors yesterday morning while he was awaiting some outpatient surgery for himself (!) that had been scheduled a few weeks ago. The plan for Mom at present is to get her stable medically, her pain under control, then proceed with a double amputation.

I tried to call Mom's room on Thursday. A staff member answered the phone to tell me they were working with her so she couldn't talk. I asked her to tell Mom that I loved her. I tried again yesterday am and the phone just rang. After I called Dad, I found out she was sleeping most of the time and simply was not answering the phone.

That was the first time in my life that Mom could not speak to me if I wanted to pick up the phone to call her. It occurred to me that I should get used to it.

Brother had arrived home from his outpatient surgery an hour before I called and talked to me a few minutes. He told me he had not called two of our brothers; would I do it? Sure. So last night I spoke to a brother who just moved to Washington State by the Canadian border to start a new job. He has no vacation time. He was a bit panicked. I used my best ICU nurse skills in explaining the situation to him. This am I called my other brother who lives in Richmond VA. He was glad I'd called since he was going to call later today. He deals with chronic illness himself--he has Parkinson's Disease--so he sounded calm. He also has a clear head about what the end result probably will be. He and I spoke about all of us "children" praying for each other as well as for our parents at this time. I haven't spoken to any of my brothers about prayer for years.

Needless to say this has been a tad stressful. I clean when I'm stressed, and my house looks pretty good right now. And have I been turning out the bakery goods! I have hot dog rolls in the oven right now. I will make coffee cake for in the morning. I am reassured by my brother that Mom is getting excellent care at the local hospital, which is all I ask.

And we are keeping close eyes on airfares, just in case.

And the Hits Keep Coming...

Just got off the phone with my brother, who took our mom to the cardiologist yesterday. She is cleared for her amputation surgery from a cardiac standpoint--but on the CT done last week, there is a worrisome build up of fluid in her right lung. None of that in her left. She has been complaining of increasing shortness of breath. Her cardiologist was so concerned about this that he made the appointment for her to see a lung doctor himself. She goes tomorrow.

Taciturn voiced what my brother and I both were thinking when I described the CT results to him. "I bet she has lung cancer," he said. She's smoked for almost 60 years, so certainly that is possible.

Anyway, my brother will call me tomorrow after the visit to the lung doc. We continue to covet your prayers and good thoughts.

So Silent...

Things are changing. My mom is going to have her foot amputated due to her horrible peripheral artery disease. I haven't any idea when, but soon.

I'm 51, and childhood is over. I have a yucky feeling that the rest of Mom's life will be packed in not so long of a time.

One of my brothers is very honest about his feelings. He said he didn't want to hear anything about this upcoming procedure, as these things "don't happen to my mother."

As pragmatic as the rest of my sibs and I are about this, I remain surprised that I cry at the least little thing these days. Go figure.

Mom's last sister and her husband are coming for a visit tomorrow. They don't know about this, so it will be up to me (with Mom's blessing) to let them know. Since their mom had her leg amputated due to diabetes, this is nothing new. Still a very sad thing.

BTW, the CT scan I mentioned in my last post was boringly normal--thanks be to God! Time to concentrate on Mom. We certainly appreciate prayers.

From Something Within

I read Renita Weems in seminary. I have started reading her blog, which is very good. Here is the latest entry.

Meanwhile, I got home yesterday afternoon and the very first thing we noted is that our new satellite dish receiver, installed 3 days prior to our trip, no longer works. Oh well. We have Netflix and other things--like books! Plus I have an entire month's worth of mail to scour. We are assured another one will be sent soon. I am going to an inaugural party on Tuesday so that is not a concern.

And another thing. Please pray for a retired priest of our parish; his foot had to be amputated this past week. This is not the first foot amputation in our church lately. As our rector said, "...foot amputations are not contagious!"

More later!