First update on mom 02-18-2006

After a very long night in the ER and in ICU I am pleased to report that mom in no longer on the vent and is doing much better. As you all know she is feisty and quite a fighter. She was awake and still intabated when Marcus first got there this morning. She fought the tubing pretty hard and that was a good sign because not only was she able to get out of the restraints and tug at the Vent tubes but she was trying to talk around it. Dr Motta concluded that she could be off the vent; which was really a precaution when anyone has any kind of heart problems like she had last night.

Speaking of last night this is what happened. My grandmother called me at about 8:15 pm very frightened because mom was in great distress vomiting, her head throbbing and sort of in a strange state of consciousness. She talked to me for a second on the phone and I told her I was calling 911. The ambulance was there in a matter of minutes and I arrived just as they were leaving for Medical City. That is when her blood pressure was extremely dangerous stroke level. 270/128. (Her heart beat was 150+) Gran and I arrived at the hospital a few minutes later and I went right back. She was talking out of her head and vomiting profusely. She was shaking violently and I begged the PA for something for her nausea, which seemed to be the biggest issue at the moment. They gave her a Blood pressure med and a nausea med, via I.V. and the bottom dropped out. She began to seize as her heart rate dropped to the opposite extreme and I didn’t react very well. I thought she was dying right then. I screamed for help, they called a code blue and I went down to the floor. Without a word, they flipped her over on her back, like a rag doll, ripped open her gown and one of the doctors grabbed me by the shoulder on the floor and said, “Either leave of get it together! We need to focus on her now!” The last thing I head was, “Starting chest compressions…” I ran down the hall to my grandmother and relayed what had happened. I felt sick and I was hysterical so I walked out to get some fresh air and about that time the ER doctor came out and reported that they, “Got her heart restarted and we’ve had the vent her as a precaution. She is also sedated and we’re trying to get her BP down to a reasonable rate.” Once she is stable we will get a CT scan to look for an aneurism or a hemorrhagic stroke.” Marcus and Melissa arrived. Gary Brantley arrived and the nurse came out and reported that she was stable and going up for a scan.

What seemed like forever later, Sean arrived, the Polk’s arrived and the Johnston’s had arrived, (Greg French drove out in the middle of the night to sit with our kids THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!) Dr. Motta called us in and it was second most frightened I’ve ever been. (The first, of course, being just 1 hour earlier.) He told us what all Sean stated in the previous email: ICU for 48 to 72 hours, vent tube for some undetermined time, NO STROKE (Praise God!) and that she is indeed a fighter. Even as we were talking she managed to get out of her restraints and pull on the vent tube.

That bring us to today . Visiting hours are from 10-1, 4-6 and 8-10 pm. She is very, very weak and really need prayers now more than visitors. She will be more receptive to visitors once she has been moved to a regular room, hopefully in the next few days.

My grandmother is with me this week and the kids are all dividing time at the hospital in shifts. Please continue to pray for her safe recovery, she is not yet out of the woods. With a pressure that high there is still the possibility of a stroke or a bleed. For now she is holding her own and fighting hard as mom always does.

THANK YOU doesn’t seem to say if enough but thank you for all the prayers calls and visits to the hospital. I sincerely do not know what we would have done had it not been for the support of our family of friends that encircled us and wrapped us in prayer. Just barely 18 months ago we lost Dad and I’m not ready to loose mom.