Sunday, August 15, 2010

pink rats & healing

We have had QUITE a week.

quite.

not to be confused with quiet.
Which is very similarly spelled but not so very similar in meaning.

Poor Sister Pat, my mother-in-law, hasn't been feeling the greatest. She's complained of being tired off and on...not having much energy and such. Well, after having been sick Monday through Wednesday, Noah and I drove her to an appointment early Thursday morning.

early.
(i was up at 6am)

..i'm NEVER up at 6am.

all for you Pat.

Well...the appointment was to have some bloodwork done that she had scheduled about a month in advance. After the bloodwork she started feeling dizzy and shaky. So the nurse came out to get me. When I realized I'd have to help her out, I got Noah...and we decided to sit with her while she tried to drink some OJ. After about 15 minutes of constant shaking and dizziness...the nurse suggested we take her to the ER...which after a scare she gave us earlier in the week when she was feeling sick...we decided that was the best course of action.

And it was. They did an EKG in the ER and found that had had a "heart episode" earlier that week. Because she is diabetic she doesn't feel chest pains or pressure like most people do when they have heart attacks. So the doctors where we were at sent her to Sarasota Memorial Hospital to get a heart cath done.

As a testimony of how God watched over the situation...Noah just happened to not have work that morning. It would have been just me having to make these quick decisions, but he offered to go with me. They took her in an ambulance, got her right in for the heart cath, and it wasn't too long before the doctor told us she needed open heart surgery.

This was all before noon.

Apparently she had only been using about 25% of her heart due to 100% blockage in two main arteries. And rather significant blockage in the other two. The blockage was too many and too much to do stints. Around noon they had her in pre-op for a quadruple bypass surgery.

Talk about information download. All of it was happening so quickly...wasn't it just last week she was out mowing the lawn? Or running me around to JoAnne's and quilting stores for fabric? This woman NEVER slows down...how could she only be living on 25% of her heart?

What will it be like when she has full usage?

The bypass surgery went so well. We had the best doctor in the area...and people all over the States have been praying for her.

I'm sitting her beside her bed, just 3 days after surgery and I'm just amazed at her recovery. They did give her some type of pain med that makes her 'see things'...but we had that stopped and replaced with something else. Apparently its not out of her system yet because she is still seeing pink rats, pink birds, spiders, and tattoos on Noah's head. Oh and spilled paint.

She is determined to be out of here.

Today she's been sitting in a chair, walking around the hospital, nibbling at solid food...I'd take her home today if they'd let me...I'm that confident. But they want to keep her for a couple more days. I'm anxious to see what she'll be able to do next.
~~~~~~
God is SO good. Sometimes it's hard to see why God allows us to go through things like this. Why our lives have to be turned upside down without a moment's notice.

The truth is, He's healing more than just surgical wounds here.

He's drawing this little family closer together.