What a hard week this has been for my family.  My mother is still in the hospital a week later after back surgery due to complications.  She scared us completely when she wouldn’t wake up the day after surgery, and they referred to her as “unresponsive.”  Thankfully, it was just the combination of her age, the anesthesia and the pain medicine they were giving her that caused this reaction, according to the nurse and doctor.  What’s been so great about all of this is that when she did wake up, she indicated she was not in pain from the actual surgery.  They went in and put rods and pins in her back to relieve the pressure on nerves that were causing her extreme pain for a year and a half.  The doctor told her that if she did not have the surgery, she would end up in a wheelchair.  She felt she had no choice but to go through with the surgery then.  In light of our fear and her hesitation to begin with when surgery was mentioned, it is wonderful that she has not experienced any pain from the actual surgery itself.  With her being able to tell the staff that on Wednesday, they weaned her off of the pain medicine and were just giving her Tylenol if needed.

Sadly, complications seemed to come at us completely blindsiding us completely.  We did not expect any problems, as the doctor was talking about her going home the day after surgery.  However, a week later, my mom is still in the hospital.  They did, thankfully, stepped her down from ICU and into a regular room Saturday evening when I was sitting with her.  This would allow my parents a little more privacy, and, hopefully, the ability to rest more while in the hospital.

If they could just get my mom’s fever to go away, but it is still bouncing around as they try to determine what else is causing it.  They knew about the pneumonia, despite having the pneumonia shot, but now they are treating her with two different antibiotics as they try to determine what else is causing the fever.

We’ve relieved my dad as much as possible over the weekend, but he does not wish to have her unattended for very long while in the hospital.  He is very protective of her, but I have tried to explain, although he’s worn out and just plain tired, that she is in the best place at the moment.  She can’t go home with an elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar numbers.  Honestly, with the fever, she needs to be there until it is completely gone and she’s healed from whatever it is that is causing the problem.  Realistically, we know this.  But when someone has been away from their home for a week, it gets old fast.  My strong willed mother has even tried to get up in the middle of the night to go home.  There have been a few times she has dreamed she was at home making coffee, but alas, in the hospital she sits until the complications go away completely.

As far as the actual surgery, they have gotten my mom up and moving around with a walker.  She was able to walk the halls Sunday, so she’s proven how strong she is in all of this.  She has the will inside of her, whereas at the beginning, we were wondering if she was going to pull all of her strength together to beat this.  Her fear of moving around after the surgery had her where she would not do a whole lot on her own.  However, after the rehabilitation staff came around to present literature on their facility to my parents, my dad had to really talk to my mother to let her know that ultimately it was up to her to have the will to get herself moving after surgery.  The other option was the rehab facility, which none of us wanted since it was more like a nursing home.  After hearing this, my mother started doing more for herself, which was a great relief to us all.

Prayer is a wonderful thing, and we appreciate everyone that has taken the time to pray for my mom.  Please continue, as we want her restored to health and able to return home to watching her “shows” and drinking her caffeine free diet coke.