Updates on Mom:

Momma

You can still see the light and humor in my Momma's face!

 I'm sure everyone is wondering about my Mom since I haven't updated in so long.

So much has happended since my last blog, it's hard to remember it all.  Mom had a few rough weeks after surgery.  She continued to fall quite a bit and seemed to just be going downhill overall.

Dad took such good care of her and saw to her every need.  Growing up, Dad never helped around the house so seeing him in a new role was surprising.

I would go by and see them everyday, either before or after work.  It was so disheartening as Momma just wasn't Momma.  She only wanted to lay in bed and then if she did get up she needed help.  I really doubted Mom getting back to somewhat normal.  During May and June she had what seems like several visits to the ER, one hospital stay in Jefferson City where she was on morphine for a few days for the back pain.  Overall, not a good time for us.  We all knew the doctor had Mom on Percocet for over a year and felt it was way too much for her to take.  We respect our Mom and Dad and do not try to make decisions for them.  Finally, when the doctor insisted Mom come home on a morphine pump her and Dad decided this wasn't the route they wanted to take.  She would have wound up in a nursing home in no time as it was getting harder and harder on Mom for each movement she took. 

Mom started seeing a different doctor and started to improve.  She still wasn't getting out of bed much and it was so hard seeing Mom like that.

I can't remember the exact timing of each episode but around the second week of July she was admitted into the Rolla hospital under a doctor's care that would consult with Mom's cardiologist in Sprinfield.  She has been under Dr. Rosselman's care since her by-pass surgery in 1997.

We had know for several years Mom had congestive heart failure.  She had so much fluid built up in her body she couldn't hardly breathe.  They wanted to drain the fluid off her lung but had to wait until her blood wasn't quite so thin.  It was four days before they were able to drain her right lung.  They removed a liter of fluid and we were amazed at the difference in how Mom looked.  She went home the next day on a Saturday.  But by the following Monday she was having trouble breathing again.

Back to hospital.  They inserted a port the next day and started removing the fluid.  There was almost a full liter in the first hour.  She stayed in the hospital for six days with fluid being drained the whole time.

Without all the extra medicine she didn't need and the fluid build-up from the heart failure, she was like a different person.  Mom was back!!

The puffiness in her face is gone.  It had been there for so long, we got used to it.

Me and My Momma!!

Bittersweet!!

This picture is so happy and yet so sad to look at.  You can see the worry in Dad's face.

Getting ready to go home one evening.  I have never seen my Mom and Dad not kiss each other by no matter if it's a trip to the field, town or especially a hospital stay.

The past few months have been hard.  I didn't even feel like sharing my thoughts or feelings.
Hopefully, I'm back to normal-whatever that is.  My family would say I've never been normal. lol

I am so grateful for my family, their love and our continued time.