Balancing on a razor thin edge ...

Your prayers and concern and encouraging emails and texts have been very appreciated over the last few days.  Many of your texts simply said ... "I don't know the details of what has happened, but know that I am praying for you."  And we have felt those prayers ...

As of tonight, my mom is no longer in critical condition and is on the road to recovery!

Branches needed trimming. A 7' step ladder would do the trick.  Nobody home but her.  Lean a little too far from too close to the top ... landing on the concrete, on her back, unconscious with a shattered left elbow and a shattered right wrist.  Someone driving by saw the toppled ladder and her crumpled form and stopped to help.

Two nights in the hospital, surgery to rebuild the joints and one tough little woman is feeling broken and weak.  We just didn't yet know how broken.

Her condition continued to decline over the weekend until Monday morning dawned with her too weak to move or even breathe.  In and out of consciousness.  Trying to help her to the car to bring her to the ER only made her gasp for air.  Ambulance called and fear sets in for my dad and my sister who now realize the seriousness.

X-rays, CT scans, lab tests - multiple blood clots throughout her lungs, low platelets, elevated heart enzymes, too low oxygen levels.  Doctors and nurses talking in hushed tones and moving quickly.  She balances on a razor thin edge of life or ...

Prepare for the worst.  How do you prepare for that??  What's wrong? What's happening? Why the clots?  We don't yet know.  It's a mystery.  We're trying to get to the bottom of it ... and then a breakthrough.  And things start to turn around quickly.

I left work abruptly yesterday and drove the 3 hours to be with my family.  By then, things had started to turn. She was barely lucid, barely coherent, still struggling to breathe and suck enough oxygen into her lungs ... but the counts and charts and graphs were steadily improving.

Sitting in a quiet and darkened house last night, after phone calls had been made and everyone updated, my dad looked at me with weary eyes and said "I'm afraid.  I'm afraid to hope." 

I said, "I was there, I heard what you heard and saw what you saw.  We have good reason to hope." 

And he nodded, and slept well for the first time in a week.

This morning, she was sitting up in bed, nurses hovering close checking IVs and chart readings. Her eyes had sparkle and she was already worrying about my drive back home and for everyone to get back to their work and families and how much coffee my dad was drinking. 

Trying to get her to smile, I told her if she was ready for a big burrito or pizza, I would hide one in my purse and sneak it in for her.  She wrinkled her nose at me. 

My brother, dad and I leaned in close around her bed this morning after the doctor consult to share the good news with my mom,  My sister walked in with wide eyes at her obvious progress overnight and I said, "This is nothing, she's already been jogging the halls and dancing in her bed.  Show her your shoulder shimmy, Mom!"  She furrowed her forehead at me in disapproval and then smirked and gave us a shoulder shimmy as we burst out laughing.

She's got a long way to go ... but she's on the mend.

Thank you for your prayers and please keep her and her outstanding team of doctors and nurses in your prayers as she continues her recovery over the next six weeks.