As you may or may not know, the last several days have been terrifying for my family. I can barely believe all this stuff has happened myself. Let me explain.
After working my regular 8 hour job at the jail on December 27, I went home like any other night. I was tired and Jay didn't arrive home until later in the evening. We went to bed around 9 p.m. At 10:45 my cell phone began ringing. The caller ID read "Dani." My sister knows that we get up early so I assumed she wasn't calling just to chat. I answered it and she her tone of voice immediately made me sit up in bed.
"Dad just called the squad and they are taking Mom to the hospital." Let me give a little background. She had surgery a couple weeks ago and during the surgery the surgeons discovered she had a hernia. Since they were already inside, they repaired the hernia. Some eight days later, December 27, she followed up with her surgeon. She complained of shortness of breath and some back and shoulder pain. She asked him if perhaps she could have a collapsed lung. He assured her she wouldn't be up walking around if she had a collapsed lung. He advised her it was probably pain from the healing hernia repair.
After working my regular 8 hour job at the jail on December 27, I went home like any other night. I was tired and Jay didn't arrive home until later in the evening. We went to bed around 9 p.m. At 10:45 my cell phone began ringing. The caller ID read "Dani." My sister knows that we get up early so I assumed she wasn't calling just to chat. I answered it and she her tone of voice immediately made me sit up in bed.
"Dad just called the squad and they are taking Mom to the hospital." Let me give a little background. She had surgery a couple weeks ago and during the surgery the surgeons discovered she had a hernia. Since they were already inside, they repaired the hernia. Some eight days later, December 27, she followed up with her surgeon. She complained of shortness of breath and some back and shoulder pain. She asked him if perhaps she could have a collapsed lung. He assured her she wouldn't be up walking around if she had a collapsed lung. He advised her it was probably pain from the healing hernia repair.
She went on home, went to Walmart and out to eat with Dad. They were back home and just getting ready to go to bed, when she felt like she was going to pass out. We live in the country and if there is an emergency we normally pile into a vehicle and head to the hospital as it is quicker than calling 911 and waiting for ambulance to arrive out at our country home. Mom insisted Dad call 911 immediately, a shock to him since we have never called an ambulance to our home in 14 years we have lived there. Dad called them and in the mean time, Ally tried to get mom to focus and stay awake but she was fading fast. The ambulance made a wrong turn but they finally arrived.
Dani and I decided we had better get moving towards Greenville. Jay, my brother and I met up with Dani at a gas station about 10 minutes from our house. We made the 90 mile trip in an hour and fifteen minutes. At one point we stopped along the way because my dad called and said they were going to Careflight her so we thought about heading to the hospital where she would be flown into but in the end we made the drive to Wayne Hospital.
To make a long story shorter, they got her to the hospital. She had no pulse and they couldn't get a blood pressure either. The ER doctor who knew mom well didn't recognize her when she arrived in the squad, grey and disheveled. She advised Dad that she didn't think my mom was going to make it. They were able to get her to X-ray and determined that she did have a collapsed lung. They immediately inserted a chest tube which released the pressure and blood quickly flowed out the tube.
Dani and I decided we had better get moving towards Greenville. Jay, my brother and I met up with Dani at a gas station about 10 minutes from our house. We made the 90 mile trip in an hour and fifteen minutes. At one point we stopped along the way because my dad called and said they were going to Careflight her so we thought about heading to the hospital where she would be flown into but in the end we made the drive to Wayne Hospital.
To make a long story shorter, they got her to the hospital. She had no pulse and they couldn't get a blood pressure either. The ER doctor who knew mom well didn't recognize her when she arrived in the squad, grey and disheveled. She advised Dad that she didn't think my mom was going to make it. They were able to get her to X-ray and determined that she did have a collapsed lung. They immediately inserted a chest tube which released the pressure and blood quickly flowed out the tube.
After some scary moments they did get her stabilized. They advised us they were transporting her to a hospital in Dayton. But then later told us they had to change the hospital. She was now going to the Dayton Heart Hospital. They believed she had a blood clot between her lung and a rib. We piled into three different vehicles and beat the ambulance carrying my mom and dad to the Dayton Heart Hospital. At that point, my mom's brother had made it up from northern Kentucky and was waiting in the lobby when we arrived.
To date, she has had major surgery wherein they found an abnormal artery. This artery appears in less than 1.5% of the population and she was only the third case the surgeon had ever seen. It was an extra artery than ran from the aorta to the lung. This arter was nicked during the hernia repair and had been oozing blood into the chest cavity since her surgery 8 days prior. She has lot over 3 liters of blood to date.
She still resides in the ICU at Dayton Heart. We were hoping she would arrive home tomorrow but today was not a good day and she looked very white so it may still be some time before we welcome her home. Please pray for her!
Below are several pictures of us waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for someone to tell us something. Many friends and family have come and visited and several waited with us while she was in surgery. At one point I had been at the hospital for over 30 hours and had been awake for over 35 hours almost straight except for a couple naps which didn't seem like much in comparison to how long I had been awake.
I called this a post a God Thing because God definitely had his hand on my mom during this past week. She could have been transported to a regular hospital but instead she was sent to a heart hospital even though her blood clot appeared to be related to her lungs not her heart.
December 28 was my birthday and though it was riddled with anxiety and fear, Jay still managed to make it special for me. He reserved a Nascar room at a hotel. It was kinda fun since I had never been there. Below are some pictures.
My uncle and cousin from Kentucky. Sitting around during her surgery.
4 comments:
thanks for letting us know about your mom. i simply cannot imagine all that was going through your mind - plus all the range of emotions. glad to hear she is recuperating, even if it has to be slowly. i'll be praying!
Well written and it brings back some of the fright of that night although thankfully we didn't know everything until later. Thanks for being there in the middle of the night. I was on the waiting room chair on my knee looking out the window for you guys like a little kid.
Reg,
I won't forget that night for a long, long time. I sat on the edge of the bed after hanging up the phone and said, "I can't do this again...." thinking of losing Dad (Grandpa) in a moment. I'm so glad that the Lord spared her to us all.
I don't think I have ever been so frightened. I prayed and prayed for her thru my tears. I just knew our family, especially yours could not go thru losing another loved one. Praise the Lord for answered prayers.
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