Faith, Prayer, and a Long Journey

Back in August I told you how my MIL had septic shock, emergency surgery and was put on a vent. When trying to take her off the vent didn't go well, the doctor told us to gather the family and they would try to take her off the next day. While it went well and she was eating jello by that evening, little did we know this was only the beginning of a long 5 1/2 month journey.

Once she recovered, she went to the nursing home for physical therapy. About a week and a half later she was throwing up and went back to the hospital. The doctor said she had what he called a frozen colon and he had to operate once more to remove and repair part of her colon. The colon is suppose to start back up after a few days of rest, but hers did not. She developed pneumonia and went back to ICU. Once that was under control, the bowels still weren't working and she started having liver failure and turning yellow. The doctor said it was a matter of days. Four days later she went back to the nursing home.

Time passed and and she still wasn't eating and the colon wasn't doing much. I read that morphine can slow down the body and suggested we take her off of it as long as she wasn't in pain. Slowly she started eating, very little maybe a strawberry or two and a few bites of yogurt. About 2 weeks later they did a blood test and she was in need of a blood transfusion. We decided to do this even if she wasn't expected to live long. Once she had the transfusion she was no longer yellow and eventually started eating more, the bowels started working and she eventually started physical therapy.

Long story short, she is now home. The doctor said besides the septic shock, two surgeries in less than 3 weeks, plus pneumonia, he has never seen anyone come back from liver failure! He also said it is rare to see a family take care of an elderly parent the way we all bonded together and took care of her. Every day and sometimes multiple times we took turns being with her. My husband went every single day even if I had already gone. The doctor told him he hasn't seen any son as devoted to their mother as he is and it's true. She is so lucky to have him. She lives next door to us so it's a bit easier to take care of her now. While she has lost quite a bit of weight she is getting around really well and it is nothing short of a miracle that she is still with us.

So, with life a little bit back to normal we are hoping to start blogging a bit more. We are opening a new Etsy shop that you can see at the top of our blog and will be having a give away next week. Come back and check it out.