Looking at Blessings in a Hard Time

As most know, Mom had a brain tumor removed Thursday, Jan 7, 2010. As of today, she still hasn't woken up. I first got a clue something wasn't quite right when Friday morning my phone woke me up. The doctor at the hospital called to get permission to put a drain in Mom's brain because she was building up fluid and pressure pretty fast. They drilled a hole in her skull and stuck in a tube to monitor pressure and drain off fluids. By Friday afternoon, they were asking permission for a second surgery to relieve pressure that had gotten to a critical level. The surgery removed part of her brain (an unused part) and bone so that the swelling wouldn't damage her brain stem. The surgery was successful and they didn't have to remove as much brain matter as they anticipated. Since then the swelling has gone up a bit but leveled off. Now we wait. That is so hard!

As of today, all her vitals are good. Her heart, lungs, kidneys, bowels, etc are functioning well. She's just asleep. She is showing a very small baby step toward improvement. She has begun opening her eyes a bit for a few seconds. She still can't follow commands, but because the swelling isn't worse, the doctors are hopeful that once her brain swelling begins to go down she will wake up more.

This experience shows me how many people love us. Mom and Dad have such great friends always calling to give Dad support, love and offers of help. My own friends have been great, too. Emails, texts, and phone calls offering love and support give me courage and strength to know that I am not alone! And then the family . . . . what would we do without you? Thank you all for giving us a shoulder to lean on when we need you!