I haven't been on xanga in forever and it's partly because of some stressful stuff going on in my life.  My mom had open heart surgery on Mar. 16 to repair her mitral valve.  I flew in to WI the weekend before to be with my folks and I am so glad now I did but I left on Sunday before surgery because I had to work.  The plan was that my sisters would be there for surgery, one sister would go back to Chicago afterwards and the other would stay until Thursday afternoon with my dad.  Then I would drive up on Friday evening or Saturday with my daughter since both of us would be on spring break.  We planned to stay a few days to get Mom settled and then head home to enjoy the rest of our break.  Well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. 

 

Mom's initial surgery went well, they were able to repaid the valve instead of replacing it, but she came out of surgery and didn't wake up for a long time, then panicked with the vent in and they had to restrain her, and she started losing a lot of blood.  For the next several hours it was hourly reports: we're going to have to open her up again ... we're going to wait another hour ... we'll probably open her up again ... the medecine seems to be slowing down the bleeding, it could be because of her chemo which damages the liver and makes it difficult for the blood to clot ...  Finally late that night she seemed stable and she was alert and writing messages in the air, so my sisters went back to my parents' house and my dad stayed at the hospital. 

 

I got a call at 5am Tuesday morning that they had taken Mom back into surgery and found an artery that had opened up and was leaking.  They cauterized it but Mom again had trouble coming out of surgery and was incredibly weak.  By Wednesday night the weakness hadn't improved and she couldn't even raise her right arm to her face.  Thursday am they did a scan and found that she had had an "episode."  Side note:  At this point it is killing me to be 400 miles away relying on phone calls that give me up and down reports.  Friday morning another scan is run and it is confirmed that she has suffered a stroke.  Doctors are encouraging that although there are 3 damage areas on the brain, they are small and she should make a full recovery.  At this point I have still not spoken to either my mom or dad since surgery, all calls are through my sisters who are spending all day at the hospital with dad.

 

Between Thursday and Saturday afternoon I changed plans about 10 times before deciding not to take Isabel with me to WI as my husband especially wanted me to be able to focus on my parents and not a 5 year old.  My dad was not informing family and friends about what was happening, so I went behind his back and informed his sister in CA who made arrangements to fly out and help for a week, which was what I was planning.  Her flight came into Chicago which is 1 1/2 hrs. from my folks, so I ended up leaving for Racine on Saturday mid afternoon and had a late dinner with my in-laws in Evanston before picking up my aunt from CA at O'Hare at 11pm and continuing on to Racine (getting stuck in traffic on 294 for 40 min. due to night road construction!).

Sunday morning I finally saw my mom and she wasn't very perky since she had gone into atrial fibrillation in the night and her heart was racing and wore her out. It took about 3 days to sort that out and get the medication to control her rate. They don't care about the arrhythmia as much as the rate. She goes in and out of sinus rhythm, but as long as her rate is below 100 bpm they are fine with that. As far as the stroke is concerned she seems to have come out very well. She lost no speech, her strength is good on both sides and the stroke was on her right side and she is lef-handed. She can walk well and is using a walker although that is mainly for strength and stability - she can walk on her own. She does have trouble concentrating, which is probably caused both by the stroke and by extreme fatigue.

We brought her home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and she was able to get up stairs with help of course. By Tuesday she was asking for make-up which is always a good sign. She will have home health for awhile and PT and OT. My aunt has extended her stay another week which will be a big help to my dad as he can't leave her alone right now. She has a lot of edema from all the IV's they pumped into her and so we need to get that taken care of. She is resisting doing much and is content to sit and do nothing which is probably the most disconcerting thing for me as Mom is not like that at all. I think she is fearful and struggling with anxiety. She is having trouble breathing deeply and that adds to her fatigue, but she isn't doing the breathing exercises as much as she's supposed to. But she should make a full recovery, it will just be a much longer one than anyone ever anticipated, as before all the complications my folks were planning to drive to Florida this week.  I came home on Saturday and had a day with my family before starting the rat race again Monday. It wasn't the spring break I anticipated, but I am very glad I was able to help out my parents for once, and very glad I left Isabel at home. The church just took over and cared for her and my family very well in my absence.

 

Today I just learned that my mom went to the doctors because she has had a consistent low grade fever since surgery 2 weeks ago.  They wanted to rule out pneumonia.  Well, they ruled it out, but drew out 1 1/2 pints of fluid in her upper lungs, I don't remember the medical term.  Supposedly that should make breathing much easier for her, which will improve her energy and allow her to sleep better.  This has really shaken my world as my folks live quite healthily.