Thanks for the prayers

Thanks for the prayers and concerns, everyone! My mom had abdominal surgery Thursday morning to remove some scar tissue and the anesthesiologist said the cause of her pain was obvious: part of her small intestine was kinked like a garden hose! They fixed that adhesion as well as a second one they noticed. They also removed the appendix while they were in there, which I find hilarious. But since it'll take some time for everything to start working properly again, it makese sense to just remove it now instead of letting it sit there at higher risk of infection. The last thing she needs is another hospitalization and an emergency appendectomy!

She seemed to feel much better after surgery and was more awake than I'd seen her in several days. She said a lot of the "pressure" feeling on her abdomen had gone away. I would hope so-- they removed 1 liter of fluid that had accumulated due to swelling and third-spacing, which is a lot of water pressure on internal organs! Of course, the epidural Fentanyl probably helped her feel better in general, too.

Beautiful flowers in my mom's hospital room from my dad's co-workers

Friday morning, our family friend Fr. Michael Mukasa came to visit her at the hospital and brought Communion, which I know meant a lot to my mom! (Don't worry, I temporarily disconnected the NG suction so the Host didn't immediately get sucked up). He was in town from Uganda for a presentation and fundraiser for Father Michael's Children (www.frmichaelschildren.com). My mom had signed up to go to the presentation but obviously coudn't, so I stopped in to say hello to Fr. Michael. He asked where my mom was and when I told him, he immediately asked for her hospital and room number and said he would visit her! I wasn't the only one in Omaha at a fortuitous time :o)

Since my mom is up and talking and making laps around the unit, she's definitely on the uphill. We're all ready for her to try some clear fluids and see how she tolerates them. Maybe Saturday... Until then, she's been more up for visitors and has been quite popular! After I left Friday around noon, she had non-stop visitors until bedtime! I'm so glad she's feeling a little better. She was in pretty bad shape when I stayed overnight with her Monday night. I hate seeing loved ones in so much pain. I know being sedentary drives her crazy, so I'm praying she gets to drink and then eat and get that NG tube out ASAP and go home.

Also, to any nursing friends who are reading this: if a family member says an IV doesn't look right, fully check out the IV! In the NICU, we're fastidious about out peripheral IVs. It doesn't take long for running fluid to infiltrate and since babies' skin is so sensitive, NICU nurses have to be good at recognizing the minute something's wrong. I knew my mom's antecubital IV was infiltrating, but it took her nurse about 2 hours to finally agree with me (meanwhile, about 125 ml of fluid had gone into the tissue around the IV instead of into the vein). Now her left bicep is bruised and sore. Grrr!

Overall, though, I really liked the people who took care of her at Methodist in Omaha while I was there. Especially her CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) the last two days, Kelli. Nursing techs are so overworked and underpaid! It'd be tempting to do the bare minimum, but Kellie took the time to have conversations with my mom every time she came in the room. When she was changing the sheets Friday, my mom wanted to wipe down with some wet towels and Kelli washed her calves and feet and then put lotion on them! Not everyone will do that, let alone with a smile on their face!

In other news, my dad's tooth has been hurting all week and he had a root canal today. I felt terrible leaving Omaha with my mom still in the hospital and my dad about to go under local anesthesia for a procedure! Fortunetely, he said it went well. I just hope he's not too sore tomomrrow once the Novacaine has worn off.

Poor Bobby (my "baby" brother who is 17 years old), getting left with all this along with his high school and AP classes and busy sports schedule! I wish I didn't have to work. I would've stayed in Omaha all week and helped to get things back to normal when my mom came home.

As it is, I know all of our family and friends have been praying for us this week and that means a lot. Please don't stop now! This coming week will be just as hard with my mom hopefully moving toward coming home and adjusting to day-to-day life again, which is always painful after any abdominal surgery. And my poor dad is a patient himself, trying to be there full-time for my mom while she's an inpatient! My parents are wonderful and I'm glad I got to be there a little bit for them this week, after all the times they've been there for me!