Mom had open heart surgery on Monday. Scary. We waited in the ICU waiting room for about 7 1/2 hours that day, waiting to hear how Mom did. There was work with a valve, a single bypass and cauterizing of the heart to keep her in rhythm. Not minor, but major work.
As we waited we busied ourselves with various activities:
Reading the paper
Playing the DS
Coloring
Eating donuts...and eating chocolates...and eating cookies...and eating...
And reading magazines.
With visitors and things to occupy ourselves, time seemed to pass a little faster once we were into the day. But then the minutes came as we knew she was going to be finished and then time creeped by slowly again. About 3:30, the time finally came to see her.
Things were as we expected when we saw her-tubes, beeps, medicine hanging (11 bags to be exact)-all of these things we knew would be present-nothing was a surprise. Mom started waking up about an hour or two after coming out of surgery and when she was "awake" enough to know surgery was done she started spelling. Yes. Spelling. Words. With her left hand (that was strapped to the bed so she didn't pull anything out). Correctly. First it was C-O-L-D. She was cold and wanted more blankets. Then it was H-E-A-D. Her head itched or something on her head bothered her. We took care of that too.
There was a "change in shift" as I left her room and Dad came in. They don't like a lot of people around the ICU, which is very understandable. They're constantly moving around in there. Adjusting, reading numbers, pumping meds...anything and everything you can imagine. I came back in at some point and things happened in the room next door. The thing you hope doesn't happen out of surgery...I listened to a whole code blue as the gentleman next door passed away. Horrible. As I was in Mom's room, with commotion happening next door, she begins to spell again. H-O-T. She was hot, so we took covers off. Next it was T-R-Y. She wanted to try to get the tube pulled so she could be off the vent. We couldn't explain that to her because we didn't want to have her panic. But...
the moment at which I knew she was ok...
was when...
she spelled...
S-N-O-W. Snow! She wanted to know if it had started snowing outside. She wanted to make sure that Dad didn't have to drive home in the snow. If you know my mom (or me) at all, you know that weather is at the forefront of her mind most of the time. She wants to know that everyone will be home safely. I knew she was ok, because her mind was thinking about snow. And I was right!
We are so blessed to have mom at the point where she is today. She is healing. She is eating. She is breathing well. We are just waiting for a few more things and she will be on her way home! Praise the Lord. We are so THANKFUL for all of the prayers. But we are most thankful for Him, through with all things are possible. Amen!
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