Week in review --

My mom hasn't been feeling well since Christmas. I attributed her low energy and general sense of not feeling well to Christmas and general holiday preparations. She planned for months getting gifts for 53 people -- it's her annual late summer/fall daily activity. (She's a catalog shopper extraordinaire!)

Since January 7, Mom has spent time at the LDS Hospital ER, followed up with a couple of doctor's appointments, and by Wednesday (last week) she was too weak to do much of anything. She and Dad got ready for a noon doctor's appointment, and Mom couldn't make it walking to the truck. Dad wheeled her to the passenger door and realized he needed help getting her into the truck. Liz came to the rescue, but by the time she and Dad got Mom into the passenger seat of the truck, she had passed out and began convulsing. A desperate call to 911 lead to a brief stay at Pioneer Valley Hospital and then an ambulance transfer to IMC. After several days in the hospital, Mom came home late Sunday afternoon much better off than when she left but not in the best of shape.

Mom's health issues are all interconnected and very complicated and difficult to describe if you are not in the medical profession. But, here it goes: bad lungs because of years of scar tissue build-up largely due pulmonary fibrosis and aspiration because of her pretty severe hiatal hernia; bad heart because of years of unattended high blood pressure; even more damage to the heart because it doesn’t get enough air from the bad lungs to work properly; water retention because Mom's bad heart can’t work hard enough to get rid of excess bodily fluid; severe leg and foot pain because the excess fluid in her feet and legs puts pressure on her already sore and painful neuropothy there; no energy because of bad lungs, bad heart, sore feet and legs, and a lot of pain. But, as Mom made it clear to the ER doctors, “I’m not dead, yet!”

She's home now with a few new medications, increased oxygen with a new reservoir nasal cannula, a lung capacity tester, a heart monitor (for two weeks), a finger oximeter, and a bunch of new instructions ------

She's lost close to 50 pounds in a year, and you wouldn't recognize her if you haven't seen her in that time. I (we) pray that she feels a little better each day and that she can build her strength and capacity to maintain quality in her life -- she's determined she can do it (but not without support and help from the whole family -- especially Dad).