One of my Greatest Blessings

Go ahead and take a seat

 

 

Make yourself comfortable

I have a story I want to tell you this morning.  It’s about my dear, sweet, precious, wonderful one of a kind

Mother

 

Ever since the middle of March, I find myself reminiscing about this time last year….what I was doing, which city I was in…the challenges each day brought and where it took my family. You see last February my sister and I felt that our then 82 year old mom was in great shape.  She shops the mall, goes to the Y twice a week for an aerobics class, out for lunch with friends and on and on.  I was visiting in her home for my February birthday when she announced her dr. wanted her to go for more intensive testing.  He was concerned that her carotid artery might be blocked. 

 

Our concern turned to pure fright when we were told just a few short days later that the artery was at least 95% blocked.  My spring floral show was to be held three days later.  The invitations were out and the show was all set up.  Thanks to great friends and sweet daughters, the show could go on.  Here I was most worried about my oldest daughter giving birth to her third child a few weeks early, causing my show to be in limbo, never dreaming we were going to have to deal with an emergency situation with our mother.

Praying…….

I won’t go too heavily into details, just enough to give you the feel of our experience.  They got Mom in pronto for the surgery.  We were told it should be a breeze and that she would stay one night in the hospital and then be allowed to go home.

Barb, Mom, Me

When mom came to, one side of her mouth was droopy and within hours we discovered she could not swallow.  They did a CAT scan and ruled out a stroke.  Weeks later they blamed it on nerve damage.  Mom was in the hospital for ten days and came home with a feeding tube in her stomach.  My sister Barb and I took turns spending a week at a time with mom, assisting her with her feedings.  My home was two hours away, but my husband was very understanding.

We went through more than you care to hear.  The tube became displaced and she was back in the hospital.  Infection set in.  She is claustrophobic and couldn’t go through with a CAT scan. A mean dr. on call and a nice nurse later, we had things worked out and back on the road to recovery.  Then my son in law had a gall bladder attack, my daughter gave birth, my sister’s chronic colitis kicked in, Mom’s anxiety attacks were more profound than I ever imagined!

We played cards to kill time.  We played more cards.  People came.  Nice nurses were everywhere!  What a blessing they were!  Mom went home.  Back and forth, back and forth I drove.  You know it’s really funny, because as horrible as those two and a half months were, I don’t have bad memories of it this year.  It was a close family time.  We all did what we had to do to get mom independent again and kept her out of a nursing home.  She amazed us with making sure birthday cards were sent out.  Then came graduation cards and wedding gifts.  Wouldn’t you think she would just say, “forget it”?  She is such a special lady.

A year later, she is 90% back to her old self.  She still has a little problem with her mouth and swallowing, but she eats almost anything and everything.  Her energy level is back and her attitude is fantastic.

 

Thanks for letting me share a family experience that’s on my mind a lot these days.  I hope you are as fortunate as me to have a wonderful mother and sister.  Thank you, Dear God!