Mom update
So on the 8th, Mom went to the hospital to prepare for the next morning's triple bypass. On the 9th, surgery lasted for over six hours. The surgeon was shocked to see that her heart and general condition had rapidly deteriorated between Thursday, when her last appointment was with him, and that morning. They did the bypass, discovered a damaged valve and repaired that, and she came out of surgery and did FANTASTICALLY.
One thing that made me very happy when Debbie visited her early yesterday was that, after a lengthy guessing game, Debbie finally deduced that Mom wanted water once the ventilator was removed. At this point she was no longer under twilight sleep, but was still sedated. The nurse said that she could have ice chips. At that, Mom rolled her eyes. LOL
Yesterday afternoon, after some hours of gentle weaning, they took her off the ventilator completely. You don't know HOW FRIGGING HAPPY this makes me. They had been talking about her being on the ventilator for a couple weeks and on a feeding tube, and other unpleasant things including keeping her under twilight sleep. Last I heard from Debbie, Mom was doing great breathing on her own (well, with her oxygen anyway) and was conscious and alert with no more sedation medication. Understandably, she's in a lot of pain, but she knew that before the surgery and is undergoing pain management.
So, yeah. This is a near-miracle. She still has a long road of recovery ahead of her, but I'm really amazed at her progress so far.
One thing that made me very happy when Debbie visited her early yesterday was that, after a lengthy guessing game, Debbie finally deduced that Mom wanted water once the ventilator was removed. At this point she was no longer under twilight sleep, but was still sedated. The nurse said that she could have ice chips. At that, Mom rolled her eyes. LOL
Yesterday afternoon, after some hours of gentle weaning, they took her off the ventilator completely. You don't know HOW FRIGGING HAPPY this makes me. They had been talking about her being on the ventilator for a couple weeks and on a feeding tube, and other unpleasant things including keeping her under twilight sleep. Last I heard from Debbie, Mom was doing great breathing on her own (well, with her oxygen anyway) and was conscious and alert with no more sedation medication. Understandably, she's in a lot of pain, but she knew that before the surgery and is undergoing pain management.
So, yeah. This is a near-miracle. She still has a long road of recovery ahead of her, but I'm really amazed at her progress so far.