The longest nightmare ever....

I have had so many sweet people ask for updates on the situation with my mom, so I thought while I had a second I would post. My mother was taken to the emergency room on Mother's Day around 4am after starting to feel sick Saturday afternoon and declining as the night went on. Once she got to the ER, she was fairly quickly diagnosed as septic. Sepsis is a dangerous situation no matter what the age, but as an older woman with other health issues - it is very often deadly. Once they got her to a room in the ICU, she started to crash and went into what they call 'Septic Shock'. This is where organ systems begin to shut down. At that point, she had to be intubated and put on a ventilator and life support measures started. The next several days were a roller coaster of whether or not she was going to live or die. She eventually started to respond to the antibiotics and began showing signs of improvement. Fortunately, she was able to come out of kidney failure without having to be on dialysis. She also ended up needing a platelet transfusion and fortunately her platelet production has improved. As of today, she in no longer deemed "critical" and we had to make some decisions about what to do. She is still on the ventilator and her doctor did not feel like she was strong enough to take her off. So, we agreed to let them do a tracheotomy tomorrow. Also, at this point, they have decided the best potential for her recovery is to go to a long term rehabilitation facility that specializes in ventilator weaning and physical therapy. The infection has left her very very weak. The doctor said she cannot guarantee my mother will make it off of the ventilator and if she can't we will make decisions appropriate to her wishes at that time. For now, though, she will get the trach tube tomorrow and a gi tube directly into her stomach so she can get the tubes out of her nose and throat. Then, once she is stable, she will be moving to the rehab facility. If you are the praying sort, please pray for her recovery. We would so love to have her back home. This has been a horrible experience for our family. She and my dad have been married 52 years and he really wants her home. We all do. We are all exhausted, mentally and physically. And, we all still have a long road left to go. Our prayers are since God brought her through the infection and other complications we have had on the way, that He will continue to bring her through this.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

<3 you all ((hugs))

Christie