From that point forward, the whole family comes back to the hospital with concern over mom's condition. Over the next 4 hours, mom is in the operating room under the care of 4 anesthesiologist and 4 OBs. This was honestly the longest 4 hours of our life.
Sparing all the details, mom had significant internal bleeding that was a serious - life threatening serious. In a 4 hour period, 7 units of blood were transfused into mom along with other fluids to support blood pressure and life.
From the operating room, mom was transferred to the ICU under critical condition. Essentially all the blood in mom's body was replaced with other blood and fluids. The night of 3/17 was the longest night of our life - we had already lost one life and the thought of losing two was unbearable - this truly was unthinkable. It was a nightmare that we couldn't wake up from.
Over the night, mom's fluids were monitored and adjusted to sustain life. Unable to sleep, Dad was watching blood pressure monitors like it was a stock ticker - blood pressure ranging 160/90 to 80/40. Labs taken hourly to monitor kidneys, liver, and blood composition.
Around 3AM, we hit a low. Mom's blood pressure and vitals did not appear to be responding to the fluids and dad's anxiety level increased. Mom's body was working against itself because of the shock of fluids and new blood on her body. Dad spent 20 minutes on the phone with the primary OB under a "panic attack" questioning everything about the care, whether doctors needed to be in the room (not nurses), and whether we were even in the right ICU (should we be downtown?). Two more units of blood were transferred in - where is God in this damn madness? Were we truly going to lose another life? We were not going down without a fight.
From 3-6AM, we (mom's mother, sister, and husband) spent the hours praying ("please spare her life" over and over), holding her hand, kissing and whispering in her ear to fight for life. Sleep was secondary to life. At 5-6AM, mom's vitals improved some, but not substantially. She was still on the fence but appeared to be responding a little better.
From 6AM - 8AM the ICU is closed to visitors for shift change. Rules are made to be broken so we tried that - unsuccessfully. From 6 - 8AM we tried to sleep, but it was difficult. After dozing off briefly, husband woke up at 8:15AM. Running upstairs to check the status, he makes it to her room to see the blinds open, her sitting up, ventilator out, and holding a water - God had mercy on her and us. PRAYERS HAD BEEN ANSWERED. It was a true blessing with immediate tears of happiness to see her awake and stabilized - she didn't know where she was at or what happened, but it was a gift unlike any other - while we lost Spencer, we got his mom back.
It's the evening of 3/19 today, and mom has continued to show improvement every hour and day. We don't know how long we will be in the hospital (probably 3/21 or 3/22), but rest and slow progress is all the reassurance we need. The doctors, nursing staff, and patient care has been nothing less than exceptional at Memorial Herman. We are truly grateful to all family, friends, and everyone that has been praying for our situation. There are many blessings we are thankful for.
SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL WHO DONATE BLOOD AND IF YOU DON'T - PLEASE CONSIDER
2 Corinthians 9:15 - "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift."
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