Monday, 21 January 2008 

2:00 AM

My brother, Steve arrived about an hour ago.  He and Brig, his wife, were in Chicago.  He said he didn’t know you could make the trip in 4 hours (6 is considered very good time).  Twice the car in front of them, that they were gaining on, got pulled over.   Do angels both protect and clear the road of police when trying to get back home to see your mom?

Mom wanted to know if they were coming because if they were she was going to try to stay awake.  Well, that’s not what she needed to do, so we told her they were going to wait until morning (which it technically is).  She was sleeping when they got here and they waited until she woke up to go in.  They’re in with her now. 

I told Steve it was too much like when our grandmother died of a heart attack and he was 6 hours away by car.  Then we did not want to tell him over the phone so Brig and I drove to where he was so someone would be there when he was told.  We grew up with all our grandparents.  We had never known life without grandparents.  She was the first of the grand parents to die.  It was hard. 

2:30 AM

Steve and Brig come out of mom’s room.  I ask how she’s doing.  They said when they offered to leave so she could sleep, she said the talking got her mind off her back.  It is aching from her lying on it in one position – a position they have told her she is not to move from – not even raise her hand. 

They said it was obvious she needed to sleep, however, as her eyes kept closing.  They’re headed to their home for the night.  There are 4 of us spending the night here at the hospital.  We’ve staked out a lounge area for our camp-over.  The other 3 are now sleeping.  So is mom, I hope.  All is calm.

4:00 AM

I’m going to join the others and get some sleep

7:00 AM

Mom had an uneventful night which is very good.  Her heart, however, is irregular (like mine, only hers is all the time and mine is more umpredictable – fits our personalities).  She asked me once what an irregular heart felt like.  Well, now she knows.  They are going to start tests to see what else is going on besides the heart that is causing the abnormal blood counts.

10:00 AM

Amazing.  When I walked in the room this morning, mom was sitting in a chair and looking very good (she did not look good last night).  I asked how she felt and she said, “I feel better than I have for days.”  My sister had gone in earlier and helped her clean up, curling ironed her hair, etc.  – mom likes to look presentable even after heart attacks.  She had even gotten up and used the bathroom.  She said the only problem with that was it took a half hour to unhook everything. 

Later, her doctors came in.  Their summary, as I understand it, is the same:  They are very pleased she has had no more bleeding and, at the same time, has not had a second heart attack.  They’re walking the fine line well.  I have a feeling God may be helping. 

She still has the secondary blockage which they will need to address sometime.  Now that she is stable, they need to pursue some of the other issues first, however:  an irratic heart and blood counts that are not right.

I told her now she knows what an irratic heart feels like.  She said she doesn’t feel anything.   The nurse said some people don’t.  We can, however, watch the monitor and her heart rate goes all over the place.  Sometimes the yellow lights start blinking and beeps go off.   When it gets up around 150 the red lights light and beeps go off.   We found we could raise her heart rates into the yellow zone by simply giving her a hug (a careful one).   We decided the problem is too much love.   

12:00 PM

A doctor who specializes in things concerning blood (there’s a medical term for this) stopped by to give mom his assessment from some of the blood tests that had come back.  He was very nice but was being careful in what he said.  He was also a resident doctor, not the main doctor.  My sister decided we needed more info so started naming possible things the blood results could be pointing to.

This young doctor was a little taken aback by what my sister knew and the medical terms she was using and said,” Well, O.K. we’ll take this to the next level.”  He then started to explain things using medical terms, but still kept things in generalities and maybes and possibilties.  

One of the e-mails I just received from a friend of mom’s said mom is one of the classiest ladies she had ever met.  Well, mom is.   Mom could tell this resident doctor was doing his best to answer our questions so before he left she changed the subject to him.  She spoke of how they had traveled to his part of the world  – had been to Egypt and Isreal, had really enjoyed it, but had never gotten to Jordan, his home country.  His eyes lit up and was obviously touched by her wanting him to feel welcome here.  She thanked him for his help.  As he left he reached down and patted her leg.  

At one point, my sister made a list of possible things the blood reports might be pointing to.   She went through them pointing out which would be preferred over which.  I looked at the list and they were all words a half mile long.   I had no opinion other than it seems the longer the official word, the less you would want to have it – the flu or a cold – short simple diseases are more desireable than eidntpdiiilespeeintdiowepspirewfpsdfpt  for example.

Summary:  Mom probably has something else going on that could prove to be anything from nothing-to-worry-about to something more serious than the heart attack.

2:00 PM

Got back from lunch and mom was sleeping very soundly.  We let her sleep.

3:30 PM

Mixed emotions.

Mom just went by the window.  They’re moving her out of intensive care!  A good sign.

The family that we’ve been sharing the lounge with just lost their mother/grandmother.

6:00 PM

Wow.  To look at mom tonight, only 24 hours after I saw her first last night, you would not know she was the same woman.  She is doing amazingly well.  She feels great.  She is eating full meals.

 After she was moved, my sister was watching the monitor and then left the room.  After awhile she returned with a big smile.  She said, “More good news.  I was watching the monitor and what I was seeing looked too good to be true so I went to confirm it with the nurses.  The monitor is showing Mom’s heart has returned to normal and her blood pressure has come down into acceptable levels.  And the nurses confirmed that yes, what I was seeing was true!”

Mom, with her Norwegian stiff upper lip determination, said, “Good!  Now if we can just get the blood count things figured out…”

If the heart stays normal, that is a huge answer to prayer.  Actually, her whole recovery has been.  I learned more how touch and go things were just last night.  They spent 2 hours desperately trying to get her bleeding to stop.  My sister understood better what  was really going on.  She said the doctors were at the point of having to decide between letting her continue to bleed (to death) or give her more platlets (spelling?) which would put her at a high risk for another heart attack which in her condition she would have a poor chance to survive.  As Dona said, “It did not look good and the doctors knew it.”

And she did not look good.

Now?  I think if you gave her a shovel, she would go out and shovel the streets of Rochester (its been snowing a beautiful snow all day).

Now, things are still fragil, she’s having a problem with bleeding at her IV, and the blood tests could still reveal a serious problem, but so  far   …God has been answering hundreds of prayers on my mom’s behalf.  As we discussed the challenges she still faced, we have to acknowledge there is another very real possibility:  God continuing to answer prayers above and beyond what we could hope or expect. 

THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THE PRAYERS!  God is good.  And he loves to bless   …and also get what is due him – the credit.

On the way to her new room, we found out my great uncle, Emery Eickhoff, had just been admitted and was just 4 rooms away.  I went down to see him and said I understood this was the Eickhoff ward. 

He seems to  be doing o.k. but they don’t know what caused him to fall in the resaurant this morning.  We talked for a while and I helped him order dinner.  He didn’t know what he wanted.  I said if he was like my grandpa (his brother) he would want mashed potatoes and corn.  He said, “But that’s what I have every day.” 

In a slip, when I called the order in, I started to say this was for Emil Eickhoff (my grandfather).  I think Emery noticed.  He smiled.

7:00 PM

Mom’s bleeding problem has gotten worse.  Her IV keeps bleeding.  We’ve decided one of us needs to stay in the room with her because when she starts bleeding she bleeds fast.  Mom is concerned.   So are we.

10:00 PM

I arrive back in the Cities after a snowy and slower drive home.  My brother, Steve, and two of his children, Richard and Katie, are doing the night duty tonight.  Dona and I both felt a need to change out of the clothes we have been wearing the past 36 hours and spent the night in.  Sleeping in your clothes has some advantages as it greatly reduces the time to get undressed at night and dressed in the morning, but also has some obvious downsides.

I also needed a break.

Before I left we were talking about how great it is to be a relatively large and close family who have each other and who, in situations like this, can take turns “covering”.  Mom has had someone awake and either at her side or available next door since she arrived.  We wondered how it worked in a family with only a single child.

I said probably a lot like with Emery.  He and Almeda are childless.  I said Emery is sitting in his room alone.   While we had all stopped in to say hi and visit for a short time, most of the time he was with no one.  After helping him order his meal, the nurse had come in to get blood tests, etc.  I left as it is often easier for them to work without having to work around visitors.  I said good bye.  Emery asked if I was coming back to help him eat his dinner.  I don’t even remember what I said, but driving back to the Cities, I got to thinking how maybe he actually could have used some help.    

When I went in mom’s room to say goodbye and good night, she was again looking amazingly good for someone who 24 hours earlier was teetering on the brink of life.  She was sitting in a chair, with her good posture, hair fixed, color had returned to her face, and she was very upbeat.  She had just eaten a full dinner including some smuggled in coconut topped cake my sister knew my mother loved. 

I told her to take care and God bless.  She said, “You too and thanks for coming”.  Then blew me a kiss.  As I left the room she said the obligatory “Drive safe and don’t fall asleep.”  (Which means I need to stop and get coffee).