Thank You!

I just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks to everyone who has asked how mom is doing. She's still doing pretty well, and healing quickly. WooHoo!

She has an appointment March 3rd with Dr. Vargo. He'll check how she's healing and probably take her staples out and reveal mom's lack of a belly button! Yay! haha. It still makes me laugh when she says "You know what? I don't have a belly button!" and then she'll put her hand over her mouth and giggle. I love my mother. :)

Sheila the zookeeper!

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and well wishes!

Update!

 This week has gone pretty well, mom hasn't seemed to be in much pain until last night when her pain pump emptied. We'll be taking it out today so one of the daytime nurses can help us redress the wound. She is getting pain pills as she needs them. She seems to be healing pretty well. She's stopped screaming after meals, which means the surgery has been successful.

Dad was talking to one of his coworkers/friends, and she was telling him about how painful abdominal hernias are. She told him about how about a half an hour after she ate anything, it would become excruciatingly painful. Her hernia was about the size of a golf ball. Mom had two, and they were about the size of Dad's fist. (He has a huge fist). I can't even imagine. So, that explains why mom would scream about half an hour after meals. It had to hurt so much...

There are also no signs that her body is rejecting the mesh they used to close the hernias. Hallelujah!

She's a trooper!

 This picture was taken in post-op. Yes, after surgery. My mother very well may be a saint. If somebody had left me with nearly a foot long incision and taken away my belly button, I certainly would not look like that, or have said thank you after somebody poked and prodded me. She is such a sweetie.

She cried for a little bit because she was uncomfortable and wanted to go home, but I say it's understandable. The funniest part is that she hasn't let it throw off her schedule at all. Rachael Ray at 10:00, Dr. Phil at 3:00, and Oprah at 4:00. And I'm almost certain she's watching NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams right now.

They put in this nifty little pain pump that will automatically dispense a local anesthetic for the next five days. One of the coolest things about it is that it comes right off when it needs to! Cool, if you ask me. :)

All in all, I think today went well. Mom seems to be feeling well, and she ate her soup and jello very well. Mom's always been able to handle anesthesia well.

Thanks for all of your many prayers, we greatly appreciate them!

P.S. Happy Valentines Day!

All Is Well

Dr. Vargo just came in and talked to us, and mom did fine. She actually had two hernias, one right above the belly button, and one right below. He repaired both and she is doing well in recovery.

One down side... She lost her belly button. Now she's an alien! haha.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. We have a lot to be thankful for today!
 

In Surgery

Mom's in surgery right now.  We talked to one of the doctors, and he said that the anesthesia went well, but that was about an hour ago. We haven't heard anything else yet. As far as we know, the surgery is still suppposed to be outpatient, but we'll have to wait and see how everything goes and how she does. I'll keep you all updated as best I can.

Thank you for all of the many prayers!
 

Surgery Rescheduled!

Good news! Mom's surgery has been rescheduled. Bad news is that it's been rescheduled for February 14th. You got it. Valentines Day. I suppose we'll just have to celebrate another day.

Another good thing is that mom will be out of pain, and that's all that matters.

I'll keep updating with any new developments!

 

Surgery is a go!

The stress test today went well. The cardiologist said mom's heart looked good and surgery is a go. We are just waiting for a call from Dr. Vargo's office with the scheduled surgery date and time.

We'll keep you updated! Please keep praying!

Stress Test

We've had several questions as to how they will perform a stress test on a woman who can't walk. Well, after some inquisition, we found out how they will do it.

They will give mom a chemical mixture that has adrenaline in it, that will have her body react as if she had done the physical tasks.

She, Dad, and Ashley are on their way to Salt Lake now. I'm just blogging a bit before I head off to school.  I couldn't afford to miss another day especially where I'll be missing one for mom's surgery.

I'll keep you posted with the results of today's test, and the date of mom's surgery, I just wanted to let you know how they'll be doing the stress test.