11/17/08

Dear Family and Friends,

Today is definately a step in the wrong direction for Mom. She has a lot of issues that are making her valiant struggle for wellness much, much more difficult. She has a great deal of congestion in her lungs, which they are culturing. Her white blood count is very high and they are trying to find out if the infection is lung related or somewhere else, such as the groin area where the pace maker wire stayed for so long. They have fitted her with a feeding tube down her nose, which took three tries to be successful and she was a trooper. She is asking us all, on about an hourly basis, if she is dying and we have assured her that is NOT the case but we are all very scared right now. Her poor old "bottom" is skinless and a sore oozing mess and they now have her slathered with some potion and she is on her side and sleeping peacefully. Her kidneys have picked up some but are still an issue. She is malnourished and they have explained that this fact compromises all of her other body functions, as does the infection. There was just a covey of infectious disease doctors going over her from top to bottom in order to get a handle on where the infection is and giving her whatever antibiotic will best remedy the infection. She is much more aware and cognizant of what's going on, today, than she was yesterday. It appears all of the potent pain meds have worn off and she is just beyond weak. Dr Moloney saw us in the hall and said she was doing great and I said, "What!" and he said well, her heart is doing very well post surgery. He told us that all of these little setbacks sometimes happens and can be controlled and not to write her off yet but the nurses tell us Mom is the sickest patient in the ward. Not a fact to brag about. We continue our prayers and ask you all to please help us in that area. She has surprised us far too many times in the past two weeks to give up on her yet and of course, we are NOT! We knew this was going to be a long journey but I guess got a little too laid back when we had the good news about her successful surgery outcome. Please remember her in your prayers during this time, as we are counting the minutes until the possibility of a turnaround happens.

Please try and remain positive and hopeful with us all and keep those healing prayers going.

Love,
Bev and Crew