Sara Plays House

My mother in law has been in the hospital since November 18.  What started as a simple case of pneumonia quickly morphed into several different (and scary) problems.  She has been in the ICU for the duration of her stay.  It would take me approximately two days to type out everything that’s happened.  Suffice it to say we’ve seen her go from bad to good to worse and back to good several times over.  She has gone from perfect lucidity to not even remembering her own sons in the span of a day and then right back again.  To say it has been tough on the whole family is putting it very mildly.

The most recent bad thing was that she had to be hooked up to a ventilator for several days so they could do certain procedures safely.  I visited her on Saturday.  She was mostly sedated, so I sat and listened to all the machines while holding her puffy hand.  She would open her eyes now and then, look at me with some knowing, and then go back to rest.

It was hard to see someone I love in such a state.  Especially when that someone just happens to be the woman who gave life to the man I love most.  When you get right down to it, she is the reason I’m the person I am today, because she gave me Mike.  I don’t know if I’ve ever thanked her adequately for carrying him for nine months and then raising him into the person he is today.

So it’s been touch and go.  After Mike had a great visit with her last Sunday, she suddenly deteriorated and was put on the vent.  The doctors told us they didn’t know when/if she would come off the vent.  Turns out that day was yesterday.  But even still, we didn’t know what to expect.  Would she be lucid?  Would she remain stable?

But today?  Today I talked to her on the phone.  ON THE PHONE.  We had a conversation!  She laughed!  Hoarsely, but it was a laugh and it made my heart leap.  She talked to her granddaughters.  They told her they loved her and that they would see her soon.

It’s a small step, but it is definitely a step forward.  She still has a long road ahead of her, but progress is progress.  After a week of hearing nothing but bad news, nothing but worst case scenarios, today was a really, really good day.  I cannot even tell you how thankful we are.