I left on a jet plane with Laura a LONG LONG time ago! What a trip we had!! It was one of the best trips I have ever been on.
After that trip, a lot happened. My family went to New Orleans and the beach. On the way home from the beach, they threw me out in Shreveport at a bead retreat! Oh what fun!
Then just 3 weeks later, my sweet mother-in-law had a huge hemorrhagic stoke. She had just gone parasailing with our middle son while we were at the beach. Carol, my MIL, was on her way to Austin to see Wicked, with her daughter. She was on the phone with her son (my husband) and her left arm went numb. She is on the interstate going 65 – 70 mph, was able to get off and get to the Wal-mart parking lot. Someone saw her erratic driving and alerted the security guard. Carol was able to press the On-Star button and had them on the phone when the guard got to her. The ambulance came and took her about a block to the hospital.
That hospital didn’t have a neurosurgeon and the hospital I work for was on diversion for any new neuro patients. I called every one I knew to try to keep her here in town, but was not successful. So they found her a bed in a Shreveport hospital.
She had the bleed evacuated the next day and we were told she would wake up soon and taken off the ventilator by Wednesday. This was Saturday.
Wednesday came and went. The next Wednesday came and went. She is still not awake. Every time they would take her off the sedation meds, her blood pressure would shoot up and she would get very agitated. That Thursday she had to have a feeding tube put in and the next day a tracheotomy done. I can’t even tell you the stress we had those 2 weeks. Trying to handle our the boys and their schedules and our jobs and the hospital. I ended up just taking a leave from work and making many trips to Shreveport.
After they put the trach in, we were able to transfer her back to Monroe. She is sedated and not even close to being herself. Even sedated, she had almost constant motion on her right side. We joked that she was going to be Rockette because of all the high kicks she was doing! The left side is totally motionless.
Slowly, they were able to wean her off the sedation meds and off the vent. One morning I walked in and she knew who I was!! She was back! Still paralyzed but she was herself.
We started talking about what to do next with her and the best place for her to rehab was in New Orleans at Touro.
We were down there for 7 weeks. Just me and her! Brad stayed here with the boys and his job. In fact, the day we left for NO, he was in Missouri for work. If you know me, I don’t do anything without Brad. So, I had to pack for Carol and me and figure out what to do with the boys. I never drive anywhere, Brad does. I had to drive to NO and drive in NO!! That itself is a miracle! I was SCARED TO DEATH!
But it was soooo worth it. She was able to have the trach removed and the feeding tube removed. Her left leg started coming to! Before we left to come home, she was walking with a quad cane, slowly but walking!
I have left out a lot of the story. Like how all of our friends took care of my family while I was gone. They cooked 3 nights a week for them. They brought them home from school. They hauled them around. The love we felt is just indescribable. (I’m crying now thinking about it).
I will finish the story later this week. Carol is a true miracle!! She is one amazing woman and what a testimony she has!! God is Good!!
