General Hospital

Adrienne, here, to give you an update on my Mom.  Before you get nervous, she's doing well, but she has asked me to post on her blog, for reasons which will all be apparent soon.

These last rounds of chemo have been very rough on my mom.  Her energy has been zapped and she has been nauseated more than usual, among other things.  I went up to visit with my family with some outings planned, and she was determined to go with us to the zoo to see the dolphins.  We pushed her around in a wheelchair since she has hard a hard time walking even a little, and she had not been steady on her feet.  We were all hoping that the chemo's effects would wear off and she'd be back to normal soon.

The next day she couldn't even get out of bed, her breathing was labored and difficult, and she needed my dad to lift her up just to take a drink of water.  I thought that maybe we had worn her out the day before, but it seemed odd that she was so much worse instead of getting better.  She stayed in bed all day, mostly sleeping, and we had to leave that evening, a little worried but hoping it was just the chemo's effects.

On the way home, I emailed my siblings about how Mom was doing at my dad's request, and I ended up texting back and forth with Jessica, and we thought that maybe my mom was dehydrated and needed to get an IV at the hospital.  I texted my dad, who called an ambulance that night to get her to the hospital.

When they got to the hospital, the doctor quickly gave a diagnosis of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), which occurs when the body can't produce insulin, and they found that her blood sugar was almost at 400, despite her hardly being able to eat anything.  She was admitted to the ICU.  They needed to give her insulin but couldn't because she had low potassium, and that needed to be fixed first.  These were life-threatening conditions, but we were glad she was getting the help she needed.

We had been planning a family fast for last Sunday already, and as many of you know, Jessica posted a request on FaceBook for fasting and prayers from friends and family for my mom.  There was such a great outpouring of love and support from so many people that we were overwhelmed with gratitude.  She also was given a priesthood blessing while in the hospital from a friend's husband, and he blessed her that she would be able to resume the things she enjoys and that she and my dad are being watched over by our Father in Heaven.

My mom has been making steady progress to get back to her old self and regain some strength.  She had a CAT scan to make sure there wasn't any brain damage from the DKA, and my dad said they couldn't find a brain!  Ha!  Thankfully, there was no damage, which we were worried about because she had experienced a little memory loss.  The doctors are still trying to balance her insulin levels, electrolytes, etc., but she is doing extremely well and she should be going home from the hospital in a day or two.

We know that the Lord heard our petitions, and it is through His mercy and love that everything is all right.  We are grateful for our parents and the time we have with them and that my mom has been sustained so long.  (It has been almost two years since her diagnosis!)  We hope to have many more years with her!