Grandma

Grandma has had a rough day.

It started out well - she got to go to the step-down unit last night, she walked down the hall a little bit and sat up for about an hour. But, when they were changing her dressing, her vitals dropped and they could not find a pulse. She began breathing again on her own (no crash cart needed), and they determined quickly that there was some bleeding around the heart.

So, she was rushed back for surgery. The stitches where the heart/ lung machine was attached had come apart and she was bleeding. The surgeon evidentally had an issue with this spot during the first surgery, so they sewed it again and did the equivalent of "super-gluing" it. She lost quite a bit of blood and had to have several tranfusions.

She is back in ICU, stable, and heavily sedated. They are planning to reduce her ventilator around 4 am. Because she is so heavily sedated, it has not been determined if this incident has caused further complications.

Things I'm thankful for:
1. The nurses were right there with her when the problem happened.
2. The crash cart was not needed.
3. Her favorite surgeon was available to do her emergency surgery.
4. The heart/ lung machine was not needed for this surgery.
5. She has great friends! Several came to the hospital today along with her pastor.
6. My mom said the hospital staff has been amazing - very concerned, very caring, and very sensitive to the family's emotions.

I know that she would not want me to pray for her survival on this earth - but for the Lord's will. I have been praying for her protection and for there to be no medical "mistakes" in her care.

It has been a reminder today that the Lord's ways are not our ways, and things can change in literally a minute. We had been feeling so positive because her recovery seemed to be going so extremely well. It was quite a shock to my parents to come back from a walk and find her room full of staff and a crash cart there. My mom only slept about 3 hours last night and she and my dad and my aunt are all staying in the waiting room tonight. Please pray for physical stamina and strength for my aunt, my mom and my dad.