Down For the Count

Well, so much for getting better...

Lou was rushed to the hospital Monday morning. She stopped breathing and during the course of getting her breathing again, she had a heart attack. They managed to save her but she is out of it. She has heart damage, she'll need to have a tracheotomy, and of course her kidneys have shut down. She's in ICU on a vent. It's going to be a L-O-N-G road to go... if she makes it... I'm praying that she does... She has a lot to live for... but it's in God's hands now...

This is your brain on drugs?

Well, I'm going to be praying big time for Lou. Right now she keeps freaking out over at Rehab. She knows where she is and knows who we are... but she gets scared and has panic and anxiety attacks all the time. That is not her normal. So Terri tells me that it may have something to do with Lou's medications. They changed some of them and since then, it has had an adverse effect on her. Her doctor doesn't have privileges at the Rehab she's at so the resident doctors go check on her like two or three times a week. Terri took the bull by the horns and confronted Lou's doctor about this and the doc wrote orders to review Lou's meds and to make sure that she is seen daily and to figure out why she is in this condition. I pray to the Lord that she can recover from this mess... I want my spitfire sister back...

Things Are Looking Better...

Thanks for the words of encouragement and for the prayers for Lou. It was quite a struggle but Lou is getting better. She knows who we are again and was doing the things that Lou typically does when she is feeling better: complain that she wants to go home and then whine about wanting diet Pepsi. I think she realizes how close she came to buying the farm this time so she appreciates what is going on now. She was discharged from the hospital and is now in a physical rehab place and so the work begins. She hates these places but at least now she understands why she is there. She had no recollection whatsoever about what happened that put her in the hospital in the first place. In some respects, I guess that's a good thing. But when we told her how bad it was, she got a little shook up. But I think that helped her realize how serious this is. And that no one is trying to "stick her in a home". That the reason she is in the hospital and in physical rehab is to get her home. But it's going to be a long road back. I reminded her of how much she has to live for... of all the good things that are going to be happening soon. The pending arrival of my nephew and his wife's baby next month. Stuff like that. That made her tear up but I reminded her that she needed to be happy because a positive attitude will get her much farther than tears of frustration. I understand that she doesn't want to be there. Heck, I don't blame her for feeling that way. But like a preacher I listen to says: "The only way out is through..." She knows that she has to go through the rehab. Nothing is going to change that. So I hope and pray that her attitude holds up in a positive direction and that she can make it home soon.