An emotionally draining week

This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions to say the least. Last Monday morning Jerry called his mom to see how she was feeling. Since her surgery (see end of June 16th blog entry)she has kinda been confused and didn't seem to be getting better. She was withdrawn and sleeping a lot. We all just figured she was recovering from what was a very serious surgery. My father-in-law answered when Jerry called and said he was waiting for my brother-in-law to come and help him get mom-in-law to the hospital. FIL had gone to take some trash out and when he came back in he couldn't find MIL. He looked all over the house and finally found her in the bathrooom, with the light off, trying to find her way out. Jerry let him go so he could deal with what he needed to. Jerry talked to his brother later and found out that him, FIL and MIL's friend couldn't get her into the car so they had to call an ambulance. It took 4 paramedics to get her on the gurney and they had to strap her down because she was fighting. They ran tests at the hospital and later that evening my other BIL called to tell me that the ammonia levels in her blood were sky high, her liver was failing and they didn't expect her to live through the night!!! What??? I called Jerry and he rushed home from work (35 min drive). We went immediately to the hospital and stayed through the night. She didn't wake up. The next day was the same and we stayed all day and again all night. We were running on about 2 hours of sleep. Her breathing was very irregular and she would take a breath and then nothing. About the time we thought it was the last one, she would take a huge breath. She finally woke up I think on Wednesday. (the days were all running together at this point) She was trying to talk but her words were slurring. She almost sounded like she had had a stroke. That day was rough again but at least she was awake some. On Thursday she was talking a little better. She asked us "Ok Guys, what happened?" We explained and she was so surprised because she didn't remember any of it. Arrangements were being made for her to go home with hospice. She seemes to be getting better all the time but they still think her liver is failing. On Friday the hospice Dr told her she could have anything she wanted to eat. After the Dr left I said "so, what sounds good? A Big Mac?" Amber was there and said "Pizza?" She said "yes, pizza. Supreme". Pizza Hut is across the street from the hospital so Amber & I ran over there and got her a small supreme pizza. This was the first real food since before her surgery. She had been trying to eat but everything tasted bad to her. I figured I would be happy if she took one bite. :o) She did manage to eat just about a whole piece. Then she said it tasted salty. On Saturday she had turkey, carrots, banana cake, strawberry shake, tapioca pudding, jello, etc. (all hospital food) :o) So here we are, 1 week past when she was supposed to be gone. :o) Miracles DO happen. We aren't real sure where it goes from here. We need to have a talk with the hospice nurse when we get her alone. Obviously if hospice is there, they still think it is only a matter of time. But they don't know my MIL. She will do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it. :o) So emotions went from high after the surgery went well, to lowest low on Monday night, back to high when she woke up and now just kinda in between since we aren't sure which way to think. We are praying that God will decide to let her stay for a long while but we cherish each and every day we have. Since Monday, each day has been a bonus. Any prayers you might have are greatly appreciated. She came home today and all reports say she is happy to be home. :o) We will probably go see her in the next few days.

I went 'no mail' on all my Yahoo groups so if I have missed anything important, someone please let me know. I plan to go back to receiving messages after I finish this. I got very little stitching done in the last week. I had finished stitching my Spirit of America Angel Monday afternoon. With spending the week at the hospital I didn't get her in a frame (shadow box actually) until yesterday. So she didn't quite make it complete until July 5th. :op The picture above isn't the greatest but it's hard not to get reflection or flash on the glass. I will try for a better picture when I have time. I'm back to working on Amy's coffee pics (3rd one of 4 almost done!) and Amber's wedding piece.

We didn't go to the parade on the 4th because we needed a few hours to just chill. Amy said the first 45 minutes were almost all tractors anyway! I really think they need to put a limit on how many tractors can be in the parade. :o) There are more every year. Especially since a neighboring town doesn't have a parade so all their stuff is in our parade! Little Louie marched with the Boy Scouts. They each had 2 bags of candy to hand out so at the end of the parade they got a bag for themselves. (probably so they wouldn't keep the candy they were supposed to throw.)


We did go to the fireworks on the 4th. I forgot my camera so I just took a few pics with my phone but they didn't turn out too great.

My sister-in-law made July 4th dresses and matching pony tail holders for herself and her 4 youngest girls. Aren't they adorable?
She also has 3 older daughters and is expecting little girl #8 in September! Nope, no boys! :o) After the new baby comes in September Jerry's mom & dad will have 12 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren and Josh and Little Louie are the only boys. :o)

A few weeks ago we made the mistake of trying McDonalds Sweet Tea. Yum! It's only $1.19 for a big cup but it started getting expensive every other day. :op I love making sun tea but the jar is really big and takes up a lot of room in the fridge. Jerry remembered we had a box of new canning jars in the basement so I had him bring up a few. We bought a box of 100 tea bags for less than $3.00 and started making our own in smaller jars. That way it's fresh each day too. A little (ok, a lot) of sugar and yum, just as good as McD's.

The garden is growing good. This is the first time we have grown zucchini and I'm beginning to see why people are always giving it away. It looks like we might have more than we need pretty soon! Anyone have good recipes using zucchini? tomatoes? cucumbers?

Until next time, hugs!
Elaine