She has heart problems and went through a quadruple by-pass surgery almost 18 years ago. She has extremely high cholesterol and because of this has been going through a procedure for 15 years or more where she has a treatment every other week. She drives almost 2 hours every week to Kansas City to have a procedure that takes cholesterol out of her blood.
This past Sunday she went to the ER and was admitted with pneumonia. I believe the doctor called it severe pneumonia. Knowing her health issues my husband was very concerned with how this was affecting her heart. It's hard having a parent sick when you are several hours away and unable to be there immediately. Lots of questions that you can't get answered.
My mother-in-law, Vicki, was having trouble breathing. That's to be expected with pneumonia. You can't get your breath or it hurts to breath. She could hardly talk on the phone because she could not get her breath. Plus she just did not feel good. Now if Vicki tells you she doesn't feel good that means she is really sick.
Wednesday evening Gary received a call from his dad saying that Vicki had quit breathing. They thought she might have had a mild heart attack. Not sure of all the details but it was not looking good. She had been moved next to nurses station for round-the-clock observation. They were not able to transfer her to Kansas City at that time as St. Luke's had no beds available.
They had to remove several liters of fluid from her lungs and around her heart. She was literally drowning and unable to breathe.
We made plans to go up and check on her Friday afternoon after work. Our plans changed.
Thursday morning we received a call that Vicki had been life-flighted to St Luke's overnight. The tests they were monitoring showed indication that chances for a heart attack were rising.
White blood count was going up. Heart enzymes going up. She was life-flighted to St. Lukes's South. Vicki will tell you that she got to say "The Eagle has landed." See what I mean about always being positive?
Red, my father-in-law, drove down and met her there. Counts were still up and it didn't look good. We left work early and drove up to Kansas City arriving about 6. We looked in the door of the hospital room to see Vicki asleep in bed and Red asleep on the sofa. (He had been up about 36 hours at this point with a limited amount of sleep). Our presence woke them and we were given an update.
Counts were still up. The right lung was a solid mass of pneumonia and there was scattered pneumonia in the left lung.The aorta valve which the heart doctors had been monitoring for years would most likely have to be replaced after she had recovered from this infection.
Gary spent the night with his mom in the hospital and I went with Red back to Chillicothe. That was a crazy ride as there were severe thunderstorms going on. Lightening, strong winds, sheets of rain. Friday morning Red and I got up and around and headed back to Kansas City. We could see that Vicki was feeling somewhat better.
We spent the afternoon waiting to see the doctors. About 4:30 or so doctors came in. First was the regular doctor. He said the white count was still high but it was coming down. The last x-rays were looking better and they were starting to get the infection under control. Good News!!!
A little later the heart doctor came in. He said things were looking good. They would want to follow up in the office after the infection was gone and some strength was returned but he did not think they would have to replace the aorta valve! He said that what Vicki had been through was better than a stress test. If her heart was able to withstand this it could handle anything! The news just got better and better!
With that good news and Vicki's promise to ask nurses for help if she needed it we felt comfortable going back home. We could tell she was feeling better and didn't want to wear her out to much with our company.
Today, Saturday, Vicki was able to walk two laps around the corridors of the hospital wing. She also walked up half a flight of stairs, and 'put her makeup on'! She should be going home on Monday.
It is so hard to believe that just three days ago Red thought she was gone and today she is walking laps! Yes, miracles happen. We believe in the power of prayer and we believe we serve an amazing God who can handle anything.
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