Some Answers - FINALLY!

I have to first of all thank everyone for all the thoughts and prayers that you have sent my mother's way over the past month. I felt all of those prayers as I was discouraged fighting the fight to get the care that I felt was necessary for my mom. The last month has been a merry-go-round here, but I believe that we are finally getting some answers to my mother's medical issues.

Many of you who follow my blog regularly know that my mother has been a paraplegic for the last thirteen years after being attacked by a virus in her spinal cord. She has had no feeling from mid chest down since that day. She has never complained and everyone is always amazed at her "can do" attitude. Many talk about what an inspiration she has been for them. Thus, when a medical issue arises, it is usually of the serious sort.

In September she developed a small blister on her outer hip which we immediately started to treat. Unlike her normal skin breakdowns, this did not respond to treatments. Wound care specialists were called in and they were doing all the dressing changes. Things were looking much better. However, in the beginning of December she started to experience bands of pain in her upper leg. Since she has been without feeling for thirteen years, this was odd. No one could figure this out and it was like pulling teeth to get anyone to pay attention. I was most concerned that it was perhaps the wound that was festering inside of her leg. No one seemed to feel that way since it looked "good."

A very long month of ER visits, septic work ups, doctor visits, holiday delays with offices closed was agonizing as I watched my mother become weaker, experience extreme pain, run fevers, have an elevated heart rate and become very confused. My sister and I were staying with her as she lives alone.

We were finally able to get into our local hyperbaric wound center and saw a wonderful doctor who agreed with me and cultured the wound. It turns out that what we saw as a blister was actually a septic hip. The pain has been because the sciatic nerve was exposed to the infection - much as a nerve in a tooth being open up. On Monday they put her in the hospital and are now treating her with antibiotics and will do surgery to clean out the hip. Since her heart rate was so accelerated they need to evaluate the reason before surgery can be done. The doctors feel that it could be the result of overwhelming infection within the body. Please continue to keep her in you prayers as we are not out of the woods yet.

Meanwhile, Christmas did come. The new year rang in as well. It is hard to imagine that we are well into January already.

A few events of the last month......

Mr. B turned 6.

Mr. T turned 11.

Our Christmas baby turned 1.

The children enjoyed Christmas Eve gift exchanges. I know the room looks filled, but remember that there were 50+ people here that night.

And Mr. J just enjoyed the older toys. Gotta love the crazy hair!

Cousins sharing a little Christmas cheer.

Meeting Mr. and Mrs. Claus at Breakfast with Santa.

My "chocolate" orchid bloomed. It seriously fills the room with the smell of chocolate. They are delightful plants to raise.

And now I am off for my yearly physical. YUK! It means a list of future appointments for mammogram, bone density, lab work and who knows what else.






I will be blogging as time permits, but I cannot promise anything regular at this point. I do try to get to your blogs and enjoy the time that I spend there. The visits always brighten my day.