Mom's Passing

It seems that the posts that I thought were posting to this blog last week didn't happen.  I know for most people this is old information, but felt it was important to get everything recorded here too.
3/19/13 7:30pm:
Mom has progressed quite rapidly since yesterday and hospice has guessed that we don't have much time based on her symptoms. We've called close family and have had a lot of family here today. Please feel free to text, call, pray, visit if you need to. Mom is comfortable and hospice is helping to keep her that way. Thank you for all of your continues prayers and support. Much love to everyone.
3/19/13 10pm:
Jesus has called home our angel. Mom went to be with Jesus in heaven at 9:37pm tonight. She was surrounded with all of our family and just slipped into heaven peacefully We are eternally grateful for your prayers and support during this time.
3/20/13:
Arrangements for Mary:
Visitation: Friday, March 22 3-8pm at Conkle Funeral Home in Avon.
Funeral Mass: Saturday, March 23 9:30am at Sacred Heart Catholic Church (1530 Union Street, Indianapolis, IN) followed by graveside service at Westridge Park Cemetary (21st Street & Raceway Road)
3/23/13:
Thank you to everyone for your kind words, your thoughtful stories, and your prayers. Our family is forever grateful for your support through this time. Mom's life was filled with fun and goodness and we are blessed to be able to celebrate her life with so many of you.

We will continue to update the blog as our journey is not over.  Dad has been holding up well and we are all blessed by your prayers and support. 
~Melissa

The move to hospice care

Mom was discharged from the hospital on Thursday (3/14). Unfortunately, due to recent bloodwork, it is evident that the leukemia is getting significantly more prominent in her blood than before. Dr. Cripe recommended that we get hospice services involved. They will be coming out to the house in the coming week to evaluate what mom will need, etc. In the meantime, Dr. Cripe said to do what ever she wants on her good days and take it easy on the rougher days. We met with the hospice nurse today and she was very nice and helpful. Mom has a fever right now, so we may actually be calling them for some advice already! Mom had been very tired since leaving the hospital and hasn't slept well, so she's a little disoriented and groggy at times. Please pray for this fever to leave her body, sleep for both mom and dad, and strength! Thank you all!! Much love to you! 

Update 1-18-13

Praise the Lord!! Mom is HOME!!  Hooray!!

Thursday Mom was able to be discharged from the hospital.  We're getting her all settled in (she's going to need oxygen at home for awhile and needed to get a few other things to help around the house).  I've got to tell you, she's doing a lot more and a lot better than any of us would have guessed!

 

Many of you have offered to help or bring meals. We are setting up a meal planner at takethemameal.com. If you are interested in that information, please send me a private message, either leave a comment with your email address or send one of us a text message or give us a call (we do not want to post it publicly). If you would like to visit, please call or text Mom or Dad directly--they'll have a better idea of schedules, etc. Thanks again to everyone for all your wonderful prayers and support!! God has been so good and unfailing throughout!!

Update 1-15-13

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. (Mark 11:24 NLT)

Praise the Lord! Mom had a good stable night. Her numbers look good, so the ICU doctors have agreed it's time to move her to a regular room--so we're waiting for a room on 3 east to open up and then we'll move there! We are in the "wait and see" phase, I guess, but things are looking up. Hopefully we'll have more great news to report over the next several days. Thank you again for all your prayers and support!

~~"But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8~~

Sent from Melissa's iPhone

Update 1-14-13

So far the update is there isn't much to update. Mom was extubated around 2:30pm and is holding her own. She's had a few coughing spells and is a bit anxious, so the doctors are going to help her with that. We just wait and see what God has in store for us and this mighty lady! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Update 1-13-13

Mom has been pretty much the same today. She has been on the cpap setting for the majority of the day. She's had a few more bouts of restlessness today, but that is pretty normal for cpap. Mom has been resting for the last several hours. Tomorrow they will attempt to extubate and we will see how it goes.  We don't really have any concept of how long she'll have after the extubation...could be hours, days, weeks. She's fooled us all before. What we do know is that Mom has asked not to be intubated again, even if her lungs can't handle it.  The last time they extubated, she did well for about 12-18 hours and then started having high heart rate and breathing issues...but she's had more antibiotics at this point and we just don't know.  We will just trust in God's plan even if we don't understand it. Please keep all of us in your prayers tomorrow.

Update 1-11-13

Today's recap: whew, what a day. I don't really know how my eyes are still open. This is what we know: overnight Mom's heart rate went way to high and we are fortunate that the medications available to her got the rate down, but that also means she had to get the tube in again. She was fairly stable today, but she has another pneumonia. Dr. Cripe spoke with us all tonight (including mom) and said we'd wait and see how much of this infection she can fight and if she can tolerate being extubated again. If they take out the tube and she cannot tolerate it, mom does not want it back in again. We will cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime we are praying that this infection leaves her body and that her lungs and heart stay as strong as her spunk and spirit. She's trying to keep her sense of humor and faith in her arsenal, and so we will too. Lord please hear all of our prayers and the prayers of all who know you!

Update 1-10-13

After a couple of tense days of electrolyte imbalance, it looks like Mom's numbers are stabilizing. James was at the hospital this morning when the doctor decided to extubate. Mom got the breathing tube out this morning and she's done great today. She can talk pretty well and says her throat doesn't hurt when she talks. She is a little confused (common for anyone who has been intubated) and starts to say some things that don't make sense, but comes back pretty quick. She is very adamant that she wants to come home and asks just about everyone that comes in to either take her home (if they're family) or "what are we waiting on" (if they're staff). They'll continue to monitor in the ICU for a little bit and then they'll transfer her to a step down unit. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. Thank God for her extubation and stability!!

Update 1-7-13

For those of you that haven't been caught up yet, just a quick update: Mom got admitted to IU hospital on 1-5-13 for the flu and double lung pneumonia. In true Mary fashion, it has not been as simple as that. Her breathing was really labored and her heart rate was high so we transferred to progressive care that night and started on the bipap machine--that sort of forces air into the lungs and has a very uncomfortable face mask. She didn't stay there long before moving to the ICU and when they saw the discomfort of the machine and that she still needed much support, they decided to intubate her. She has the breathing tube now and is being watched closely, but is very alert for someone with a tube. She sleeps a lot, but will interact with staff when they come into the room (and of course let us know when she needs something)! Today they switched the settings on the vent to "cpap", settings, which basically means she's doing the breathing work on her own with just a little back up help. They're also stopping the blood pressure medication to see if she can hold those stable. If the breathing and blood pressures stabilize, that will lead to getting the tube out! They placed a feeding tube today to make sure she's getting the nutritional support she needs, but we all know she really just wants a diet coke:)
We will try our best to keep this blog updated because I know everyone does not have Facebook, but I do make frequent updates to the Facebook page "Prayers for Mary". Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers!!