Sunday Night Update

For Lee and I, our quality time lately has been at the hospital. For the past 20 days, a date consists of a movie on my laptop in Mom's room or dinner in the cafeteria. We'll take it, though! We are so grateful that she has come so far.

I became good friends with a woman named Lois in the ICU waiting room. She and I came there on the same day, because our family members were admitted on the same day. For Lois it was her husband. Lois and her daughter and I and other family members of theirs spent countless hours there in the ICU for about a week and a half. Then Lois lost her dear husband. I was with her when she found out. It was awful. I know my Mom has a journey ahead of her, but we have to be grateful for the journey, because it means we still have her with us. Lois called me today. She is so sad. They were married for 48 years. Please pray for her as she grieves and heals.

Mom has been off the ventilator since Friday night, so that is a great improvement. We are still praying that she will have physical strength and peace and patience.

Mom's in Rehab!

Mom is all settled into her new rehab hospital! She was transported by ambulance yesterday. Matt and Jenny (my nephew and his wife, my bff) stopped by tonight with the kids. Corene was excited that Great-Grandma was better and thought it must be because they prayed for her. Undoubtedly!! Thank you to everyone who prayed. We are still amazed that Mom is doing so well and she is amazed that she was so sick. She said, "I almost went to Heaven" and we said we were so glad that she didn't!

She is able to speak with a special valve that attaches to the trach and she is breathing on her own now for most of the day. Her voice is very raspy but what a comfort to hear her at all! The average stay at this hospital for rehab is 25 days but we are hoping that it won't be that long for Mom.
The good news is that her oncologist says no more chemo, so we need to pray that the cancer STAYS AWAY since they are not able to detect any right now. (Hallelujah!) I am so glad Mom doesn't have to have any more chemo, but I am sad that I won't see my nurse buddies in the cancer care wing anymore! From left to right is my Mom and Dad's oncologist, Dr. M., and nurses Kym, Paula, Heather and Karen. They are holding the goodie basket we got them as a "thank you". My Dad has completed his second week of radiation - "only" 25 more sessions to go!

People keep asking how I am doing. I feel like my Mom! Like I can finally take a deep breath! My house is a disaster, so maybe I will get around to cleaning it. Maybe. I have missed a lot of work and have a massive sales goal I would LOVE to acheive, since the bonus I would receive would help us with our adoption fees. I am trying not to be too stressed out! Just doing what I have been doing all along since this crisis began. Praying, doing the best I can and taking one day at a time!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Wow, I was too nervous to post yesterday, for fear that she might just be having a "good" day, but it seems that Mom has had what they call here in ICU a "turn-around day". She wants to go home and is smiling and alert. She is discovering how long she has been here and how very sick she was - and she can't believe it. She still can't talk because of the trach - they are doing some speech therapy today and she can whisper right now with a special valve on the trach tube. She weaned off the vent for 11 hours yesterday - makes me chuckle now that I was excited about 35 minutes last week!!

I am amazed that this is the same woman - I am thanking and praising God for answering our prayers and the prayers of so many - we have heard from friends and relatives all over the country who are praying for her! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Please pray now for her to continue to gain strength and to have patience as she is not headed home like she wants, but to a rehab hospital, to wean her more off the vent and to help her re-gain physical strength. They are thinking she will be transferred as early as tomorrow! Wow.

Easter Sunday

Ok, so dining on Kentucky Fried Chicken is not your typical way to celebrate Easter -- certainly not the way the Wilson family usually celebrates it -- but with Mama still in ICU, this was what we had today! Here we are with my nephew, Matt, his wife (and one of my best friends), Jenny, and their kids, Corene, Ava and Isaac, and Jenny's mom (and my fake auntie), Bev.

Later, my Dad, my sister Jill and her family came to the hospital to visit Grandma. We also celebrated my nephew's 11th birthday in the waiting room. We had a nice visit.

Mom weaned for 2.5 hours this morning and 4 hours this evening, so we are feeling optimistic. We still want/need to hear the doctors say that she is progressing! That will be a great comfort. Hopefully after the great job she has done this weekend we will hear that soon!

Update on Mom

Mom weaned off the ventilator for 3 hours today. This was her best yet--and doubled her best time. We are still not "out of the woods". Please continue to pray for strength and healing. Pray for her in the night time when we are at home that she will have calm rest. She is still listed as critical. Thanks.

Have a Happy Easter--Acts 1:1-11.

Came Through Both Surgeries OK

Mom is doing ok after the placement of a feeding tube in her stomach and the tracheostomy for the ventilator. She is still doing better bit by teeny bit, but is STILL listed in critical condition. It was SO nice to see her face today and when she wakes from the anesthesia it will be wonderful that she will be able to smile again. We are going to have to get skilled at lip reading!! :) But lip reading will be a GIFT! We have been playing the guessing game with little nods or shakes of her head until we figure what she needs.

With no more chemo scheduled, she is getting some peach fuzz, too! :)
More soon.

Hard Day!!

Oh WOW - I don't even know how I made it through today. One of the ICU docs came in and pulled the rug out from underneath us! She said we "need to talk as a family and decide how far we want to go with this". I will spare you what she said for the most part, but she said, "I don't mean to be Dr. Doom and Gloom," three times. After the third time I said, "Well, you kind of are!" It was surreal. She said she wanted to be "Dr. Realistic". I thought of a few other words. Sorry! :P My dad and I talked with her oncologist, who is giving us a much more positive outlook.

The next step for dear mama is a tracheostomy so that she doesn't have to have the ventilator going all the way down her throat and risk permanent damage to her vocal chords. She will also have a feeding tube put into her stomach instead of a going down through her nose. These are surgical procedures, so please remember her and the doctors in your prayers.

This evening she did a great job weaning off the vent (94 minutes). Please pray for continued STRENGTH and healing.

By the way, after a 50 degree day and the snow almost all gone, I woke up to this:

Then, I decided it would be a good idea to take a hot bath and luckily, even without my glasses, saw THIS swimming by my feet:

I could have taken these as signs that it was going to be a bad day, but my mama raised me to be positive and look at life with a glass half full perspective. She also raised me to pray and trust the Lord for a brighter day.

Improving...Slowly but Surely

We got a positive report that Mom is improving. She was off the ventilator for an hour yesterday - a major improvement over the 10 minutes each from Friday and Saturday. They took her off sedation at 10:00 a.m. yesterday and so she was more responsive, but overnight she was a bit restless, so they are going to give a bit of sedation (a different kind than before). She is still in critical condition. Will post again soon.

No Change in Mom

Well, the good news is there hasn't been any decline, but the bad news is there haven't been any improvements. I will keep you updated.

Still in ICU, Still in Critical Condition

The reason I haven't posted yet is that there really is no change--there are very minor improvements at a very slow pace. They were able to take her off the second blood pressure medication, so that is good. They tried to take her off the ventilator and had to put her back on after about 30 minutes. I just can't rest easy until she is out of critical. The farthest I have gone from the hospital is 15 minutes away, because I want to get back if I have to, but mostly I have just been here. I love her doctor, most of the nurses and I love this hospital! It is so nice and they did a great job making certain areas comfortable. The ICU waiting room is, dare I say, almost cozy. ALMOST.

I thought I should instill a smidge of humor into your day. My mom has always used humor to get through life and no matter what you are going through you have to chuckle here and there. I mostly have been chuckling at myself for the dumb stuff I am saying and doing. I haven't been working much, but did go to an appointment I had with the Timberwolves today, our NBA team. I pulled into my parking spot and went to my appointment. When I got back I noticed that I had put my hospital parking permit in the dashboard of my car. In downtown Minneapolis. I have concluded that I am slightly delirious. I can't finish a sentence and I tend to stop in the middle of a sentence and stare and ask whoever I was talking to, "What was I saying?"

More updates as soon as I get some news.

Oh, and today it has been TWO years since we have been logged in to China's system. Yippee.

My Precious Mama

Many of you know that my mom has been suffering from Ovarian Cancer since last September. She was doing so well and was only one treatment away from being done. When I was with her this past weekend she wasn't feeling very well. Monday morning my Dad called me and we decided to have her admitted to the hospital.

She declined quickly - by the afternoon they had moved her to ICU where she remains in critical condition. She has pneumonia, a blood infection and a skin infection.

I am so sad for her to get this close to the end of treatment and have this to deal with now. We are praying that she pulls out of this and would like to ask you to do the same.

We appreciate all the phone calls and messages expressing your concern. We apologize that we are unable to personally respond to each and every one; however, we will post updates at this site periodically.

ok, NOT tennis shoes and socks

If you are going to contribute shoes, I hear that sandals or flip flops are best. The kids at the orphanage don't wear socks and probably not regular shoes much, either. PLEASE consider buying a pair.

Thanks!

Family Update!

Today is Patricia's 8th birthday! (I love this picture with her little shirt on backwards!) We wish we could have been with her but even though we couldn't we wanted to celebrate. I'd like to collect pairs of tennis shoes, sandals, and/or flip flops to send to her orphanage - would you be willing to buy a new pair or donate a quality used pair (or two)? There is a shipment of items going down to Haiti in a few weeks, so we have to move quickly. If you are willing, please post a comment or email me and I will give you the address to send them to. If you contribute tennis shoes, please buy a clean pair of socks, too. Sizes from toddler to teen, for boys or girls.

For Patricia's birthday we bought her a car!! Just kidding. We didn't really want a car payment again, but with the transmission going out in the Explorer, we didn't feel that it was worth it to repair it. Here is a stock photo of what we got - a 2007 Mercury Mariner - except ours is black. I know, another black vehicle, but we like it! Plus we got a great deal (only 9,000 miles) and we did well on our trade, too.Other good news this week is that China has now made it into 2006 with placements - through January 4. Our log in date is March 13, 2006 so we are closer than we have ever been and just the fact that they are finally in 2006 is such a relief.

On the other side of things, it has been a tough week as my mom is having hard time with her chemo treatments, so please pray for her to regain some appetite, energy and strength. My dad started his radiation treatments this week also, so please pray for him. I could use prayer as well to be a helpful and good hearted care giver, while balancing work and home. Thanks!

Also, it keeps snowing! The view for anyone attempting to sit on this bench by our house would be a bit dull! I am REALLY eager for Spring. I usually last longer than this, but this has been a particularly bitter winter and Entertainment had our sales training in Detroit this year instead of Florida so I never got to escape and it really made a difference! Hopefully last weekend was the last of the below zero temps!

Our dog, June, is also seemingly eager for Spring as she continually prepares me for motherhood with her constant activity and naughty behavior. She is best behaved after much physical activity and on sunny days where she can bask in the sunlight in our kitchen (that's the cat bed, by the way).

This past weekend Lee was out of town and while some of my girlfriends were over on Friday night, June helped herself to three pieces of pepperoni pizza and on Saturday when my niece Jenny was over, June ate her Ghirardelli dark chocolate candy bar. Of course dark chocolate is toxic for dogs, so out came the hydrogen peroxide. Jenny and I ended up, after 30 minutes of standing in freezing temps and falling snow, using a turkey baster to get June to swallow the peroxide so she would throw up. We were so cold but needed to make sure she puked and I couldn't hold June and administer the peroxide by myself so we tackled it as a team. We went back and forth between laughing and grumbling. FINALLY June threw it all up and we went back in by the fire and finished our movie. So much for a relaxing evening!

Well, this blog is about five posts in one, but that's the kind of week it was! Here's to warmer weather and a great week ahead!

Cousin David

Today we had the privilege seeing Lee's cousin, David, in the cast of My Fair Lady. They were in town at the Orpheum Theatre. It was so good to see him again! When he was just starting out in his acting career he lived with us for a little while. We hadn't seen him for years and it was great. He lives in NYC now.

MY FAIR LADY, Lerner & Loewe’s legendary musical, premieres in the United States direct from its 50th Anniversary London production and U.K. national tour. Starring are acclaimed British theatre actors Christopher Cazenove and Lisa O’Hare who earned rave reviews for their dynamic performances as Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. “The cast is superb!” “A more perfect Higgins I have yet to see!” Based on the Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre of Great Britain’s award-winning London sensation, and hailed as “the revival against which all others will be measured” this glorious, new production features one of Broadway’s most beloved scores including “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night’ and “Get Me to the Church on Time” and brings together the original U.K. artistic team with direction by four time Tony® winner Trevor Nunn (Les Misérables), choreography and musical staging by two time Tony® winner Matthew Bourne (Mary Poppins) and production design by Anthony Ward (Gypsy).