My mom . . . an update

Thank you so much to all who have prayed for my mother and written and asked how she is doing. I think we have finally turned the corner, and can confidently say she is getting better. Although the doctors like to remind us that there are still a lot of things that can go wrong, I prefer to only think positively.

The past few days have been very traumatic. Out of respect for my mother's privacy, I won't go into all the details, but when I arrived in Utah I was not prepared for how bad it was. She was sepsis (most of her organs infected and inflamed) and was shutting down. She was in kidney failure, not breathing on her own, unable to speak and in agonizing pain. On Wednesday, following some tests, it was determined she needed emergency surgery that she only had a 50% chance of surviving. The next three hours were some of the most difficult emotionally of my life. My family had all gathered at the hospital and we were placed in a separate "family room", probably so we would be alone if they brought us bad news. I spent most of my time pacing the hall.

We also called and emailed everyone we knew and asked them to pray for her. It was at this time my husband had an interesting experience that hopefully he won't mind if I share. As he began to pray he said he could literally feel the power of the many prayers being offered and knew they were being heard. I felt so comforted by that and appreciated all those who joined their prayers with ours.

We felt so blessed when the surgeon told us she had survived and was stable. The following day, however, we were hit with more bad news. They felt she was also suffering from metabolic encephalopathy, which is basically brain damage caused by the lack of nutrition from her kidney failure, that may or may not reverse.

However, today, only three days later, her kidneys are functioning normally, her breathing is almost back to normal, and she is slowly beginning to communicate with us. On Friday we were encouraged when she blinked her eyes in response to a question, and then on Saturday she started moving her head.

Progress is slow, but we are optimistic. And today is the first day we didn't get any bad news when we arrived at the hospital. In fact, the doctor told us things are going as well as he could have hoped. Improvement is going to be slow, but it is happening and there really isn't any reason we can currently see, that she can't be completely healed.

Thanks again to everyone for your prayers, love and concern. It means so much to me. I thought I was holding it all together well, but today at church one of my mother's neighbors told me there wasn't a moment of the day when she wasn't praying for my mother. When she told me that I broke down and cried. I know that your prayers are not only helping my mother heal, but have been sustaining me as well and I am so grateful for it.