Life Is Fragile

I just got back from a trip to Arkansas. I am completely exhausted- emotionally and physically! My grandma (Granny T.) had a subclavean heart bypass surgery on Monday in Little Rock. The procedure itself went very well. Afterwards when they finally let family go to the recovery room (one at a time), I got my turn to see Granny. She had been so nervous before the surgery- I thought because she was afraid of dying, but she told me after the surgery that prayer really does work because God answered her prayer to be here to take care of my grandfather (Papa). She wasn't afraid for herself, but afraid of leaving Papa. I was glad she made it on both counts!

After we all let our guards down that night (afterall, she came through the surgery with flying colors!), we returned to the hospital the next morning to a completely different situation. Granny had been very sick during the night with vomiting. Her neck had also swollen to be bigger than her head! My Aunt Beverly went into the room and a few minutes later I joined her. She was awake and had her eyes open, but when I said hi to her, she couldn't respond. Her body was heaving violently trying to breathe. I looked at my Aunt and said right away, "she can't breathe!" Granny was in a shared room and her nurse was tending to the other patient in the room, so my Aunt leaned past the partition and told the nurse she needed to get a pulse-ox on Granny right away (my aunt is a nurse). She said she was a little busy (fluffing pillows!), so she got another nurse to do it. They took the reading and it was 52%!!! For those of you who don't know- it should be 100%. If it gets down to 92% you are put on oxygen (and Granny WAS on oxygen already). Then her regular nurse immediately called for the Rapid Response Team. They were there quickly, along with a pulmonologist, and within minutes, they had to intubate her (put a breathing tube down her throat). They said she had an airway obstruction. Turns out they think it was caused from the severe swelling of her neck constricting her windpipe. Anway, she was rushed to the ICU, where she remains now.

The good news is they were able to extubate her today and she is breathing on her own with some assistance from a C-Pack. God answered a lot of prayers this week for my family. I keep sending them up that she'll make a complete recovery. God is good.