See Ya Later, Ochsner!

I don’t have much to update on except for the fact that Mom will be leaving Ochsner Hospital tomorrow. Yes, you read that right. My Mom, who wasn’t suppose to survive, is about to be discharged from the hospital.

Tears overwhelm me when I look back at the last 16+ weeks and relive what we went through. Pure hell is the best way I can describe it. I think I can speak for my whole family when I say that we are forever changed. I’m not the same Addie that I was in June. In some ways I’m stronger, but in others I feel weak and worn. PTSD is real and the trauma our family experienced, is something that I pray to God we can one day get over.

When I think about the Lord and what He did for us, all I can do is pray. Pray that the miracles and mercy He showed my Mom and family don’t go unseen. I hope everyone who reads this sees and believes what happened. I hope they fully understand that by no earthly means should Mom be alive today. I hope that every MD, NP, nurse, SLP, PT, Ot and every other hospital personnel recognizes what happened. I hope their hearts are opened and that the next time they are staring at another awful situation they will know that it’s not as hopeless as it seems. I pray that if they don’t know the Lord, that they will soon come to know him. I pray that they all now know that there is more to recovery than a medical opinion. There is hope, there is supernatural healing, there is grace and there is mercy and it all comes from Jesus. He is capable, He is able and He is still turning life’s around. He’s healing the deathly ill and He’s saving the lost. He’s pulling people out of the darkest pit and breathing life into their hearts. He’s making them new both physically and spiritually. I hope that that hospital knows that even if they feel as hopeless and lifeless as my Mom was in July, that He can make them new too. I hope they look at what our family’s faith did and crave what we have. I pray to God that if they didn’t know Jesus or what He has to offer, that they do now.

On July 28th, I was on my hands and knees watching the rain fall outside and sobbing on the phone to my husband telling him my Mom was dying. Tomorrow, October 21st, my Mom is alive and she’s leaving the hospital. But God. His plans were different and His love for us was greater. “By His stripes she was healed..” It’s an overwhelming thing to imagine a love so great that He would sacrifice His son so that my Mom could live. Much of what we have experienced the last 4 months has been overwhelming. It’s almost hard to imagine that Mom is leaving Ochsner and heading down the street to get a little rehab. Let’s all remember that we were told over and over that “It’s a stretch to think that she will make it LTAC much less home.” Well, LTAC won’t even take her because she’s too well and rehab almost didn’t either. Again, But God. He knows her needs and he’s meeting them. Mom is a little discouraged that she’s, again, heading to rehab. She’s SO ready to be home. Let’s be honest, we are all more than ready for her to be officially home. It was kind of a back and forth battle deciding whether she was to go back to rehab or come straight home, but we all decided that rehab was best even though it’s more time away from home. Mom isn’t strong enough yet to get herself from the bed to chair and we need her to get that quality of life back. It’s not fair to let her live her life depending on a lift to get her to and from the bed and chair. That limits her awfully. We want her to be able to go and do what she wants. In order to do that, she’s got to get stronger. Please continue to pray for strength for Mom both mentally and physically. Please ask the Lord to give her body and mind the endurance needed to be successful at rehab.

I want to take a minute to thank you all for your constant prayers and support. You’ve never once forgotten about us and your prayers literally kept us afloat. I’m so thankful and I wish I could personally contact each one of you and express my gratitude. You’ve loved us through some pretty hard times and I don’t know if you realize how much that means to us. Our family is blessed. We are humbled by your love and want you to know how much we love you as well. Thank you so much. Please continue to pray for us. Even though this current hospital stay is over, Mom’s battle with heart failure isn’t. There will be more hard days ahead but I’m standing and believing that those days will be few and far between. I’m believing that Mom is going to continue to get stronger and will be back learning to walk on her prosthetic before the year is over. I’m believing that the year 2021 is going to be Mom’s year. It will be full of blessings and hope for Mom. 2020 has been hard on everyone. I think a new year of blessings and Hope is due for us all. Will you join us in declaring this?

Miracles

Ryan and I brought Mom to-go Ruth’s Chris! She’s just a little spoiled. 

 

Last night I was cooking dinner for a sweet friend of mine who just had a baby. As I was cooking I thought to myself, “Chicken Pot pie is one of Mom’s favorites”... then it hit me. Tears filled my eyes and I smiled and thought- For one of the first time in 10 weeks I’m able to cook a meal and send a plate to the hospital for Mom. I’m so thankful. We are so thankful. We are overwhelmed and honestly just in awe. You see, ever since I was a young child I was read stories from the Bible of miracles the Lord did and was able to perform. I was taught that no request is impossible for the Lord, but how often do we get to witness an unbelievable, overwhelming miracle? Mom’s ability to eat is nothing short of that. The doctors and therapist weren’t wrong. They were right in saying that what they saw then, was a patient that had lost her ability to swallow. They were right to say that from what they saw on her swallow study it would take months and months of intense therapy for her to even be able to enjoy a scoop of ice cream. Medically they weren’t wrong, but spiritually the Lord had other plans. Just like He raised the dead to life, turned water to wine, gave life to dry bones... He gave Mom the ability to swallow. He woke up her weak muscles and he breathed LIFE into them. He showed out, and all I can do is smile and praise the Lord yet again. 

Medically, Mom is doing extremely well. There is nothing that is causing her current problems and she’s ready to leave the hospital. Today we had a short phone conversation with some of her team and the decision was made to send her to rehab this week. The Rehab team came by and agreed that she was ready and didn’t need time at LTAC. She’s getting stronger daily and I believe is going to come home from rehab stronger than she was before this hospital stay. Will you all do me a favor and please pray specifically for Mom to have peace? She’s so tired y’all. She’s so ready to be home with us. She’s exhausted of being alone. She wants and needs to be home with her family, but she needs therapy more. She and our family made the hard decision to send her to rehab and not just take her home. You see, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from all this is that life and time with your loved ones is so valuable. Life is short and we don’t know what tomorrow or next week holds. All we know, is that we want Mom to have the best quality of life when she’s home. We want her to be able to do what she wants to do, and she has to be stronger in order to have that life. Please pray that we made the right decision. Please ask the Lord to give us all confirmation that we did the right thing. Please continue to ask the Lord for supernatural physical and mental strength for Mom. Rehab isn’t going to be easy, but I know He’s preparing her today for what she needs tomorrow. 

Throughout Mom’s LVAD journey we have been told so many things. She will never be extubated, we have to amputate both legs, we are going to have to amputate her arm, she will never eat a full meal again, she won’t make it through the night... I could go on all day. One thing that’s for sure, is no one really knows what Mom’s future looks like. Will she have another episode of infections? Will it never happen again? Will she live perfectly with the LVAD for the next 10 years? Or will we be in this same spot next year? Will we ever be given a transplant? Or will that day never come? The answer is simply.. we don’t know. No doctor knows and anyone pretending they do needs to take some time re-reading her chart. Mom’s future is very unpredictable, but I’m going to leave you with this story. A few weeks ago, I had a beautiful dream that I was giving birth to my third child. It was a little girl and as I started to push, I looked to my right and my precious Mom was STANDING on a prosthetic over my shoulder with NO LVAD. When I woke up, I felt at peace and I knew then that Mom’s story wasn’t over. I believe that the LVAD will be gone one day and one day Dr. Bansal is going to give her a transplant. That miracle will happen. Nothing is impossible. The Lord isn’t finished and Mom’s victory is coming. Will you join me in declaring this victory?