Wow!
I can't believe it's been one month since I've last written an update about Sally. Where has the time gone? It has really gone by so quickly with summer now here!
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July... Sally and Jeanine came over to our house to eat, hang out, and of course light those fireworks! We had a fun time.
Well, Sally is still doing good. She is still although patiently waiting for her permanent wheelchair. It hopefully shouldn't be much longer!
I took her to the Dr. yesterday for her checkup. We addressed some concerns that Sally is dealing with. She has had some redness and swelling in her left arm, it appeared for a few days, went away, then came back again. It's the same arm that when she was in the hospital, they couldn't use any longer for drawing blood...she had developed some blood clots from all the pokes of needles and IV's. This also has subsided, we are keeping a close eye on it, but the Dr. said it looked fine.
Also, Sally is experiencing a substantial amount of 'hair loss'. Her hair is thinning out so much, well let's just say...Sally freaked out a little!
As we have read on the internet and also confirmed with the Dr. yesterday.....this is 'normal' after a trauma to the body and major surgery. Which Sally has experienced both!
So far it is still thinning...but this also should subside soon. Please keep her in your prayers over these matters.
After Sally's Dr. appointment, we were making our way back to my car. She was noticing the parking lot of where she was discharged from the hospital. I asked her if she wanted me to show her around a little... of where she was inside the hospital, and to say hi to everyone on the Rehabilitation floor. She said yes...so off we went!!
Sally, Jeanine and I have had many talks about when she was in the hospital, just how critical she was and how this hospital took such amazing good care of her. We've described to her what it was like when she in ICU. She's had a real curiosity of where she was.....
I showed her where and what parts of the hospital she had been in. Then I took her up to ICU where she was. When I saw that waiting room where we and so many more people had congregated, it was so surreal to be there again....we tried peeking into the doors small window that led into ICU.. (only authorized personnel were allowed back in there of course).
Then, this lady that was going inside asked us, 'do you want to go in?', 'are you authorized to go in?'...she looked like a hospital worker...we were surprised! I said, 'well, my sister was in here about 4 months ago....maybe we could just say hello to the nurses that took such great care of her and to show her where she was if that's o.k.?'
She said, 'than that sounds like your authorized to me!' So,....she let us in and, Wow......... whew!!! What a flood of memories that just hit me like a ton of bricks. I pointed to the room that Sally was in....she looked, we stopped...and there lay another woman...in this exact same room and spot...hooked up to what appeared to be all the exact same machinery, respirator, IV's.....my eyes filled with tears.
I held back from crying...Sally looked on in astonishment.....she was amazed...and couldn't believe that this is how she once was....she now had a visual picture of everything we had shared with her.
Sally was glad she got to see, and was better able to place that missing picture of where she was...and to now see how truly far she has come!!
All I could do was grab on so tight to the back of her wheelchair and NOT LET GO...just knowing I had my sister with me, and that I could just keep pushing her on,......right on 'OUT OF THERE'!!
I was thanking and praising God for the miracle He did....Sally was too!
On a more upbeat visit...Sally had a flood of hello's from the staff in the Rehab floor. Everyone was so happy to see her again, her nurses, Dr. and physical therapist's.
All in all it was a great day :)
Sincerely,
Yolanda
PS.
We are hoping to get Sally set up with a computer in her home pretty soon....once this happens she will be better able to communicate with everyone again!
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