Sorry this update is delayed from everything that has been happening. I'm asking you pray for my grandmother in addition to my mother this time.
The last couple of days have been really trying... my grandmother was taken to the hospital on Tuesday night. The couple of days before that she was feeling unwell... vomiting and diarrhea and decreased mobility in her legs. She already has arthritis, but by the end fo the day on Tuesday, she could barely walk and she couldn't sit up properly. We wanted to take her back to the same clinic we took her to on Monday, but we couldn't even get her into the car so we called the ambulance.
They helped us transport her to the hospital and I stayed with her until she got admitted into the ER... they took some blood and urine samples, put in a catheter to drain her bladder and stuff like that Eventually they diagnosed it as low sodium levels so they decided to keep her for monitoring for a couple days. However, she doesn't speak English, so we needed to provide a translator. I had to work the next day, and so did my family... my mom couldn't go to the hospital to visit b/c she just had her chemo treatment for this week (which is good, b/c they had to postpone it last week due to her rash), and my aunt is in Hong Kong. So, my cousin went to check on her during the day...
The scary thing was that when he went to see her in the morning she didn't recognize him... and later on in the afternoon the nurses called, to tell us that she was not eating her food. They called my house and told my mom... we were all really worried. My dad left work early to go check on her and spent some time talking to her and helping her with her food. When I got there around 7pm, she was doing better... I spent a lot of time just talking to her about every day things, about my day, just to get her thinking and processing.
I think she was just disoriented waking up in a strange place, and didn't like the hospital food (who would?) so she didn't want to eat. She has her eyes closed a lot (she says her eyelids are heavy) but she's able to respond to me and seems to remember things. Once in awhile, she seems to forget that she's in the hospital and thinks she's at home. She'll mention that she wants to go take a shower, or tell me to go to sleep since it's getting late... or ask if Karen (my sister) is upstairs.
Her legs are really bothering her (I'm not sure if it's still the arthritis) so they're taking x-rays today to check it out. Over the next couple of days the physiotherapist will be acessing her mobility and determining if she is well enough to come home. There's a chance that they may have to admit her to a nursing home, if we can't take care of her safely at my own home. Please pray for wisdom in making this decision...
More things to pray for... My dad is really tired from taking on this additional emotional burden. He's a bit of a control freak (I think I take after him in this) so having two people in the family going through serious illnesses is hugely stressful. Please pray for him!
My mom is feeling really bad about not being able to go visit/take care of her own mother in the hospital. Her immune system is took weak for her to go visit, so it's really not a good idea, but she feels really awful about putting this additional burden on my dad, and my sister and I as a result. This is particularly bad because she really needs to conserve her energy to stay strong and get better herself. My aunt is hopefully flying in from Hong Kong this weekend to help out, so please pray that the details of that will come together.
I've been doing pretty good... surprisingly! :) God provided many passages that suit the situation, people to support me and my family and an extra measure of strength and peace about this whole thing.. well, at least for now! :) I hoping/praying that things start to look up and that I will be able to keep myself anchored in the Lord.
Work has been a bit trying, with some challenging trials with my team and with some of the projects I've been on. I see that I am being challenged in several things, including humility and giving all glory to God in all things. I can see that my parents are really leaning on me right now, so my strength has to come from God... please continue praying for me, your prayers are powerful and effective!
Thank you in advance for all your love and prayers!
Deb
