Hospital Week with Mom

One week ago, Mom was transported by ambulance from her doctor's office to ER at St. Anthony Hospital/Shawnee.  Upon arrival it was determined that she needed a pacemaker.  No problem!  She went through the surgery successfully.  It was the aftermath that kept us at the hospital.  Due to extremely low oxygen and sugar levels we didn't know if she was going to live through the day.  When she finally stabilized, a new problem developed.  She has neuropathy in her feet and ankles.  She can't stand up!  As a result, she has been transferred to a nursing home for rehabilitation.  That was a blow because I had always planned to take care of her if needed. 

Galen and Sondra drove to Oklahoma from California for the PowWow and planned to drive on to the state of Maine.  However, they have been at the hospital everyday with me and Noel.  Noel's wife, Janice drove from Springfield and stayed the weekend.  She was a tremendous help to me when Mom when into insulin shock.  We put orange juice and graham crackers down her while the nurse did his thing.  I kept rubbing her shoulder and shouting at her to wake up.  Her sugar level had dropped all the way to 30.  All of this was due to her sleeping off drugs given the day before and not eating.

Mom has a beautiful private room, but she is not use to letting people do for her.  We all get mad at her for trying to do things she is not physically able to do - such as moving from the bed to her wheelchair.  The chance of falling is high since she has so much pain in her feet. 

Bill taught my Bible Study Class on Sunday while I stayed at the hospital.  There were 16 in the class.  He told me the theme of the lesson was learning to rely on the Spirit of God to give us power in areas where we are weak.  Identifying those weaknesses and turning to God when faced with them is a discipline that we don't always want.  Also, on Sunday Galen baptized his granddaughter, Kylee in their swimming pool.  She had been waiting for Pappa G to come since Christmas.

God was having a discussion with an atheist.  The atheist said, "I can make a man the same as you can."  God replied, "Go ahead!  Show me how you do it?   The atheist knelt down and picked up some dirt.  God said, "Sorry, the dirt is mine!  Make your own dirt!"  We learned in the hospital to rely on God.  Man can be so smart and yet so stupid at times.  The doctors and nurses were wonderful, but didn't always have the answers.  I'm so impressed with the Christian medical workers who have enough humility to say when they have to depend on God for the outcome of any procedure.