April 2015 Journal Pages

April has been a trying month for family.  Easter day my mother ended up in the hospital and here soon going on four weeks, she's still there.  For 10 days Mom was in ICU and then moved to CCU a few days before being transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for the remaining care until she can return home. 

I just returned to Florida after traveling and staying in WV where Mom now lives with my brother and his family ..... just in time for my husband and two sons to travel to WV to finalize our move we started last year.  The guys plan to stop and visit Mom and spend a little time with my brother and his family before driving another three hours to our house to pack the rest of the stuff up.  I had to come back home to take care of our animals but may return to WV after everything is settled with this final trip completing our move.

With everything that has been going on, I still managed some sketching.  In fact it was my savings' grace while sitting there when Mom was unresponsive..........something to help occupy my mind and a recording of this major disheartening event taking place.

These first couple of sketches were done at the beginning of April before I had to leave.

These pages were worked while Mom was in ICU at Thomas Memorial Hospital in Charleston, WV  I would start the pages while sitting there and finish after returning to my brother's house.  Although I did start the one in the cafeteria and then finished it sitting in the car between visiting hours.  This was a major stepping stone for me sketching out away from the comfort and solitude of my home..........even in front of people (in the cafeteria).

The third Saturday in April was Cathy Johnson's virtual sketchcrawl.  I chose to sketch what I saw from the parking garage at the hospital with the intent of participating in this project with other people in Cathy's group only I never got around to posting it.

During the week after Mom was transferred to Saint Francis Hospital / Select Specialty Medical facility, I worked these few pages.

 

Mom continues to improve but not totally out of danger.  Sepsis landed her in the hospital unresponsive early Easter day.  What she has suffered is Renal failure, respiratory failure, congestive heart failure, Mercer infection in lung (pneumonia later put in her chart), and Sepsis.  One kidney totally shot and will eventually have to be removed.  The other Kidney working at less than 40%.  The one Kidney is suspected to have caused the infection in her system but it could have been her Gallbladder.........the Doctors are really not sure just what caused the Sepsis. 

Gallbladder, bile duct, and Kidney were all 10 to 15 sizes larger than normal requiring stints placed in both Kidney and the duct between Gallbladder and Pancreas area to remove blockages.  Infection is under control or taken care of but she remains extremely weak. 

After being on a ventilator for almost two weeks, she struggles to talk - make sound, and cannot consume food or liquid as the vocal cords/muscle/flap (what ever in that area) that closes off the airway to lungs is not functioning.  Everything is going straight into her lungs. Feeding tube that was going through her nose has now been replaced with a PEG going through her abdomen into stomach.  She's starting to make some sound when she attempts to talk which is a good sign but still has a ways to go.

So we wait hoping and praying she will continue improving so she can eat on her own and eventually be able to get up and move around once her strength returns.  And then we have the issue of her Kidney to face...........leave it or remove it once she's strong enough only to be knocked back for who knows how long.

She's a fighter though and has definitely proven that this past almost four weeks!!!