Nightmare

So I thought that all of the deaths I (we) had suffered this past year had been horrible, with some of them being somewhat expected and some of them being sudden. With the ages ranging from a young girl of 8 years old to the ripe old age of 89 years old, these losses all rocked our world on one level or another. But not one of them ROCKED me like I was ROCKED on Monday, January 5, 2009.

My mom went in for a routine heart catheteration. Based on the results she may have needed a ballooning procedure or a stint. Unfortunately during the heart cath procedure, she SUFFERED A STROKE!! So a quick 1/2 hr procedure turned into HOURS of waiting for me. After hearing NOTHING for hours, I texted my dad, then called him. He then told me the news. I immediately left my school, called Jay, drove to his school to pick him up (so he could drive me - thank goodness it is close, because I was in NO state to drive!) We drove straight to the hospital and by the time we got there, mom had been stabilized in the CICU. She was sedated, on a ventilator and they had completed all surgeries. They were able to go in and 'clean up' as much as they could in the brain, they were hoping to treat what was left with meds. As far as assessing damage - it was in the left side of her brain, therefore the right side of her body is affected. As well as speech and understanding.

That day, Monday was horrible, horrific, tragic, numbing, there really aren't words...she was trapped within herself. I knew she was in there, I knew she could hear us, but she couldn't respond, talk, could barely squeeze with her GOOD hand. All I could do was tell her it would be okay, that we would get through this...and when I kissed her goodbye / goodnight and told her I'd be back in the morning she nodded her head, ever so slightly. HOPE!