June 12, 2009

Grammy seemed a little stronger today...both physically and mentally. After a couple of tough days she seemed to be a little more up today. She did some physical therapy....she walked from the bed to the chair, stood in front of the chair and marched in place for almost a minute, then sat in the chair for an hour. She even sat on the side of her bed and ate her lunch today. Her breathing treatments seem to be helping, as she doesn't cough as much as she has in the past couple of weeks. Dr Reitz came in today to see her. He was here the night they brought her in, and then had been on vacation. He said he didn't expect to find her here when he returned, as he really didn't think she was going to make it. He had left instructions on his patients before he left, and his instructions to the doctor taking over for him were very vague for her as he really didn't think she was going to live. At least one doctor each day has said this to her....which is really tough to hear. The ear, nose and throat doctor also came in today, and when he heard what Dr. Reitz said, he advised us the doctors don't make a practice of saying that to patients, as they don't have time for dramatics.....so she really must have been bad. Grammy responded that she knew she was close to death and prayed really hard to live. She also knows that many other prayers were helping her. She is very determined to work hard with her therapy to get her strength back. She is still very, very weak. She has had a couple of phone conversations, but they really wear her out. We (Tiffany and I) were planning on leaving very early in the morning, but I just don't feel good about leaving yet. She still hasn't received the results from her Echo test on her heart that she had yesterday. They did check and found that she doesn't have any blood clots in her legs....which we are grateful for. She continues to receive very high doses of blood thinner to help dissolve the blood clots in her lungs. We will wait until Saturday to see if they get her Echo results. It is very difficult to think of leaving when she is still so sick and in the hospital. We only have one Grammy and one Mom.....and we really will have a hard time when we go home. Steve and Wendy have been great to put up with us for this long. We are very grateful to them for their hospitality. Mike is home with all of the dogs....he is even tending Tiffany's since her husband got deployed and is now in Columbia. Once again, we are very thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming, as Grammy still has a long way to go.