Visiting My Mom at the Hospital

The week before Thanksgiving, my mother had her second knee replacement surgery. The first one had been successful so we weren't expecting any problems with this one. A few days after she got home from the surgery, the visiting nurse noticed that Mom's heartbeat was too high, so mom was immediately sent back to the hospital. They were able to adjust/add some medications so Mom was able to go back home after a while.

We visited my parents right after Christmas. Mom wasn't feeling great while we were there. She was experiencing a lot of nausea from the medicines and not eating much as a result. She was also more tired than usual. We did get to spend some quality time with her. Here is a picture of Hannah with Grandma Charlotte during that visit.

I won't pretend to know all of the medical terms and such. At some time, mom was diagnosed with A-Fib. As I understand it, that's basically just a term for the irregular heart beat. They tried a Cardioversion on her which seemed to help for about a week. They took her off of the medicine that was causing the nausea. There was at least one day that mom was feeling almost normal. One February 9th she went back to the Heart Center and has been there ever since. She had 1 or 2 more Cardioversions which didn't work.

My sister decided to fly to Indy  to spend some time with Mom. While Bethany was there, Mom had a couple of scary episodes where she was completely unresponsive. Plus, they thought that Mom might have a Staph infection. Not only did Mom have Staph, but she had Staph Aureus. Then we found out that not only did she have Staph Aureus, but it was MRSA which is even worse. Bethany told me that I might want to consider going up to Indy.

 I drove up on Monday, Feb. 18th. I made good time and arrived in 8.5 hours. I only spent an hour or so at the hospital at that time. By this time, Mom was not very lucid.

I spent most of the day on Tuesday at the hospital. We received lots of news and most of it was not good. We saw the cardiologist, neurologist, the infectious disease doctor and cardiac surgeon. We learned that Mom had at least 2 small strokes sometime prior to Saturday. Her heart valves had been heavily damaged by the MRSA vegetation. She's going to need heart surgery, but they want to get the infection cleared up as much as possible first. Bethany was very good at writing detailed updates on Face Book.

When we got home on Tuesday, I seriously thought we were going to lose Mom within the next day or two. But on Wednesday & Thursday she showed improvement. She was able to communicate somewhat and she was using humor and sarcasm. She still has a long way to go, but I am feeling a little optimistic now.

Here's a picture of Daddy & Bethany. We had to wear these yellow paper gowns and purple gloves while in Mom's room.

Bethany & me

We spent a lot of time playing games on our electronic devices. I didn't take any close pictures of Mom out of consideration to her. (She didn't look too great!) But here's a picture of Bethany with Mom in the background.

I left on Thursday. A winter ice storm was approaching Indy and I didn't want to get stuck there. I will probably go back in a few weeks to give Daddy a break. Since Mom's communication abilities are not very good, we tried to have someone there all day as an advocate for her. Plus, there were always doctors coming in and we didn't want to miss anything.

Thank you for all the prayers, good thoughts, etc. This 45 year old is not ready to lose her Mommy!

What am I Reading? continued

Here are the non-holiday themed books that I have read lately.


The Dark Life was one of Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl titles. I LOVED it! It is about a dystopian society where some people live under the sea. I just read that Robert Zemekis is in the works to direct the movie version. Very cool!!!

Hero by Mike Lupica was another Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl title. It is a spy novel for kids.

Holiday Buzz is the lates of the Coffehouse Mystery series. I love all the references made about coffee in these books!

TV Bride is a reality tv show like The Bachelor. I am always fascinated by the books with the reality tv themes. One of the contestants on the show has mob ties, so that has an effect on who gets a rose each night.

Ninth Ward was also a Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl book. This one was about a young girl who surives Hurrican Katrina in New Orleans.

I don't know how I missed that there were new High Heels titles! I was browsing on Amazon and found this new novella and two other High Heels books that I hadn't read. This takes place in Hawaii on their honeymoon and of course, there's a murder while they are there.

I really enjoyed Highland Fling by Emily Harvale. Of course, I am a fan of all things Scottish. If it's not Scottish, it's Crap! (okay, pardon me for my reference to an old SNL sketch). It's about a woman who has been separated from her husband for two years and runs a Bed & Breakfast in Scotland. She has a group of men visiting for a Bachelors weekend.

Then Lizzie Marshall's Wedding is the sequel to Highland Fling, though it could stand alone. Also very enjoyable.

The movie Warm Bodies comes out this weekend. Hannah has expressed interest in seeing it. I decided to read it so I could decide whether or not to take Hannah to see the movie. I really enjoyed it. It's told primarily through the Zombie's perspective. I can't wait to see the movie now!

I am currently reading Letter from Home by Carolyn Hart. It's the latest book for Book Club. We're meeting on Sunday to discuss it and as always, I wait until the last moment!

Happy Reading!

What am I Reading?

During the month of December, I read several Christmas themed books. Most of them were fluffy romance pieces, but fun nonetheless.


Santa Wore Combat Boots by Barbara Witek was a fun, fast read. I will admit, I liked the cover quite a bit!

Bah, Humbug was a cute holiday novella about a "Martha Stewart" type single mother who moves next door to her children's favorite author.

Christmas in Wine Country was entertaining. A lot of the storyline seemed to be retelling what had happened earlier. For example, the heroine drinks a little too much at the work party and then later you find out what happened. I'm not sure I liked that. I would rather hear what happened at the event.

A romantic novella about a single woman who has a hard time getting into the holiday spirit. 

No Exchanges, No Returns was about a single woman who offers to become a surrogate mother for her twin sister. After the woman becomes pregnant with her brother in law's baby, her twin decides to divorce her husband and give up all claims to the unborn baby.  To make things more interesting, the woman has had a crush on her brother in law since day one. In fact, she met him before she introduced him to her twin sister. Another nice cover, don't you think???

Christmas without Holly is another holiday novella. It is about a woman named Holly who spends the few days before Christmas at a health spa before joining her boyfriend for Christmas. There she meets a few women who cause her to rethink her relationship.

You're My Secret Santa, Baby was about co-workers participating in a Secret Santa at work. It was one of my favorite of the holiday reads.It was a cute story.

Happy Reading!