Update on My Grandmother

Thanks you so much for your thoughts and prayers for my grandmother Dorthea. After I blogged last she had a very rough night and ended up pulling all of her IV lines, EKG lines, and the arterial balloon catheter that was in her heart out. She was bleeding all over the place and from what I was told it took the nurse's a while to get the bleeding stopped and her calmed down. It might have had something to do with the Morphine that she was given. Some patients become agitated as the drug is wearing off. That might have been why she went crazy for a time and decided to help the devil out. But now she has been moved to a private room out of the ICU and her vitals are stable. The doctors are still concerned with her heart function and before she is discharged they will get final readings on what her prognosis is and what types of life style changes are in store for her.

One of those will be to limit how much water and salt she ingest. This is because the heart has to work hard to maintain hemostasis in the body, which boils down to fluid balance. When the body is in good condition this is not a big deal and the heart performs it's task without a hitch. Since the heart attack my grandmother's heart is weak and as of yesterday was only functioning at about 20%. That means that her heart isn't getting the rest of the 80% of the work done to maintain hemostasis. This leaves a large portion of the work up to my grandmother. So less fluid and salt since those two act as antagonist to each other in the body. Less physical activity since that taxes the heart as it must pump more when we are active to get oxygen to all the parts that are moving, and more rest. My grandmother isn't the sit down and do nothing type. She always has gardens to tend to, cats to feed, chickens and ducks at the pond, oh and don't forget beating those snakes out of her pond. This will be a huge change in her life and I just pray that God will give her not only a miracle to sustain her life, but grace to heal and adapt.

She likes her new nurses in this other wing of the hospital, which I am hoping will lower her anxiety level a bit. Man I feel for those nurses and wouldn't want to be in there shoes at all. My grandmother is one tough cookie and I know that she is giving the nurses a run for their money. She will be seeing physical therapy now to help her re-learn how to get about with less energy. It really is going to have to be a new way of life for her.

Lord Jesus, I ask that you would come with healing and touch my grandmother. Restore the broken places of her heart, both spiritually and physically. Come and blow upon her that resurrection power that shot you out of the grave on the third day. Come and breath life into these dry bones of hers once more. Amen.