#letsgomimijo

-- An Update --

These past 20 days have been a roller coaster. We have been through our fair share of ups and downs with my mom's recovery. The good days have been really good -- uplifting, happy, full of laughter; the bad days have been deflating -- with a lot of worry and tears. But the bad days could have also been worse. Much, much worse. And for that we are grateful.

Since her surgery on September 4, my mom has had to undergo several angiogram procedures to prevent her brain from having "vasospasms." The risk period for this is anywhere from three to 21 days after the initial bleed/rupture of the aneurysm. These vasospasms can lead to brain defects and strokes, so they are not something to be taken lightly. The surgeon told us initially that the vasospasms are "step 2" in getting through recovery, with making it through the surgery being step 1. Today marks day 20 of mommy's recovery, and she hasn't had to have an angiogram procedure since last Wednesday! 

This past week has been a good one; and the last two days have been exceptionally good. The pressures in her brain have been trending down, her CT scans have been clear, and the doctors are hoping to remove her "brain drain" tomorrow morning and move her out of the ICU and into a step-down room, which is the last step before she is able to come HOME! She has already had her catheter removed and she's no longer hooked up to IVs for medicine or fluids. We are hoping that once she is in her new room, the visiting hours will be less strict, and we might even be able to take her off the fourth floor to see Marleigh, who is missing her Mimi so much it breaks my heart! 

My mom has been so extremely strong, patient, and brave throughout this whole process. We are all so proud of her, and so grateful that she is defying the odds more and more each day! We have been very blessed with her recovery thus far, and there isn't a moment of the day that I don't say a prayer of thanks.

It hasn't been without some tears (both happy and sad), but we have been leaning on each other for strength, relying on each other for a shoulder to cry on, and I can't imagine having a better family to get through it all together. Being able to see my mom for 20 minutes at a time hasn't been easy on any of us. There has been a major void in my life the past three weeks without constant texts, emails, and phone calls from her. But there is a bright beacon of light at the end of this tunnel, and we are so close to reaching it and returning to life as normal! I can't even explain how thankful I am to be able to say those words. To have her still here with us! 

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On my way into work the past couple weeks, I have been listening to Family Life on the radio. A short sermon came on the other day, on one of the not-so-good days, that really resonated with me. The man speaking explained how having a strong core faith allows you to be like the eye of a storm: stable and calm while life's circumstances ("hurricanes") are swirling around you.

Life sure has been swirling this month, and at times it has felt like the storm was raging harder than we could handle, but I have been striving for that calm and relying on the Truth that "With God, all things are possible." 

I truly believe we are witnessing a miracle. As Mimi would put it, "We are truly blessed!"

 #letsgomimijo 

Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes. We appreciate every single one of them, and we have seen the many prayers in action! God is good.