Lux et umbra vicissum…

She went in after a routine biopsy gone awry.  They were biopsying a lump on her breast – an outpatient procedure, normally – and somehow they nicked an artery.  They didn’t know she was bleeding at first, but her blood pressure dropped, she started struggling to breathe, then she went into shock and her heart stopped.  A nurse anesthetist performed CPR on her for 45 minutes while others worked frantically on other areas to get the bleeding stopped.  She was bleeding into her lungs.  They pumped 3 pints of blood from her lungs and she was still bleeding.  They reopened her, found the “bleeder” and tied it off, but her lung collapsed.  She may have had a stroke, but they’re not sure.  She now has a blood clot in her leg and possible clots in her lungs, and she has pneumonia.  She’s been on a ventilator and has been kept sedated for the most part so she doesn’t fight the equipment that’s keeping her alive.  When she’s allowed to wake up a little bit she’s been able to nod and shake her head in response to questions, but they don’t let her get that awake very often at this point.

I’m planning on traveling to visit my parents this weekend to visit Grandma in the hospital.  We’ll be up there for the week of July 4th anyway, but things are just so complicated right now…. if she didn’t make it until our planned visit I’d feel terrible.  She’s only a few hours away.  I’ll drive up Friday night and stay for Saturday.   I’m planning on taking my jewelry things with me so I can work on them a bit when I’m not actively visiting with Grandma.

Please pray for peace and comfort for Grandma Louise and for my family.  She was in quite good health before this so it’s been a complete shock.  She’s also the youngest of all of my grandparents.