Recent happenings

I know I don't get around here often, but a lot has been happening the past few weeks. The wife entered the hospital on July 1 for back surgery....fusing of two vertebrae, cleaning out of arthritis and scar tissue.... we've actually been through these before, and we thought four days in the hospital and she would be home....sounds simple enough, but it did not work out that way. A few hours after the four-hour procedure it was discovered she had no feeling from the waist down. The surgeon made the call that it was a blood clot and he was going back in. That's right...two back surgeries in a 12-hour period. I knew this would not be good, considering my wife's pre-existing health problems. Well, the surgeon was correct...it was a blood clot, and he cleaned it out. Whew! We dodged a bullet....but the "fun" wasn't over yet. What might be expected in such situations occurred next. They were unable to maintain her oxygen level without placing her on a respirator which included her being sedated. And in that state she remained for almost two weeks. During that time acute, double pneumonia set in and those were dark days indeed. Looking back now I feel I can say it out loud....we almost lost her. I guess I will never know just how close. Without giving a blow-by-blow account and a lot of boring details, she did pull through and is now back home. She is getting around in a wheel chair and "normal" sensation is SLOWLY returning to her legs and feet. The doc says it could take 6 months to a year before things return to "normal" for her, but I have heard no promises of COMPLETE recovery. I am just grateful to God that she is alive at all. This experience has been eye-opening for all of us and I hope she can take something from this and learn from it. God has kept her on this earth for a reason...it was not her time.