"Good Morning Sunshine"

Have you ever had that surreal feeling like you have missed a day; or turned into Rip Van Winkle and woke up several days later? That is how we felt today when we went to the hospital.When we arrived, Mom is sitting up in bed, had already had a cup of coffee and said."well hello, how are you today"? There just aren't words available to describe the difference from last night to this morning. Mom's largest concern was that I had a brush so that her hair would look good.. that's my mama! Though she was still on the external pacemaker full time, all of her other vital signs and blood work was just great. They told us that she would definitely stay another night in ICU to see how she progressed. If her heart rate couldn't stabilize then she would have surgery for a pacemaker tomorrow instead of moving to a room. It isn't as tough a surgery as she already has the wires in place; they would just need to make a 'pocket' for the pacemaker. Sure... no big deal. Sorry, but it sounded like something we really didn't want to have to do right after an open heart procedure. She had a Popsicle while I was there around lunch and it helped soothe her throat a bit. Jim and I went downstairs for lunch around 2:00 and when we got back- NO pacemaker! Another big step- they had weaned her down and her heart kept its pace and her blood pressure remained stable. Hallelujah! She is doing so well and looks so good. It is almost impossible to believe that it has only been 36 hours since she had her surgery. I learned something interesting today that was comforting. Did you know that the heart itself has no pain sensory nerve endings? Of course, her chest feels like, as she politely described, as though she had been "kicked by a mule" and she has other discomforts but her pain is not from her heart. If you are ever sharing heart surgery with a loved one be sure and share that. It makes it not so scary in my opinion. We are staying at the hotel again tonight and resting up in hopes of her moving to a step down room tomorrow. Rick flew back to Memphis tonight, Dad has called it a day and has gone to bed, Jim is in a comfy chair eating chocolate chip cookies and having a glass of milk and Mom is watching American Idol in her bed in ICU. I can hardly wait to call the nurse when I sign off and see what has happened in the last 2 hours. Who knows, she may be up tap dancing!
Cheryl