Shirley wants her Hershey's Kisses!

Today's medical update...Mom is still having some problems with fluid and a bit of wheezing . Yesterday they doubled her lasix for fluid and continue her heparin to control clotting. Her surgical sites are healing well and except for terrific bruising she is looking and feeling pretty good. They have her up and making little strolls in the hall (amazing) and on a breathing regimen hourly to help her take deeper breaths. Her external pace maker is rarely kicking in now, so we hope that those wires can come out soon. Her leg is healing well from the surgical site where they took the vein for her bypass. They did an extra chest xray and ultrasound to make sure heart was performing well and her lungs were behaving. We are determined that she will not get pneumonia and are doing everything that we can to prevent that! It was humorous when the cardiologist said that she should be walking at least four times a day and she asked, a bit tongue in cheek, "Does that include the 200 trips to the restroom since you doubled my lasix?" She is back! ~

It's the little things that make the abnormal seem normal again.Yesterday, Dad and I 'exchanged shifts' and I was able to stay in Mom's private room with her from lunch until this morning. Last night, she asked the nurse if she could have her "4 Hershey's Kisses". Now, four small candies don't seem like such a big deal but it is part of her evening ritual. She has a bit of a chocolate sweet tooth but being diet concious, limits herself to four kisses which equal 100 calories. They checked her blood sugar which was within limits, and she was able to have her chocolate. These 'kisses' represented two things to me.. first, her sugar levels are back to normal and more importantly she was back to her nightly routine. Normal. According to Miriam dictionary; "normal: according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle". Mom is normal. For those of you that are personally or have loved ones facing crisis of any kind this is such a profound word. Today back at the hotel, I took care of over a week's worth of laundry. Normal. Tonight Dad is staying with Mom, just the two of them. Normal. Jim and I are having a "date", normal.

Here is hoping that you also have a normal and blessed day.

Cheryl