Mom Updates

If you're not family and/or don't live here locally, you probably don't know what's been going on with my mom's health. To get you up to speed, here's the short story: Mom had a pacemaker placed in late November due to a slow heartbeat. In the process of working it up, we learned that she has severe atrial valve stenosis. This means that the valve in her heart that controls the exit of blood from the heart to the rest of the body is scarred and quite narrowed. Her heart has to pump harder to get her blood through that barrier and it's severe enough that it warrants surgery.

So we've spent the last month finding out about the options and getting more checks and such. Valve replacement surgery is full on open heart surgery, so this is a big deal. She's had an angiogram as well that showed she has two areas that they will do bypass on while she's in there. So, to cut to the chase, Mom is scheduled for her open heart surgery on Monday - this Monday! It's been a busy week.

good things - she's pretty healthy and strong, our hospital is nationally recognized for cardiac surgery, we requested and got a great surgeon (even our cardiologist said he would pick this surgeon)
risks - she's got diabetes and she's 80. This is not going to be easy to recover from, but my mom is not one to take things lying down. She is very independent and has good drive to stay that way.

I'll be working most of my usual schedule this coming week while she's in the hospital, then I'll be taking 2-3 weeks of family leave to help her at home. Her best friends from Yakima have already arrived and plan to stay until she's home and settled in. We'd appreciate your prayers in the next several days.