Many of you might be able to recall the short term mission trip that Grace and I took last year to Salt Lake City with our church youth group. Grace was able to write a first part blog post to recount much of what we experienced, then a second part, and a third and fourth. Well…here’s part five!
This one, like the other ones, recounts time spent in Salt Lake City. But this one, unlike the other ones, recounts a very unplanned and unexpected trip that was made to this very same city.
My parents (Beth and Jim) spend each summer on a working vacation in the Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho areas. Needless to say, they aren’t really close to home. So when my mother’s health issue arose, they didn’t have the convenience of even being in the same state as their home (California). My mom underwent a nonaneurysmal sub-arachnoid hemorrhage. The ICU staff endearingly called it “the lightning bolt”–due to its sudden and intense onset. She was quite literally fine one moment, running an errand, and the very next moment was undergoing, what I would unhesitatingly say, one of the worst things she has had to experience. A few hours later, after the health practitioners determined she had a bleeding in the brain, she was off on a small fixed wing plane to Salt Lake City where the best neurosurgery unit in that part of the country is. As a side note, my mom hates small fixed-winged planes. One of her only requests for Grace and I was that when we finally choose a place to serve overseas that it wouldn’t only accessible via tiny airplane. Apparently, she had some bad experience with her cousin when he first got his private pilot license when they were young.
Overall, the hemorrhage was a rather severe situation, if you couldn’t tell. But by my demeanor in writing, I hope you’re able to determine that this does have a good ending.
From the time I received the initial news from my oldest brother, Tyler, until I was able to arrive in Salt Lake City, was about 4 hours. Modern transportation is awesome for such a time as this. Ironically enough, my brother and I were actually able to make it to the hospital before our parents did. God was good and gracious to allow us to respond that quickly and have the funds to do so–I am thankful. The following morning my aunt and uncle flew in, and later that afternoon, my other brother, Austin. So we were able to pull off a mini family reunion out of the occasion.
That first night Tyler was able to sleep in the room with my mom after she had the initial MRI to determine the severity of her condition. My step-dad and I “slept” in the visitor waiting room. Each of the proceeding nights looked similar to that first one, with one person sleeping in the same room with my mom and the others finding some creative means to get some shut-eye. The huge Outdoor Retailers Convention was taking place in the city where just about every hotel room in the city was taken up–another ironic thing if you think about it. Why do they need to sleep indoors if they are all about the outdoors? Nevermind.
So my mom was really stable and through some other procedures the doctors were able to determine what was going on in her brain. They determined that she didn’t have an aneurism, which is significant to say because apparently for most people with an episode like she had, 90% of the time it’s fatal or at least extremely paralyzing.
They kept her in the ICU for a few more days, mainly to monitor her because there remained a slight possibility of further complications. They also wanted to do a few “LP” procedures on her back to help the swelling in her brain to go down and speed up the healing process. LP = lumbar puncture = spinal tap = extreme pain if done wrong. Apparently spinal taps have a bad rap so they had to give it a name change, maybe to make it sound less intimidating. I’m not sure. I think I would rather have a “tap” than a “puncture,” eh? Unfortunately the first time my mom underwent the procedure it was done wrong. She described the pain as being worse than the actual “lightning bolt” that hit her head. She was quite traumatized by the procedure and, as you could imagine, hesitant to have any second tries done. But the doctors put her at ease, talked her into it, (possibly drugged her up a little more than they usually would for the procedure), and did the procedure 3 more times without any complications or even a fraction of the pain.
I had a conscious thankfulness to God the whole time my mother was in the ICU. It was fueled further each time I walked down the hall to her room and was able to peer a little bit into the surrounding ICU rooms. Just about every other patient there was either on a breathing apparatus, was unconscious, or both. My mom was conscious the whole time and completely cognitive (for the most part; the drugs they had her on did affect her, and she didn’t get too much good sleep because they had to watch here closely and check up on her regularly).
As mentioned in our newsletter, she is going to have 100% recovery, along with no chance of a reoccurring incident as a side effect from this recent one. Well, I guess the possibility still exists, simply because she has a physical brain! Apparently the doctor who was treating her said that he has more of a chance from suffering from a brain bleed than she does, simply because she’s had an MRI that shows to be clear, as to where he’s never had an MRI and therefore doesn’t really know.
My brother, Austin, and I hung out with my mom in Salt Lake City for a few days after she got out of the hospital. My Aunt Karen was also there with us for most of the time–that’s us in the picture. My mom wasn’t quite up to traveling since she needed to be weened off the steroids she was on all week. They made her sensitive to movement and light and noise–perfect for traveling, right? On top of that her head still hurt from the initial incident and will continue to do so for a little while, but should slowly fade away. On top of that she was pretty sleep deprived too. So a few days of good recovery was in line before she could travel back to California. Another thing I am thankful for was the time allowed for my brother, myself, and our aunt to spend this prolonged time with my mom while in the hospital and after she was out. My brother was able to spend even more time with her and drive her back to California. It looks like my grandparents will be able to spend a few days with her when she initially gets home, just to help out. Thank you so much if you were praying for my mom during her time in Salt Lake City. God’s hand was most evident throughout the week.
Corinna says
Thank you so much for sharing Payton. I happened to call Dianna and she asked me to pray for your family. Thanks for putting a little more details into the story. I’m so grateful you all were able to spend time together, under what turned out to be a good outcome in the end. Love and prayers. Glad the money was there for the trip, too.