Almost...

What a week.  What a month.  Wait, what a 2011. 

This past Saturday, we had a really scary situation.  My mom had been feeling kind of yucky for a week or two.  She mostly had some really bad back pain.  Lower tailbone back pain.  Well, after going to a VERY unhelpful doctor's visit on Friday, it was determined she needed to go to the emergency room Saturday.

My sisters and I followed Mom and Dad in to the hospital.  Mom could barely even move.  Once we settled into the ER room, the doctor came in.

To summarize, he said, it could be severe arthritis, or muscular pain.  OR, it could be (and pray that it wasn't) an aortic aneurysm. 

You guessed it.  She had an aortic aneurysm in her lower abdomen.  So when we questioned about the course of action and he said surgery, we resigned to what would happen.  When he clarified that the surgery would be RIGHT NOW, we became one group of emotional people.

I got on the phone and called Tony.  Thankfully, Rob and Ally were at our house and would watch the girls.  Then, I called our pastor and friend, Greg, who said he'd be there in two minutes.  And he was. 

But before any others got there, we gathered around mom to pray.  By pray, I mean sob.  It was so hard knowing it was an emergency surgery.  We were a mess.  Well, everyone NOT in a hospital bed was a mess.  My mom, on the other hand, was a pillar of strength.  When we gathered to pray, everyone had their heads bowed and eyes closed.  No one could pray aloud.  No one could breathe without sobbing.  So who prayed?  My mom.  The one getting ready to undergo surgery.  She prayed.  She prayed for the surgeon and nurses.  And she prayed for us. 

This is the same woman who, when she was in the hospital another time, had Greg come and pray with her.  Greg said when he finished praying, SHE prayed for HIM.  He said it was highly emotional because he had never had someone pray for HIM before like that.  That's my mom. 

So after we prayed, others made it to the hospital.  They whisked her upstairs with us in tow to the surgery waiting room.

During the three hours after surgery, at one point there were 25 people gathered in that waiting room.  TWENTY FIVE!    That should be a true testimony of my mom's ripple.  The effect she has on others.

Well, she came through the surgery with flying colors.  PRAISE GOD!  And the surgeon came out to tell us that the side of the artery was tissue paper thin.  He said that between her pain level and what he found inside, we could have lost her in mere hours.  LOST her.  My heart races to even think about that.   God was written ALL OVER this situation.  If this were a memorial box post, I'd put a balloon in there.  It would remind me of how one side of Mom's artery was like a stretched balloon.  But I'd write GOD on the balloon, because He kept that balloon together until the doctors could perform surgery.

She's still in the hospital recovering.  Because, when my mom does something, she does it big.  Not only was she fighting this aneurysm, she is also fighting gout.  Badly.  But she's healing.  And she's her funny, sassy self. 

And I'm praising Him from whom all blessings flow.  God indulged our selfishness in wanting her here!

THANK YOU, JESUS, once again.  We are not worthy, but OH how YOU LOVE US!