Some of you may recall that last year in July, my and jackelope’s mom had a bone marrow transplant. Things have continued on since then (as they tend to do) and the last few months have been a wild rollercoaster ride both physically and emotionally.
This last month though has played heavy on me. I came down to Orlando last year to help mom and dad as best I could. About a month ago we had mom admitted to the hospital due to a fever, which with a bone marrow transplant patient, is a serious thing given their compromised immune system.
In the past month a whole host of problems have risen up, some due to mom’s health and others questionable as to possible fault or blame. Regardless, we currently find ourselves in dire straits.
Mom’s respiratory system began having issues in the past few days such that they tried various things and intubated her two nights ago. Most of us are expecting the worst while obviously praying and hoping for a miracle. Before they intubated her, she and dad had the serious talk about her living will and her wishes and they agreed that they wanted to fight to the end until there were no other possible solutions. She made that stringently clear. And so the fight goes on.
Since the transplant I’ve seen mom take a lot of IVs of fluids, usually no more than three or four at a time. Let me tell you guys something, it’s a scary scary sight to see someone hooked up to a tree with two full banks of IVs pumping into her body.
When I stop to think about where we would be had this even been a decade ago, mom would have left this planet years ago since they didn’t have the meds she’s been on. And the BMT gave us an additional 8 months of time with her, something I will forever be grateful for. And should this succeed, she could go on for another few decades!
Overall, it’s sad news, though there is still a slim chance of recovery. It’s something that needed to be told, since some will undoubtedly want to know about it.
– IG