Mom continues to make amazing progress. She was able to take a short walk around the ICU today, and on top of that, she was able to eat some actual food. She is making amazing progress.
The big news this morning is that Mom is awake and talking! Her breathing tube was removed last night. That was quite the ordeal, but Mom was tough. She is now breathing on her own and receiving oxygen. Her breathing is strong and the nurses are very happy with it. With the breathing tube out Mom is able to talk. She says her brain feels slow, which is likely a combination of all the medication she is still taking and being sedated so long. She says that when she closes her eyes she sees "psychedelic things", so apparently the 60's have finally caught up with Mom. The nurses say this is normal and usually fades pretty quickly. Mom wanted to express how much she loves all of you and how grateful she is for all of the prayers on her behalf. Mom is still in the ICU, which means visitation is still very limited. We really appreciate your continued prayers on Mom's behalf.
Our mother, Laurie Nelson, had a sudden cardiac failure on the morning of Sunday, September 21st. She collapsed at a church building in Ogden, Utah. She very quickly received excellent CPR from a doctor, a nurse, and an EMT who were at the church. She was transported to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden where she received an emergency pacemaker and was stabilized. There they did an exploratory procedure and found that this was not a heart attack and that she did not have any blockage in the blood vessels around her heart. She also did not have a stroke. In order to perform some more complex tests, Mom was then transferred by helicopter down to Intermountain Health Center in Murray, Utah where they have the best heart clinic in Utah and one of the best in the country. In Murray, a specialist was able to diagnose Mom with a rare condition known as arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. This condition causes fat to build up between certain cells in the heart. This can degrade the electrical ...
Mom had a quiet time last night and this morning. She was awake for longer than she has been in the past this morning. She was able to listen to us and answer yes and no questions by nodding or shaking her head. She could move her head a little, wiggle her toes, and squeeze her hands. We explained what had happened, though it's not clear how much of that explanation she will remember. This afternoon Mom got a pacemaker upgrade. The doctor called her new one "the Cadillac of pacemakers". It is a pacemaker with an integrated defibrillator. If it ever detects Mom's heart going into what happened on Sunday it will immediately shock it back into rhythm. We are told that the shock feels like being kicked in the chest, but that's far better than going through all this. It is wonderful that such technology is available so that we never have to do this again. Mom is still on the breathing tube and is sedated. We are yet again hoping that the breathing tube will be able to...
Praise God; prayers are being answered! 🙏❤️🙏
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