Please pray for my mom Gloria ..

She took a bad fall at my house yesterday (Sat the 20th) and fractured the upper part of her left femur ... very very bad break. The break was spiral in nature and according to her orthopedic surgeon, one of the worst he has had to deal with in a long time. She (and I) spent most of yesterday morning at the ER in the hospital I was in last fall, and then was transported by ambulance (much to the chagrin of the surgeon who eventually operated) to her home city 30 miles away and to her 'regular' hospital. Her surgeon was livid that they transported an 82 year old woman with a femural fracture because it is such a painful condition with the muscle spasms etc.

She finally had emergency surgery last night at 8 pm pst, which lasted about 1 1/2 hours. The orthopedic surgeon is a gem ... wish there were more like him ... and he was very compassionate towards her (and her family) through it all. Marv and I were not in her room when the surgeon came in but AJ and Katie were there ... we had to go to her house and retrieve some personal items for her and just missed him. But AJ kept us informed, calling while the surgeon was there, explaining things, and passing on our concerns/questions to the doctor. During the procedure, he placed a metal rod down the center of her femur, and I guess there may be some pins involved as well.

Marv and I got home last night just around midnight ... she was finally back in her room around 11:15 pm. I spoke with her this morning and she sounded well considering she had a rough night with lots of nausea (from her pain meds, probably) and some difficulty breathing ... which were addressed poorly if at all by her night nurses. (My mom is a retired nurse so I am sure you all can imagine ...)

We are beyond thankful that she did not fracture the hip itself and require a total replacement. She was actually sitting up in bed with her feet over the side this morning ... she only has three small incisions along the side of her thigh so I am sure that helps, also. Our biggest concern at this point, and I don't know if the doctor will talk with her about this today or not, is that after she leaves the hospital (in 3-4 days) she will go to a rehab facility, from which she will be released when she can tend to her bathroom needs by herself. However, she lives alone (and must climb steps to get into her home) and the doctor said she cannot go home under those circumstances. I am not sure if he meant just while she is recovering or if he means ever. He told us we would need to find a place for her to live ... we don't know at this point what we are going to do ... it is really a dilemma and one which requires much prayer and patience.

Please do keep her in your prayers as we deal with this injury and her future as an 'independent' gramma ... she kept telling me that she wondered what God was trying to tell her with this situation. I suggested two things ... listen to your kids when they tell you not to do something that might cause injury (she was trying to step over a doggie gate in the hallway, got one leg over and not the other one ... I was in the garage and heard her little 'help help help' and just knew what must have happened) and that He wants her to slow down. She has several other health issues ns as well (not unlike her beloved daughter ) and really pushes herself too much.

Please also pray for an easy recovery. She is significantly overweight (I was shocked at the # she gave her nurse yesterday but it was in front of me and Katie so I can understand fudging a little bit but this was REALLY a big batch of fudge ...) and that contributed to some of the difficulty of the surgery.

I love her to pieces, and altho she has always said that she doesn't want to be a burden as she gets older, she has financial limits and she has to realize that we will do whatever needs to be done to get her through this and, hopefully for her, living on her own again if at all possible.

Thanks ...
Mary Ann