Fruit Inspection

Yesterday afternoon around 5:30 I got a call from my mother in law who informed me that Jeremy’s grandma (his dad’s mother) had been taken to the emergency room. She had also gone there on Tuesday night in lots of pain, and was released early Wednesday morning with medication to relieve inflammation around her heart.

She woke up feeling good on Thursday but as the day went on, the pain returned and it was even worse than before. She called one of her sisters and one son, telling them she was “bad, bad sick” and needed help. When they arrived, they immediately called 911.

Jeremy and I got to the hospital around 7:30 and things were not looking good at all. Her blood pressure was incredibly low and they could not even find a pulse with an ultrasound machine. Without a strong heart beat, her kidneys and liver began to shut down. The doctor came out and asked point blank, “what do you want to do about life support?”

There was a lot of family there and we were all pretty shocked at how fast she was going downhill. The hospital wanted to do more tests to find out why she was loosing so much blood and what was causing her intense pain, but they couldn’t even move her out of the ER until she stabalized.

I’m not sure what time it was, but finally her BP started going up. It was nothing short of a miracle I can tell you that for sure. We had already called the rest of the family in and prepared them for the worst. Around the same time they all got there, she was being taken up to ICU.

We finally got to see her around 11:00 pm and although she was very pale and weak, she was coherent and spoke to us. She was still very scared and nervous about the plans they had last night for using a needle to remove the fluid around her heart. Who wouldn’t be???

I think we left the hospital around midnight and we felt pretty sure that we would be seeing her again this weekend. Then this morning we found out that when they aspirated what they thought would be fluid from around her heart, it was blood. So they scheduled her for surgery sometime today. I am still not sure what time, but we are praying that she stays strong and pulls through the procedure.

Odessa is truly a one-of-a-kind lady. She is the oldest of 9 children, born and raised in Mississippi. She is the mother of 4 who lost her first husband suddenly in a bus accident. She is the strong, Southern type who cares deeply for her family and is active in her faith. She has been known to be quite stubborn in her 84 years on this earth.

But above all, the best quality Grandma ‘dessa possess is her sense of humor. She is truly one of the funniest women I have ever known. And she has passed it down to her children, which makes family gatherings so much fun.

It’s never easy to say goodbye to loved ones. And when that loved one is a special family gem, it’s even harder. We love you Grandmother! We are praying that your strength will return and you will get to come home again soon!