Day 163 - My Mom is okay, originally uploaded by clarity25.

My Mom is okay. Her surgery went well and she was discharged from the hospital today.

This has been a stressful week for my entire family.

Since I started this 365 days project my life has become an open book but this was really NOT a week to document with photography. I don't want to remember the image of my mother hooked up to machines and the sterile hospital environment. I didn't take any pictures. My camera remained in my bag all week.

The surgery took longer than they predicted. The worst part was sitting around for hours in the waiting room with my father and wringing my hands. Every time the doors swung open, I would sit up straight and watch a nurse approach another family with news about THEIR loved one. Sometimes good news, sometimes bad news...

Eventually she was moved to recovery and the surgeon came to talk to us.

At first my mother looked peaceful and relaxed. But within a few hours the spinal epidural administrating the morphine made her incredibly sick. She was getting dehydrated and she couldn't eat. They removed it the next day and then she was in excrutiating pain. The only medicine she could keep down was a mild painkiller that did very little to mask the pain.

It's horrible to feel so helpless in the face of my mom's suffering. I could only hold her hand and tell her to try to sleep, to relax and take deep breaths. The nurses were coming in and out. At one point there was a code red in the building and we were told to stay in our rooms with the doors closed. The alarms echoing through the hospital terrified me. Especially since I didn't know what a "Code red" actually WAS...

Trying to balance work and the hospital was hard. At work, I just worried about my mother but I couldn't get more than one day off. I just wanted to be with my mom, I saw her during my lunch breaks and during the evenings after work. (Until the nurses asked us to leave because visiting hours were over) I didn't get much sleep.

But now she's home and doing so much better. She's still weak, but she can move around slowly. She can't lift anything and needs help getting in and out of bed. The doctor said that in a few weeks she'll start feeling normal again. I'm putting together a care package for her and I'm going over there in an hour to check on her again.

I just wanted to update you on the situation. I'm so RELIEVED that this chapter is over and she's on the road to recovery.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and healing thoughts. It meant a lot and as you can see, it worked!