The Day is Finally Here!

Today is the day my family and I have been waiting for….praying for.

My mom gets to come home today. This is after being in the hospital and a rehabilitation center since March 23. She is still not 100% but definitely much better.

In the beginning it seemed that for every step forward, there were two steps backward.

On Easter Sunday, April 12, my Father, my Siblings and I gathered together at UVA for a conference with the doctors. They had never found the cause of her problems and informed us that there was nothing else they could do for her. That she would be considered a hospice patient. They talked about inserting a feeding tube that would prolong her life. The decision was my Dad's but the feeling was that this wasn’t the way to go, as it would only prolong her life and that her quality of life would not be great.

But my Dad ALWAYS had Hope! He told us “we have to give her every opportunity to get better”. So the feeding tube was inserted. Within a few days she was transferred to a Nursing/Rehab Center that was located near my Dad.

Before that, my siblings and I had been taking turns staying with her at UVA, which was about a 3 hour distance for each of us.

We would take 2-3 days at a time.

Now that she was moved, my Dad was able to visit her daily and lots of times twice a day.

My brother was also able to visit almost daily as he lives near as well.

During her stay a the Nursing/Rehab Center she was in and out of the hospital many times.

One hospital stay was as long as 5 days.

But after that last stay, she really seemed to start to get better.

She started eating by mouth, not just through the feeding tube. She was walking with a walker

and her spirits seemed to rise daily.

And today, August 7, 136 days later, she comes home to

live in the home she has lived in since 1970, the home I grew up in,

and the home she had not spent the night in since March 23.

She is going to LOVE sleeping in her own bed tonight!

We are so thankful that she is still with us and that my Dad never gave up Hope!

Thank you all for your concern and prayers!

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