Holding her own

Diana is still very ill, but stable and "holding her own." The kind of massive infection that she has is really scary, but her doctors are treating it aggressively and thoroughly, so we feel that she is in very good hands.

Actually, Mom's surgeon's daughter is one of Mom's patients - kind of a neat connection and one that makes me feel sure that he is giving her all of his best efforts and attention.

They extubated Mom today, which is definitely a good thing. However, as she has been on heavy sedation for almost 5 days, and gone under general anesthesia twice in that time (3 times total, over 7 days) she was very confused, disoriented and upset when they woke her up. Her nurses and doctors have asked that she have as much rest as possible right now, and have limited even visits from immediate family to very small periods of time.

In general, she is very fragile right now. I know there are many of you wanting to visit, send things to her room and get her messages. But, because of her still critical condition, we are limiting her visitors - those folks who are helping to spell me in being with her are already in place, though I thank the many of you who have offered this to me. When she is better, and moves to a regular room and out of the ICU, that will mean that she will be able to have more visitors, and we will let you know via the blog. Also, she is not allowed to have deliveries of any kind in the ICU, so that will also unfortunately have to wait until she is in a regular room. As for messages, the best way to get those to her is through me - so please do feel free to post comments on this blog or send a card or letter to her home or to the office. I will check comments often and read them to Mom myself, and will certainly make sure that she sees all of her cards and letters when she's able.

I'm sorry that I'm unable to return phone calls, voicemails and emails right now. I am trying to fill Mom's shoes at the moment, and all of you who know her know what a daunting task that is. So, trying to do that, deal with my own commitments and be there for Mom and our family is more than overwhelming for me - most of the time, I don't feel I'm doing a very good job of any of it, so trying to get to anything else is pretty much impossible. That is why Paul set up this blog for me, so that all of the folks who love and care about Mom throughout the world would be able to keep up on her progress. I thank you in advance for your understanding, as I try to find my way through this terrible time.

Again, thank you to all of the people sending their love and support and prayers. Our family feels very fortunate in the outpouring of good will that we've experienced. My Mom is an extraordinary person, and I feel proud and fortunate to be her daughter - and proud and fortunate that there are so many kind people in her life who recognize how wonderful she is and want to send her their love. She is hanging in there, and I think we all just have to do the same.