A Thankful Easter Sunday!

Hi there!

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter Sunday, shared with family friends and loved ones. I am vary thankful to report that I got to spend Easter Sunday with my family and my recovering Mother. She even got to take a wheelchair ride outside of the hospital, to catch some sun and some fresh air. Boy, was she relieved, being cooped up in the hospital for over 3 weeks!

It just happen to be a gorgeous Easter Sunday in Tucson, with the sun shining and the temps around 79 degrees. She is doing so well, and is making a steady recovery. Her speech is still a little disoriented, but that will just take some time to get back. The doctor's all say, that she is an amazing women, but we knew that already-lol! She was hapy to visit with us yesterday, and had a big smile on her face. At the progress rate she is going, hopefully she will be able to come home this week. I know she is ready to be in the comfort of her own home again.

I had my husband snap a quick family picture of me, my brother, mom, dad & my son. This Easter we are very thankful to have her with us for another year & by God's grace many more. She looks so well in this picture, and you can definitley see her making steps and progress from even a week ago. She is able to get up and walk for short distances and took her own shower yesterday, with a nurse on stand-by. I just love her optimistic attidude and high spirit. I know it will help with her recovery. She has the cutest sense of humor about her speech. She realizes when she says something wrong or that doesn't make sense, then she starts to giggle about it.

Thank you for all the prayers, encouraging words & positive thoughts. They mean so much to us!

He is risen!

XOXO,
Syd

A positive update & an outfit for Mom!

Today, a week after my last post. I am happy to be updating the status of my Mother, with all positive news!

She is making so much progress towards recovery. Just this last Sunday, she was excabated from the ventilator and sedation medications, then on Monday she passed all her swallowing test and was able to have the feeding tube removed, and started on a soft foods diet! Then just this morning, we received some wonderful news, that she has been cleared out of a critical state, into a stable condition. With the possibility of moving into a regular room as soon as today!

We have come along way from this time last week. She is such a strong woman, and is determined to make a full recovery. Even at her worst days, when she was struggling to breathe, and in an induced coma. She would try to open her eyes, and squeeze our hands. To reassure us she was fighting and full of faith for a recovery! At my weakest moments of fear, I never gave up hope that she would! She has survived through the worst part, and the doctor's say that from here, we should expect her to fully recover. Of course it will take time and she will need some physical & speech therapy, but that is peanuts compared to what she went through!

She already has a head start, as she continues to mumble a few words and she successfully sat up in a chair. Also with assistance, she walked to use the regular potty! When suffering a massive brain injury as she did, those little things matter so much and are huge steps to a successful recovery. Believe it or not, she can communicate with us through writing. Sometimes she spells words incorrectly or gets confused, but its enough to understand what she is trying to say. I am so thankful to see her awake, alert and able to slowly communicate. She has such an optimistic spirit and sense of humor about the whole thing. Of course she would, she is just that type of person.

The last few days of positive progression, have given us a peace in our hearts. That with some therapy, she is going to be o.k. We are just so thankful, that she lived through this injury to be here with us much, much longer. The Lord has been good to us, helping us get through this tribulation. It has definitely changed our lives, but when you have him on your side. You can get through it, to see the grace & peace that comes after the storm. She has stunned the doctor's and nurses caring for her. Working in the Neurology ICU, they have cared for many patients, and have all said they cannot believe her progress. One nurse told me that, if one survives through what she did. It can take 3 months to do what she did in 3 weeks. She is a miracle, and I fully believe in them, and the power of prayer!

On a lighter note, living at the hospital the last couple of weeks. You can imagine how emotionally draining and tiring it is. I had definitely not been in the mood or had an ounce of energy to dress up. That was all fine and dandy when Mother was in and out of sedation. Well, let me tell you as soon as she felt better and had that ventilator out. She was trying to communicate with me and ask me why I wasn't dressed up! My Mother has always been my number one fan, when it comes to dressing in Vintage, so I decided to cheer her up yesterday and dress up for her visit.

(hence the dark circles & all)

We have been running on adrenalin for 3 weeks, and now that things are slowing down and looking up. We been coming home to rest at night and recharge our batteries. Even though I am still exhausted and just catching up, I manged to muster enough energy to actually put some makeup on and curl my hair yesterday. It has been tied up in a scarf for weeks! As soon as I walked into her room, my Mother's eyes lit up and she was so happy to see me dressed up, it really made her day! She was trying to tell the nurses about my clothing, but couldn't get it out. Even when she is trying to recover, she is still the proud Mother she always was! I am so happy & thankful to see her smiling face again!

XOXO~Syd

My Mother, my Strength

Me & Mom-1983 a little over 1 year old

As I write this blog entry today, I am in a completely different light. Last week my family was shaken up as we experienced a unexpected devastation. My dear Mother suffered a brain aneurysm and stroke late last Monday, and was rushed to the emergency room in time to perform an operation, that saved her life. She is still in critical condition, while a vaso-spasm is slowly calming down and getting under control. She will be under constant watch, in the ICU for another week, until they feel she is strong enough to move into rehabilitation therapy.

As you can imagine my whole world has been turned upside down with human feelings of fear, grief, worry, understanding, frustration and anxiety. My Mother is one of my best friends, aside from my friendship with my husband. She is such a huge part of my life, I have been fighting my sad thoughts of living without her. While putting my hope & trust in my faith to take care of her healing process.

A week and a half later, I am just now comfortable enough to sit down and write about this tribulation. I am hoping that it will help me to express my feelings of hope & faith, and share the blessing of my Mother with others. Also to spread the power of prayer, inspire and encourage others to "live, love, forgive and never give up. Cause the days we are given are gifts from above!"

As I sit bedside in my Mother's hospital room. I am holding her left hand and watching her sleep, while her will, faith and trust in GOD helps her to fight for her life. Memories flash in and out of my head, of all the the times and moments of joy I have shared with my Mother. I am definitely on an emotional roller coaster. Feeling strong at times and weak and tearful at others.

I am completely grateful to have such a wonderful woman, that I can call "Mom"- truly blessed. She has been my rock my whole life, and since I was a young girl. I have always admired her kindness, strength, will, determination, creativity, knowledge, wit & talent to always see the good in people and situations, and prevail through her own. She is the women responsible for teaching me to make my way through life with grace and express similar qualities to her.

Never skipping a beat in my life, missing an event or performance, praising an accomplishment, understanding and encouraging- even when I made a mistake. Always proud of me, never giving up on me, when my life was troubled. Always an ear to listen to a problem, or just my shoulder to cry on. The true definition of unconditional love. She has shared most moments of joy along with me (my marriage, the birth of my first son). Oh yeah, and my sidekick and shopping buddy for sure!

I have shed my share of tears these last few days because that women, that assuring voice I can always count on. Is sitting in this hospital bed, not able to tell me that it's going to be OK, but rather, when she gains enough strength, she opens her eyes and squeezes my hand. So I read to her the book she gave me when I was at my darkest hour, and she was by my side.

Many of you may not know this, it's not something I talk about often and definitely not something I have blogged about, but in order to understand my feelings of sadness and worry. I will share with the hopes it will help me to write about it. Back in 2004 I was in the middle of the same feelings, as I was faced with the pain of losing my second child. I was only a few months pregnant, when I lost him in the womb. By far the most terrifying experience I had to face at that point in my life. Along with my husband, my Mother was always there. Through every feeling of anger, pain, suffering, grieving and questioning. Into the healing process of understanding, trust & faith.

She never left my side and she gave me a book to keep with me, when those feelings resurfaced. It is called "God's Promises and Answers, for your Life." A few days after the chaos had calmed a little and she was in her bed slowly making a recovery. I was looking for those same feelings of encouragement & understanding. I opened the book and there on the inside of the cover. Were the words my Mother wrote to me, when she gave me the book as a gift. It says; "Syd, your loss is tremendous, nothing can compare. Keep your eyes to the Lord for comfort. I love you with all my heart, and admire you for all your courage."

And so I will, I will take each day one at a time. With patience, courage and understanding, that this is just the next chapter in our lives. I will put my trust and faith in the things I can not see, but believe. And the will of the Lord in my Mother will heal her on it's own time. We have a long hill to climb from here, but I have the faith, and that same strength in me that she does, to hold hands and take that walk to the top.

God knows I need her in my life, for a much longer time. Each day is a blessing, live with constant grace and joy for the people that have been placed in your path. Never take for granted that things will always be the same. You never know when you will wake up one day to find, your whole world as you know it has changed. No, right now, I may not be able to call her every-night like the usual, but I can sit by her bed and tell her about my day. With faith knowing she can hear me and it will just take some time until I can pick up that phone again. Along with doing all the other fun things we usually do, she is always the first to come with me to a shoot, or wake up at 5am to tackle an estate sale. My Mother, my best friend, I am blessed!

I know my Mother would want me to continue to keep up with all of the things I have going at the moment. It won't be long before I am back to blogging about pretty things. I will just have to do them when I feel up to it at the moment. After all she is always first to read my entries! She is a huge inspiration to me...

Thank you for your time in reading this,
Will chat with you soon.....

XOXO~Syd