Chapter One

On Monday, July 27, 2009, our beautiful, sweet wife and mother, Pauline, became the proud owner of two brand new knees. She had been suffering with severe knee pain for decades, and bone-on-bone pain for the past few years, but was always worried about having the surgery because of possible complications. A few weeks ago she announced that she had scheduled the surgery and was looking forward to enjoying life without worrying about her knees any longer.

The knee replacement part of the surgery went extremely well, accomplished with just a spinal block along with conscious sedation, similar to what you would experience in a colonoscopy. Mom had been told to expect to be up and walking the day of the surgery. However, the recovery nurse noticed right away that Mom had weakness in both arms. After a couple hours of monitoring her, they asked if we would come to the recovery room and observe her. She was able to speak to us but was unexpectedly groggy. When she still hadn't improved five hours after the surgery, they ordered a battery of tests and finally sent her up to ICU. By evening she had lost her eyesight, but could still recognize our voices and provide short, belabored responses to our questions. We gathered the family together and gave her a blessing which spoke comfort and peace to everyone.

By Tuesday morning she was no longer conscious. As the day wore on it became evident that she needed more specialized care. Our family prevailed upon the hospital to immediately move her to the brand new Intermountain Medical Center in Murray where they have a Neurocritical Intensive Care Unit. Although she probably doesn't remember any of the excitement, it was quite the scene early Wednesday morning when the Life Flight team arrived to transport her to IMC by ambulance. It has been so comforting to have her in this new facility where they know what to do and are giving her superb care.

The neuro specialists here are baffled by how this happened, and told us that the chances of this occurring are literally one in a million. The doctors have been able to determine that the stroke was caused by low blood pressure during the surgery, despite the fact that her blood pressure remained within acceptable levels all throughout the procedure and everything appears to have been quite routine. For some unexplainable reason, the blood pressure levels that work for most everyone else must not have been adequate for her, and blood was not able to flow to all parts of her brain. The MRI's show numerous, widespread mini strokes in the watershed areas of her brain and expected swelling around those areas of damage which developed over the course of the next two days. Although the damaged areas are permanent, as the swelling subsides she will likely regain much of the functions impaired because of swelling. Because of the dispersal of the mini strokes, there is a good prospect for neighboring areas of her brain to take over and help restore much of the lost functionality.

One of the spots of damage is in the area of the brain that controls consciousness, but there is also swelling in that area. They expect that once the swelling subsides she will be able to regain consciousness. We are hoping for the same thing with her vision, since early on she did have her sight, but lost it several hours later, hopefully as a result of swelling and not permanent damage. It appears that the worst is past and she is on the mend. Changes will be slow, but steady, incremental improvements are expected.

On Sunday night when everyone gathered to give my Mom a blessing before the surgery, she was told in the blessing that she would be able to see the hand of the Lord through this experience. Although we never imagined that things could have turned out this way, we have indeed seen the hand of the Lord these past few days, and know that He is aware of us and in charge of what is happening. So many people have appeared at just the right moments to guide our path, and we are grateful for the help we are receiving.

We are holding a fast for her tomorrow, on Sunday, August 2nd, and invite you to join with us in fasting on her behalf. Although we don't know how much she is aware of her surroundings, we think she can hear us and is becoming more responsive. We know she would love to hear from each of you and feel of your love and friendship. Please feel free to post a response below by clicking on the "COMMENTS" link at the end of this entry. We will read the comments to her.

Thanks again for your love and support. We'll keep you posted.