Detours on the Road of Life

So just when I think I have everything under control and I am finally in a groove, life throws you a detour.  I can't tell you how often this has happened to me, but this one really hurts.  Grammie, my mom's mom, had a stroke about seven months ago (the week before Claire was born). 

Mom and I went to visit her in Huntsville when Claire was 11 days old.

She was in a skilled nursing facility, trying to rehab the left side of her body (the stroke was the right side of her brain).  In November, the family made the decision to move her from Huntsville to New Orleans so that she could receive care at Ochsner and be closer to mom and dad.

But she didn't get better.  She really just got worse.  Claire and I went to see her in December, and Luke came with us again in February.  She was weak but still herself, making jokes with the nurses and laughing about figure skating in the Winter Olympics (she loves figure skating like no other).  She then moved back and forth from the nursing home into the hospital with pneumonia, an infection, a seizure and last week, another stroke.  This one was in the frontal lobe, which contains your personality.  She is no longer the Grammie I know.

There isn't much time left, and my family needs me, so Claire and I are jumping on a plane tonight and heading to New Orleans.  It's last minute, I'm exhausted from packing late last night, I have no idea what I even packed and I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday, but you do what you need to do when family needs you.

My relationship with my mom is irreplaceable.  We talk at least five times a week, if not every day.  We tell each other everything (it was so hard not to tell her I was pregnant with Claire for two weeks until I saw her in person).  She is the rock of our family.  And now I need to be the rock for her.  I have a few things set to publish this weekend, but I'll be back Monday with an update.

We know the Lord is a mighty comfort, and we rest in His peace.  Please keep us all in your prayers as we travel this road.