Randall Family Christmas

We finished opening gifts before we headed to the airport on Sunday after church.  Derek (of course) had a use of force that made him late getting home.  The kids weren't excited about waiting.  Thankfully Santa didn't wait for Dad. They are excited about our Spring Break trip to Great Wolf Lodge!  Santa even brought each of them a small stuffed wolf! 

We haven't been to Utah for Christmas in 4 years.  Yet again this year I was dragging my feet on buying the plane tickets.  The weather is so dicey, and the plane tickets so expensive.  But as soon as I found out that my mom was going to have surgery on Nov. 15th, I bought plane tickets for the whole family so I could be there to help her at Christmas time.  I didn't want her to over do it.  I'm so glad I bought those tickets when I did.  Since she ended up having a whole different Christmas than the at home convalescence that we anticipated.  But it was so good that we all got to be there at the hospital with her.  (And that we didn't have to pay last minute ticket prices!)

A 7 pm flight seemed like a good idea.  But then it didn't take off until 10 pm.  It was a rough start to the trip.  The door had a sealing issue causing cabin pressure problems.  This is a theme in Derek's travels.  So annoying.  But we managed to keep spirits high.  Derek and I would just laugh every time another text came in with an updated delay status.  

They gave us free snacks.  As they boarded us.  Maybe would have been nice in the 3 hour wait.  

For the week to be described as chaotic would be accurate.  11 grandkids, (4 of them under 1).  3 toddlers (who all want the same toy at the same time), lots of grown ups.  Last minute gifts to buy, stockings to fill, trips to the hospital, cooking, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning.  It was nuts. 

But it was so good.

So much cousin time!  And most of it hanging out at Mimi and Papa's. 

More cousin time! 

We kept the Christmas breakfast tradition alive.  Pull-A-Parts and Christmas Eggs.  

We had a classic Randall Chuck-A-Rama meal.  Ben ate 4 helpings of ice cream. 

Dave was supposed to arrive an hour after us.  Once we were delayed we had a little wager about who would arrive first.  We lost.  So we had to buy Twisted Sugar.  My mom got in on the facebook chat for the first time since her surgery when I told Dave he was a jerk for getting to board.  She wrote "a special gift is kindness."  It made me so happy to see her chiming in as her normal-amazing-mother self.  

We worked on a few puzzles in my  mom's room when she was in the regular Thoracic wing of the hospital.  When she was getting moved to ICU, we had to rapidly finish the Logan puzzle I got my dad for Christmas so we could clean out the room.  Emily, Rachel and I got it done.  Libby did some good helping, with the puzzle.  Wearing my reading glasses over her own.  

When I wasn't supervising, my kids were getting spoiled with sweets (ok, and even when I was supervising).  Uncle Davey bought Ben this donut.  He ate some of it every day for breakfast for about 4 days. 

Christmas Day

Christmas eve and Christmas day were the BEST.  My mom looked so good.  She sounded good.  She could chomp down ice chips.  She was ready for the swallow test. Derek flew back to Seattle feeling like all was well.

And then...the nurse discovered that her chest incision (that she had just had the staples removed from) was oozing.  And it went downhill from there.  A fever, difficulty breathing.  A chest X-ray that showed some fluid.  She watched the nativity, complete with costumes that she sewed for each grandkid, in exhaustion because she finally gave in and asked for some pain meds for the pain in her chest. 

That day and the next day were torture for her as she waited for surgery to explore the level of infection.  By the time she went in for surgery she could barely speak and breathing was a struggle.  It was hard to watch.  The nurses thought she was just having anxiety about the infection.  But it turns out they took  out 2 liters of infected fluid from off of her right lung.  That will put a damper on your breathing.

My sisters and I stayed with my dad all day (Brad, my brother in law, deserves a medal for his babysitting feats during the week.)

After they cleaned out the infection (she calls this "power washing") she started to feel better.  She was back in ICU again with more attentive nursing (1:2 ratio versus the other floor where it was 1:5).  They put a wound vac on all her incisions (it turns out that none of them had healed--they assume due to malnutrition because she couldn't get enough through her feeding tube without feeling nauseous).  This allowed her to continue draining, (so no fluid build up) and to have mobility.  She had to start from ground zero with her swallowing.  So that was frustrating. 

It was hard to say goodbye on Sunday.  I wanted her to be in Rehab (where she was headed the day that she ended up back in ICU).  But her spirits are good.  She is determined to make it through this.  Since we left I have talked to her every day and just her voice lifts my spirits.  She is getting stronger every day, walking, talking, eating ice chips, and even a few bites of regular food.

The most tender moment was on Saturday.  My mom gave each kid an individual (what Ben called afterward) "Pep Talk."
They were all 3 deeply touched by her love and her words.  Libby cried after hers.  When we got in the car Ben suggested that they each share the things she said to them.  It was so sweet.
Libby was first.  Mimi told her to eat.  To make sure she ate enough so that she could have babies.  And she said she loved Libby for her talents and her "not talents."  In the car later Libby said that it was so special that Mimi said that, "because I have a lot of 'not talents.'"  So sweet! 
Sarah went next.  Mimi told her that she should keep up all of her dancing and piano and singing.  She also told her that when Sarah was little, they weren't sure she would be a good singer (like uncle Davey) but that Sarah's voice has become so good (again like Uncle Davey).   
Ben was the last to go.  Mimi told him that he has a voice like a bell and that he should keep singing.
I wish I would have put on my voice recorder.  There was so much more. My mother was really in matriarch mode.  It suits her well.

I am so thankful that she is still with us.  They are fighting the infection still with 2x a week "powerwashing" and lots of antibiotics.  They've changed her feeding and added some protein supplementation to help her heal. 
I got her a necklace that says "She Never Gives Up."  And that's how I feel.  She's gonna beat this!