A fragile mass of nerves

The human brain.

The past two months have been a complete nightmare.

On April 23 my mom had "the worst headache [she'd] ever had" and threw up a few times. Some of my sisters took her to the ER and the doctors there suspected an aneurysm and she was whisked via life flight to Murray.

Jessica and I pulled up right as the helicopter was about to take off. One of the hospital employees had to jump in front of the car to get us to stop and then hold me back from running up to the helicopter. I wanted to see my mommy!

We all drove down the Murrary with questions tumbling through our minds. Her helicopter hit a bird on the way there, putting a hole in the windshield and forcing them to make and emergency landing at the SLC airport.

Tests, test and more tests. The doctors couldn't find where the bleed was happening. Days passed.  A week passed and boom, a full on aneurysm. This time the doctors were able to go into her brain and find the bleed and repair it. This was a scary time.

Towards the middle of May Mom was allowed to come home. She's not the same as she was before - obviously - though she is making baby steps. The woman gave birth to 9 kids naturally without pain medication (I was the only one she had pain free :D ), raised ten kids and several grandkids. She's a fighter. Seeing her laid up and fragile is quite shocking. We are all used to seeing Dad sick or injured. Not Mom. She's the glue that holds us together!

My heart aches for those of you who have had a loved one with dementia. I visisted Mom in the CCU and she didn't seem to remember me, which shook me to the core. I can only imagine the pain of having a loved one never remember anything about you.

Shortly after Mom came home Jessica became sick. I'll let her talk about that.