Maybe a few surprises

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Thursday night my oldest niece and I were at the hospital. As a nurse who works with the elderly she could see signs of her body failing. The doctor was pretty realistic as well. Things were just as grim Friday evening when my younger niece arrived. As a family we requested that her best friend from her apartments be allowed to visit her in ICU. That was approved as part of the idea of comfort care. I dreamed about the yellow bird, and the baby on Friday night that I spoke of in my other discussion. Saturday we arrived just before one thirty. She had just had the ventilator removed, and was breathing a small amount of oxygen. She was doing the breathing. The awful swelling and fluid retention had gone away. She was smiling and reacting to things we said. She was reaching for our hands. I asked her if she had sent me the yellow bird. She laughed. Her friend Ron visited again, and called the neighbors that are caring for her cat and they talked to her on speaker phone. Ron, and my nieces were all smiles at this complete turn around. Me too! She cannot speak yet, probably due to having had the tube for so long. She is only getting nutrition via IV. She needs to clear her lungs and it hurts to cough. Thinking back to my dreams, the baby actually looked like Ron. And smiled and laughed like him. My conclusions: Lots of prayers are going up on her behalf. Having the ventilator made her feel helpless. Giving up. And finally, after the experiences with Bob this year and with my sister, I believe that isolation kills. We do things in the name of medicine for the body, and it kills the spirit completely. Even if Yolanda does not rally and completely recover we all have been blessed by her smiles and interactions since they removed the ventilator and allowed her to have more people in her room and visiting. Much better memories to have with her than just helpless and tied to a machine. More dignity, more life, more spirit. It is like her spirit has come back to her. As of 8 p.m last night she was doing well. We will go see her again today.