Amy's last month-part 3

We were in the ambulance for about an hour, arriving around 12:30pm. I was able to ride in the front and my husband, Bill,  and oldest daughter, Tess, were following after us in the car. I started things off well when I refused to leave Amy alone so the nurses could get her on the bed and take her vitals, etc. I held my ground and finally after a stare down with Nurse Jackie, she gave in.  All they saw on paper is a 30 year old with breathing problems. They were not prepared for one so tiny in size nor unable to communicate with them.  Nurse Jackie changed her demeanor when she realized that I was Amy's voice, stayed out of their way, and I was not one of "those" moms. The doctor did not come in for a couple of hours and then he ordered another x-ray, more blood work, and a catheter put in. The same tests all over again. Poor Amy. She loved excitement and people paying attention to her, but not being stuck with needles or catheter tubes and moved from bed to machines, or even lifting her up each time to put the different x-ray screens under her. Her skin was so thin and I was always watching for bed sores. She only ever had a few of them and that was on her feet and lower legs because I wasn't careful at all times to keep a pillow between her knees and feet. That was.......until this hospital stay. 
As I insisted on staying with her at all times that meant overnight. They reluctantly agreed and I was told later that no one had ever stayed over night in the ICU for about 20 years. 
Bill and Tess left in the late afternoon and then Tess and my youngest daughter, Emily, came back with some stuff for me that evening. We did not know at the time, but the daily trips over the mountain and back were going to become a routine for the next month. The trip takes about an hour and it snowed every day, except for three days.
Thursday had been quite a day for Amy, but neither of us slept much that night. Amy was so used to falling asleep to music and so I sang to her some and tried to comfort her, but that only succeeded in me getting sleepy and she was still wide awake! 

Friday, March 1
The Dr. and about a dozen interns (it is a teaching hospital) came in and discussed Amy's case. They decided to take the breathing tube out around noon. As the blood oxygen monitor would not stay on Amy's finger or toe they put it on her forehead. So she had this red light on her forehead with a huge piece of tape to keep it on. The breathing tube was taken out successfully and now she had two bright red spots on her cheeks where the tape had been.  Amy ate jello, drank apple juice, and sips of ice water. She had not eaten or drank anything for about 42 hours. She was very happy! She loved to eat! Tess and Bill came and Amy had more jello and a lot of juice. The Dr. said she had an urinary tract infection and pnemonia. It would clear up with medication and breathing treatments. The monitor was taken off her forehead as she kept rolling her eyes up to try to look at it and so they tried taping it to her toe again. Nurse Jackie was wonderful and talked to Amy, not just us. 
After a tearful goodbye with Amy, Bill and I left, and Tess stayed the night with her.
Bill was leaving for a week on a ministry trip to Andros Island
in the Bahamas. It sounds luxurious for a place to go in early March, but the people there are very poor and the year before Bill went with a team and worked on a church. This time they were building a house for a lady and her children.
 
We had no idea that Amy was so seriously ill. Bill would have never gone if he knew that he only had a few weeks left to share Amy's sweet smile and her unconditional love. I cried buckets when he left in the early hours of the morning. It was snowing pretty heavy and I had to drive to the hospital, so began Day 3 of this journey.

As I continue my study of Romans.
Chapter 11: 33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge 

of God! 

How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable 

His ways!  

For who has known the mind of the Lord, 

or who became His counselor?  

Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?   

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. 

To Him be the glory forever. 

Amen.