Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your love.
This is the latest up date from my brother, Pat:
> Mom has been transferred to the cardiac intensive care unit. They took her there this afternoon for a specialized procedure that allowed an ultrasound view of her aorta through an esophageal scope. Originally, she was to return to her room but they decided to keep her in CICU because of all the uncertainty with her situation and (once again) her spiking blood pressure. The test showed nothing significant about the aorta and did not give an indication of what might be causing her abdominal spasms and breathing difficulties.
She's really struggling with her breathing, although her blood oxygen and heart rate numbers are consistently good. Her blood pressure varies from slightly elevated (for her) to spiking to about 190-200 over about 60. She just returned from a CT scan of her abdomen (at about 10:45 p.m.) and we're hopeful this will reveal something about why she's experiencing such spasmodic breathing, and what can be done about it. If it does not provide any answers, or if the scan suggests something drastic would need to be done (along the lines of major surgery), then we'll have to have some serious & frank conversations. Mom has said, and has repeated tonight, that she does not want any more surgeries.
More later, when we hear the results of the CT scan.
--Pat <
Thank you, my brothers and sisters, for being there with us.
Timothy