2020

 Hello all,

I've started several times to update my blog but wasn't quite ready. The only good thing to come out of 2020 was my youngest child, Cori, moved back home and is in nursing school. 

Mom had heart valve surgery toward the end of January, the kind where they go through the vein, called TAVR. She did great, no problems with surgery. A month later, at her check up, she was starting to get a little congested. She ended up with bronchitis, then feet and legs swelling. Heart doc said it was from the steroids....a patient just has heart surgery and one of the symptoms after can be leg swelling, but lets not check that... Primary doc was no better, you know, Covid and all. She spent a few days in hospital in April, after calling the doctor who did the surgery, and he said to go to ER, but the laryngitis and tiredness continued a while. Her heart rate was a little higher and her blood pressure lower. She finally went to a heart doc closer by and went to a different primary doc too.  Hubby had outpatient surgery in Gainesville, on May 14th and I called her that night and we talked over an hour and a half. Her hoarseness was gone and she sounded so much better, thought she was finally turning a corner. On Friday the 22nd, her legs were swelling again so she went to her new doc, he wanted her to go in the hospital so they could get the fluid off while keeping check on her blood pressure. Saturday morning they found her unresponsive, they revived her twice but her heart couldn't sustain it. When she was in the hospital in April a doctor commented that the bronchitis had caused congestive heart failure, I'm not sure that is true. When she first found out about her heart valve, years ago, she said she wasn't going to have surgery for it, if it killed her it killed her. But she had to because she had no energy and tired out quickly, after a bad episode after Thanksgiving. The symptoms of no energy and tiredness continued which made her depressed. She always said if she couldn't see after herself or do the things she's used to doing, (like washing both vehicles, cleaning her carport, cutting trees down to save cats, etc  :-) then she would rather be dead. I think her heart was just too worn out after all these years, maybe if she had had the surgery done after Dad passed, but who knows, the same thing might have happened. My Mom passed away on May 23, 2020, some of you may have read her blog Jean's Tales. I miss her everyday. I used her cake holder the first time the other day and it made me cry, Hubby asked if I was okay, I said I just miss her, he said I miss her too. She told hubby after my Dad passed that she loved him like her own son. She was loved by so many who got to meet her. She was kind and generous and welcoming. She loved to laugh, and we'd laugh until we cried over nothing. But she could fuss as well, ;-) This lady made the best biscuits, we all loved them, neighbors, family and friends would check to see if there were any left if they came over. I made a video of her making them back in 2015, hoping I could eventually make them as well as her. I may one day get close, but they'll never be like hers. 

Take care, Sheila