Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles

Donna's admitting doctor came and talked with us tonight. He has confirmed that her successful journey through all this is an absolute MIRACLE. Had she not been IN the emergency room when she crashed that first night, the emergency room where there were literally eight doctors who came running, she would have died. She would have died if she had been in the emergency waiting room, in a patient room on another floor of the hospital, anywhere in the world other than in the emergency room triage. He said that she absolutely had god's hand on her to get her through this. He said remember this - doctors treat, god cures. When they recommended heart surgery, he told us that no one (not one of the doctors) expected her to live through it - but we all know how that turned out. This is the first time we actually had a chance to sit down and talk with this doctor and he was delightful. He told us that sure, he had seen similar cases, but none of them had this outcome, none of the patients survived. He told Donna - you must be very special and you must have some unfinished business to complete because you've been given a second chance.

So, here's more of the story - the doctors here are recommending that Donna stay here to continue her treatment. They believe she needs to continue receiving antibiotics via an IV for five more weeks. Sure, they could transfer her to a doctor in Visalia but they don't recommend that. They feel like there are so many complications - the heart, the infection, the stroke and so on that it wouldn't be a matter of just finding one doctor, but rather a whole TEAM of doctors. The recommendation is that she not start over and take any chances of interrupting this miraculous recovery that we are all witnessing. So, it's not confirmed, but it may be a little longer until she returns home to Visalia.

By the way, the doctors have determined that the bacterial infection that started all of this originated in her mouth. Apparently this type of bacteria looks for the weakest spot in the body, to set up a home base, and in Donna's case, as in many folks, it was her heart. They don't know how long the bacteria had been growing but as we may have mentioned before - what the doctors normally see as a "grain of salt" size infection was in fact a golf ball size "vegetation" growing on her heart valve. The bacteria could have been released into her blood stream from having her teeth cleaned, or who knows, we'll never know for sure. Still, once it entered her body and took up residence on her heart it was just a matter of time until her whole body was overcome by the infection.

And the rest of today's story - last night I asked Donna to touch her finger to her ear and she had no idea what I was talking about. I asked her to tell me her name and she couldn't. Tonight the doctor asked her to pick up her water glass with her right hand and put it in her left hand, and she did ! He then asked her what her name was and she said D, Do, Donna ! He asked her what he was holding in his hand and she said - Why, uhmmm it's a lovely, uhmmm a very nice, a uhmmm shiny, uhmmm good looking - pen ! And she was right! Then, she asked him if she could have it and we all burst out laughing. Her sense of humor has been heightened - she often finds humor in much of what is going on, she laughs at herself, makes faces, makes comments that have us rolling on the floor. Her comprehension is growing too - I saw it change exponentially from this morning to this evening. She is still struggling to "find" words to tell us what she's thinking but she hasn't quit trying and I doubt she ever will.