Thursday Update #1 - 10:15am

Good morning! Another round of reports from Zale Lipshy! But today may be our last day of reports from the hospital!!! Dr. Madden came in this morning and said that if she continues to have a good morning that they might dismiss her this afternoon!!! We are so excited!

Dr. Isaacson just left the room and we got a good report. He was pleased with her progress. He said that we would continue to watch her hearing and see what it does. Mom said she could hear things out of that ear and he asked if she had talked on the phone yet. He said that would be a true test of her hearing. So... mom got on Loren's phone and she called Bo out in the hall and she could hear him on the phone! Dr. Isaacson was very glad that she could hear on the phone -- he said that was a good sign. He said that they would be dismissing her today. Yahoo!!! I think they are planning on staying at our hotel again tonight and then maybe starting out for home in the morning. But they are excited about a good night's sleep. They were up and down all night with vitamins, vitals, blood draws, etc... Mom is back to her old self this morning. She is spunky and is ready to get out of here! Her face looks so much better. The swelling has gone down a lot and she looks so good!

You know, this week has been a week of metaphorical and literal 'mountains' in our lives. The anticipation leading up to mom's surgery was torture on mom and the rest of us. Just not knowing what to expect and the worry for mom was about to eat us alive. But we knew that our God is in control and that mom is covered by his healing hand. So once Monday was over and mom was out of surgery, I felt like we had scaled that 'mountain'. Then we got a phone call that night from Kyle. He was letting me know that the guys had made it up the mountain to Cordova. This mountain, part of the Andes mountain range, is 13,000 feet above sea level. The road up the mountain is one lane on most stretches and is treacherous at times. So once we knew he was safe on top of that big mountain, there was another mountain we had conquered! Poopsie shared some wisdom with Kyle before he left - she said that God won't send Kyle anywhere that God's grace won't protect him. And we felt that way with mom too. We know that God had our whole week in His control.

So, as I speak, they are taking her IV out and we are about to get her in the shower to wash her hair and take a bath. Then as soon as they get her discharge papers ready, we will get her across the street to the hotel! I will post again this evening. As I have said before, we can't thank you enough for all your prayers for mom. God is good, all the time!!! Love!