Update 2/16/2013

Well, it is Saturday and my mom is still in the ICU at South Austin Hospital. She anxiously awaits every day to hear that she is going home. All she wants to do is be out of that ICU. She can get up in her chair everyday, but then spends 8-9 hours looking at the same wall or set of windows that I am sure she cannot see out of (especially since it looks out onto a roof). It breaks my heart. I got to spend most of last week with her. Let me tell you, it is a lot of work. We wake up in the morning still very tired from the night before. If she is not in pain and needing meds, we proceed with our morning routine. If she is not feeling quite up to the tasks at hand, we chill out and wait for the pain meds to kick in. She has to have a bed bath, complete with a good lotion massage and dressing changes on several lines going into her body every morning. She has be exercised. There are lots of stretches and range of motion exercises that must be done as we continue to pray for returned feeling and healing to her body. The more her body is moved, the healthier her heart, lungs, and muscles will stay. We usually take a break after this for lunch. She is on continuous feeds through her feeding tube, but since I don't usually take time to eat breakfast I have to eat lunch. She is always wiped out by about noon and needs to rest in her chair with low stimulation for an hour or two. Sometimes I read to her as she rests, but once she is asleep I let her be. Rest is so important for her right now. As the after noon clock ticks on, we live the rest of the day in fifteen minute incraments. Every fifteen minutes she has to be tipped back in her chair for two minutes to prevent pressure sores. We set a timer and condition ourselves to change tasks at the beep. It is harder to talk to her when she is staring up at the ceiling. When she sits up, sometimes it feels like we just get into our book or into our conversation and the timer is beeping at us again. Time does go by though. Some evenings are routine, we get her back in bed and end the day with a not so pleasant list of tasks that I know she hates to not be able to do herself. Sometimes we start fighting the neurological damage that has been done. Her body cannot regulate it's temperature. Last week she was 94 degrees for a good half of a day as we desperately fought to raise her body temp. She always feels cold and will tell you. She wants six blankets from the warmer piled on her at night. Sometimes, though, she is running a fever and still feels so cold but we have to pull those blankets away from her. Those are the moments that seem so unfair. She just wants a blanket and to feel warm and I cannot give that to her. At times, I cannot get her body to respond and warm up for her. I spent a good two hours one night last week heating up towels with a blow dryer so I could wrap them around her face and body. The blankets don't stay warm long and I would cycle through reheating them as soon as fast as I could. They do have a blanket there that is called a bair hugger. It is hooked up to a machine that fills the blanket with warm air. It did not help her feel warm though. She cried. I cried. It was very hard. She spent most of the night cold. I spent most of the night trying to warmer her. We finally got enough pain meds in her that she was able to relax and sleep. I slept a few hours and found that it was morning again and time to start the routine over again. She is such a selfless person and even now gives all that she has, her smile, almost every minute of every day. I could not even imagine how hard it is for her at times to give that gift so selflessly, but she does. I told her in one of our mother daughter conversations last week that all I want is for her to be happy. She just needs to tell me what she needs and what to do so that she can be happy. She smiled so big and said " I AM happy." I cried again (I have never thought of myself as a crier, until now...). She truly is a blessing to me. I told her she cannot worry about a thing. Her job is to heal and get stronger. I told her I want to cherish every moment we have together and to make sure we have many happy moments. She liked that idea. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to spend so much time with her. Even with the lack of sleep, the difficult moments, and the helpless feeling I have when she is in pain, I would not trade these moments with anyone. I love being there for her. As I continue to try to find balance in my life, I fight the battle of not being there for my kids as I always have been able to be. We are looking for a house as close as we can get to her so I can cut this two and a half hour commute from my time. I have more important people to spend that time with right now that I cannot afford to be driving that much. All I can do is pray that something opens up in the near future for us there. I am trying to finish my degree at Texas State, which gives me the opportunity to be closer to her three days a week around my class schedule. She is scheduled to go home on Monday around noon. There has been so much done and given to our family already. I know it does not seem much to some, but when I add up all the driving to deliver meals and meals that have been made, I cry again. For six months, we have been so engulfed by this life tragedy that it seems that we cannot think of ourselves when it comes to things like eating or sleeping (or sometimes showering). Please forgive our lack of neediness. A care calendar has been put together and will be updated weekly with the needs of my mom and dad as they continue to endure this trial. If you have been wanting to help or visit, please log in frequently to the care calendar and help where you can. Here is the information you will need to do so (please pass along this info to anyone that is interested): Access online calendar: http://www.carecalendar.org/ Calendar number: 139826 Security code for helpers: 9999 email: care4carla@gmail.com

Heart Decorations!

My mom is still in the icu. We are getting closer to her going home. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday she will be released and headed home. I am wanting to cover her wall in hearts with wishes and messages from friends. I am staying at the hospital with her but will get a short break this afternoon. I am going to start cutting hearts out, lots of hearts. If you would like a message on one of those hearts, email the message to prayers4carla@hotmail.com. I will get them up while she sleeps tonight and post some pictures tomorrow. Thanks for all he love you have shown to her. I will write on the hearts as long as I get emails.

Update 2/10/2013

My mom is doing well in the ICU still. Her good friend visited yesterday and did her hair and nails. She has asked for weeks for someone to color her hair. The home health company has been working hard to restaff the position for my mom. There will be two nurses at all times around the clock at her home. She should be going home on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. I will keep you updated if plans change.

update Feb 5

My mom made it back to Texas yesterday. The flight was rough on her and they got home to missing equipment and stafing. The decision was made that she need to be taken to the icu, so was brought To St. David's south Austin hospital. She had a good night here, but has had an emotional day. She wants to be home. We are having issues with the home health company and right now do not know if that will be an option anymore.

Welcoming Home!

We would like to invite ALL who have been following progress of our dear friend Carla Bischoff to Welcome her HOME. We want to stress that all we will be doing is lining the road leading to her HOME, so we can wave to her and let her know we have not forgotten her while she has been recovering in Colorado. Please share this invite with all who you think would like to know. We will NOT be staying to see her, as this will be difficult as she will need to be transferred into her house. There will be traine...d medical staff to accomplish this and limited family and friends who have been invited to help with her needs in arrival. Please do not be disappointed if you do not get to SEE HER, but know that you being there will touch her deeply. We would like to gather to take a photo of all who attend, to let her see your loving faces in a photo, so she will SEE that YOU came. We, her friends, do not want her to feel she has been forgotten, and we don't want to overwhelm her or the family. We still want as many as we can get to COME OUT! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, arrange your day to come. We will meet at the HOME DEPOT PARKING LOT corner in DRIPPING SPRINGS AT 260 US HWY 290. MEET AT 11:40 am Her estimated time of arrival at home is between 12 noon and 1pm. We will gather there and carpool to the home and line the road and take a photo in front of their home! I am so excited to show her our love, please join us!

Update Feb 13

My mom is still in the icu. We are getting closer to her going home. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday she will be released and headed home. I am wanting to cover her wall in hearts with wishes and messages from friends. I am staying at the hospital with her but will get a short break this afternoon. I am going to start cutting hearts out, lots of hearts. If you would like a message on one of those hearts, email the message to prayers4carla@hotmail.com. I will get them up while she sleeps tonight and post some pictures tomorrow. Thanks for all he love you have shown to her. I will write on the hearts as long as I get emails.