True Story Tuesday!

Two years ago, on March 28th (two days after my birthday, three days before my anniversary) I went to bed with my husband talking about the weekend and how we were going to celebrate both my birthday and our anniversary the next night, making a plan and just talking. I had just rolled over to go to sleep when the phone rang. I looked at the clock, midnight, who in the world could be calling me at midnight? It was my mom, her sister, Aunt Maxine, had been taken to the ER. Something happened and I couldn't understand but Aunt Maxine was on life support and I needed to get there right away.




Maxine had been sick for about a week, everything that she ate would come straight back up. Everything that passed her lips would pass them again. Finally she decided that maybe she had a blockage and went to the ER, she told them she thought maybe a blockage, but she was hurting so badly. She needed something for pain. They gave her Demerol. She'd had an allergic reaction to Demerol the last time that they gave it to her, but it was only itching and hot flashes, a few whelps. This time she went into antifalaptic shock. I didn't know what that meant, but basically all of her organs shut down immediately. She couldn't breathe and she flat lined. She was now on life support and the next few hours were crucial. As our family stood there shocked they moved the most vibrant part of our family to the ICU and we prayed.



Seven days later she was still on life support, and things were not looking good her kidneys were failing. They decided that she needed to be at Piedmont Medical Center, about 30 miles away, because she needed dialysis and they didn't have the equipment here. They moved her in an ambulance, my mother followed them in her car, and she didn't want Maxine to be alone. As soon as the ambulance turned into the road that PMC is on the lights flashed on, the sirens screamed and they went at lightning speed. She had crashed again; they were putting the paddles up when my mom arrived. She was back again, for now at least. They moved her to the Critical Care Unit, limited our visitation, and gave us little hope.



On Saturday, 14 days after this had began, I was about to leave to go see her when my mom called. We were all meeting at my grandmother’s house. I knew that this wasn't good. On the way over I called Jackie, my mother in law. She was with the women at our church, in Nashville, at a women’s conference. They had about 60 women standing right there praying for my aunt. The Doctors had done a brain scan and found NO BRAIN ACTIVITY. It was time to decide what to do, in other words, it's time to unplug the machines.



Maxine is my favorite aunt. She is the one that was so fun, always into something acting more our age than hers. I spent most of my summer at her house, most of my weekends and I loved her so much. I just couldn't believe that they had decided to give up on her. She was a mouthy, opinionated, pushy, and bullheaded; it's my way or the highway kind of person. She could and would fight this. The decision had been made to remove the machines and fill the room with the people that she loved.



I was praying hard, so very hard. Please God not this. That's all I could say in my brain, that's all that it would think. Please God no, not this. Between my prayers the song "Thank you Lord" kept running through my head, my heart. I was getting so mad at myself. I didn't want to say "Thank you" I wanted to say NO No No! When we got there, they took us to a room and brought her in. She had been taken off the respirator and everything unplugged. They told us it was just a matter of time when her heart and lungs stopped. Two hours later it was about 6:30 pm, and I had to leave to get Cameron. He was 30 min away at my in laws, and we live about 45 minutes from them. I had not seen him all weekend and I needed to explain to him what was going on and give him time to digest it before bed time.



I had just laid down when the phone rang. It was 10:00 and my mom was calling. I started crying before I picked up the phone, I knew why she was calling, it was over. But it wasn't. Maxine had woke up and asked for my Grandma. She had told my cousin (her daughter) to move, she rolled over by herself. She said I Love You. She recognized my mom, and my grandma, her brothers her daughters. She couldn't talk real good, but she was talking.



Two years later, we realized that the miracle that we asked for isn't as we had hoped but none the less it is a miracle and we got it. Maxine has a lot of health problems from the whole ordeal. She has some brain damage, and forgets things easily. She had forgotten about the death of her father, uncle, cousin & two granddaughters. She lost them all again in one weekend - because she asked and we had to tell. It was hard. She has lost a lot of her memories and decision making skills. On a good day, she is as normal as she was before. On a bad day, she is like a child in some ways. But she is here; we have the chance to tell her all the things that we wanted. The most amazing part is that she remembers seeing Jesus. She remembers Him telling her she had to go back. It wasn't her time yet.



We got our miracle. Thanks for coming - I know this is kinda sad - but it's still got a happy ending! 



That’s my true story for today. If you would like to share a true story please go see Rachel and Mr. Daddy here and link up!