Vegas, LA, Vegas - in 4 days

A few days before I left for St. Louis my Mom randomly landed herself in the hospital due to dehydration. For reasons still unknown she went into cardiac arrest which landed her in ICU. At the time I didn't get how serious that was...and neither did my Dad :) He had a party planned in LA and a lawyer class to attend the next weekend and was driving there with or without her. None of us kids were comfortable with my Dad driving to the grocery store let alone to California so I became his personal chauffeur.

I got home from St. Louis Monday night and left first thing (3am) on Thursday morning on a flight to Las Vegas. Dad and Keek picked me up at the airport and we headed straight to the hospital to see Mom. Holy Smokes. That was NOT my Mom. She had aged 50 years (making her at least 110) and couldn't talk or focus on my face as I talked to her and tried to make eye contact. It was one of the scariest things I'd ever seen. I felt like she was gone and I couldn't believe I'd lost my Mom just like that. I also couldn't believe I had been running around with my girlfriends all weekend when my Mom was in that bad of shape. I promised myself then and there I would never take being in the ICU as lightly as I had (I didn't realize at the time how soon the next trip to the SAME ICU room would be).

We stayed with Mom for a bit and I was amazed at Keek's patience as she talked with Mom and how she could understand her when she asked for ice which she couldn't have due to her inability to swallow. Poor Mom and her pica. She needed to chomp on ice and couldn't which made her cry which made us cry. Once she got a blood transfusion that went away. After an hour or so (time was stopped, I really have no idea how long we were there) we went home so I could take a nap before Dad and I left for LA. My brain was tired and when I'm stressed or sad I just want to curl up in a ball and take a nap so my bed was a welcome sight.

Dad and I drove to LA together (we needed to be there by 5 or 6 for the party) and had a great time. We talked and laughed and the drive went quickly. I couldn't believe how quickly and easily Dad got us right to the California Club. He navigated those freeways like a pro and would give me plenty of time and details so we never even misssed a turn. It was times like those that you grabbed onto the small hope that maybe we were wrong. Maybe he was fine! Funny how your brain does that.

We got there with just enough time for Dad to make sure the place cards were set just where he wanted them, made sure there were enough corsages for the women and to quickly shower and change. It was so great to see all the friends that were able to make it and man alive was it fancy :)



He had a special trophy ordered just for the occasion


and even though it didn't really make sense he thought it was super funny and had such a great time presenting it.



When he stood up to make his final speech (little did we know it really would be his final speech) I took a deep breath and prepared for the worst. He surprised me as he went through each friend that was there and said something nice about them.


It was touching and I cried (really hard) many times throughout the night. His friends were kind and when he started passing out random paperwork he had brought they smiled graciously and took them home. We hugged and laughed and it turned out to be a super fun party. He has nice friends (most of them from the LC 2 ward - so I knew them too)and it was great for me to feel the love in the room. Man I miss him.

Here's the group shot.
From left back: Shirl Cornwall, Randy Muhlstein, Carlton Callaway and his wife, Burt & Anne McCullough, Russ & Penny Barth, Joe Grigg, Betty Jo Tocolli, Grant Christiensen, Mike & Janie Lhamon, Jerry Regnier, the Bradfords. Front left, Ladelle Muhlstein, Joe & Joyce Goodsell, Dad and I Bonnie Christensen and Kim Regnier.


Here we are at the end of the LONG day waiting for the elevator so we can get to bed!


This was the view of the Bonaventure from my rollaway cot that night. Gorgeous.



I'll always be grateful for having had the chance to spend this weekend with him. The next day he had a class he attended so I spent the day lounging around and got a workout in on the roof of the California Club,



took a nap, watched TV, ordered room service and thoroughly enjoyed a little alone time.

We left around 5 o'clock and drove home to find Mom doing much better. I had a few more days in Vegas and it was nice to see the improvement she made every day. The talking got easier to understand, she seemed to recognize we were there (she had forgotten I'd been there a few days earlier) and she just got stronger every day. She was a good patient! I think that was the most surprising thing of all. I think she was so anxious to get outta there that she was willing to do whatever the nurses and OT's said. Before I left she had moved up to rehab and it looked like a few days there and then home for hopefully a full recovery. She ended up being in rehab a little longer and then checked herself out of the hospital (against the doctors orders - typical) but was good in doing her exercises. When she got home with her wheelchair she learned quickly that it would be much easier to just use the walker, which she did, which helped her get even stronger. I'm proud of her for her hard work and will be eternally grateful to have my Mom back. I didn't think she'd walk or talk again and it's amazing to see the progress she's made in just a few months. BIG sigh of relief.