Please Pray

Thanksgiving 2008

My grandmother, Memere, was admitted to the hospital last night because she was having breathing troubles. This has been going on for some time, but it got bad enough that her doctor told my aunt to take her to the ER. They ran some tests this morning and found that she has fluid in her lungs and around her heart and are keeping her until mid-week next week. She has poor kidney function, which we've also known about for some time, and they believe her kidneys' inability to regulate the fluid in her body has caused this. She has already had the procedure done so that she would be ready for dialysis whenever the time came, and now it's here. Both my aunt and her home health nurse will be trained to administer dialysis so that she does not have to go to a center for treatment and can do it from home.

Memere (French for grandma) is such an incredibly strong woman; it's so hard to see her going through the health struggles as she has been. In addition to all of this, she has some form of dementia, which has been very tough for her to deal with. This is a woman who lost her husband prematurely and had six children, five who were still at home. She took over the family business and ran it successfully until she sold it around 2000 (that means she retired in her early 70s). She's so incredibly independent (she never remarried), so it is so hard for her to not be able to get up and go and to have to rely on people to do a lot for her. She knows her mind isn't what it used to be (in a big way). She also just lost her last living sister last week. She has two brothers that are still alive out of 13 siblings. She also has 14 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, a few grandchildren-in-laws, and lots of other family and friends who respect and love her deeply.

I request your prayers specifically for the following things:

• The fluid in her lungs and around her heart disappears.
• Her comfort and spirits through her hospital admission.
• My aunt and her home health nurse successfully learn how to administer her dialysis treatments.
• Dialysis substantially improves her quality of life by giving her kidneys the ability to regulate the fluid in her body.
• Her memory does not continue to deteriorate to the point that she is unable to live independently.

We know that we will lose her one day, but we'd just like to keep her around as long as she's happy and comfortable. She is amazing.