Mom's Final Post

Mom, Indy and Kyle on a cruise in 2007. My mom loved to travel!

My mom, Janet Drusilla Ogden West passed away two weeks ago. She had just started a blog and this was her third and final post. I think it deserves an audience. She couldn't wait to start her new healthy life. She had no idea how healthy she would soon be. I can't imagine how pain free and healthy she must be now. She has been so sick for so long. She passed away from what the doctors guess was a heart attack. It was sudden and quick. We are all still in shock. So as we get ready to say goodbye to 2008, I felt it was a good time to post her final post. I am looking forward to 2009 and pray that it will be a better year. Here's to a new year.

THE PITY PARTY IS OVER

The last three years have been a test of my faith, mental tenacity and physical endurance. I have an autoimmune disorder and have had medical problems related to this for the past 25 years.

Three years ago, about this time of year, I went into a coma. I had a new Dr. and I thank the Lord that he was there for me. He knew how to treat me and within a week I was out of the coma and getting better. Then I kept having flare-ups of my disorder and always seemed to be sick. I was put on large doses of Prednisone to stabilize me. Prednisone weakens the bones-I was soon to find out the hard way.

First, I broke my arm, then I had to have a hip replacement. A couple of months later, I was sitting in my reading chair and suddenly became cold and clammy. I told my husband to call 911-I thought I was going to die. I suffered a cardiac arrest. They shocked me 5 times at the hospital to bring me back and transferred me to a bigger hospital. The Dr's. said they had never had someone survive with their potassium level as high as mine was. My kidneys were affected and not filtering out the potassium. About a month later I was diagnosed with pneumonia and was hospitalized. I was out of the hospital and getting stronger when I almost passed out as I awoke to go downstairs. My husband caught me and said to put my arms around his neck and he tried to get me back in bed. I couldn't hold on to him and I fell and fractured both bones in my lower leg and dislocated my ankle. I had to have surgery and pins, plates and screws went into both lower bones and the ankle was positioned in place.


This was about a year to the day that all my troubles started. I was so ready to get on with my life. We even went to Las Vegas with me in a cast and My hubbie wheeled me around in a wheelchair. Then for eight months I battled with a MRSA infection which finally ended up with surgery to take all the hardware out of my leg. It's been 4 months and I am still having some difficulty walking.

In the last two years I have lost 70 pounds and it is easier for me to get around. In June I had a little scare. My Dr. said I had a mass on my pancreas. It was removed and was not malignant.

One week ago we came home from a Mediterranean cruise. My husband couldn't believe that I could keep up with him-walking all over the Coliseum in Rome, up 94 steps to the Acropolis, and walking through Pompeii on the uneven and quite dangerous terrain. This was a test of my strength and endurance and I passed with flying colors and know that I am ready to stay strong and take on the world.



Mom (waiting on her Caribbean drink) & Dad at Costa Maya, Mexico in 2007


I am done with all this bad stuff--I'm ready to live again! And next time we take a cruise it is going to be in the Caribbean with Reggae music and tropical drinks served by handsome men from all over the world. And if I see one more ruin I'm going to throw one of those rocks at my hubby for walking me all over the Roman Empire! But the good thing I found out was that I am back, strong and stubborn as ever. No more pity parties!