It's like the bombing of the Twin Towers or the day Kennedy was shot, I will always remember exactly what I was doing when I got the phone call, standing on top of my cabinets putting wall paper boarder up, with thoughts of having everything done by Christmas.  I let the phone ring and didn't answer thinking I could call whoever it was back when I got in a better position. When I got the message from Rob to call them back I really didn't realize that the number was to the hospital and not the nursing home where mom was staying.  Still not real alarmed I called back and got Kaye to the phone.  The next few seconds were like waves of shock as Kaye began to tell me that my mother was slowly bleeding to death and the doctors were suggesting comfort measures to let her go peacefully, and was calling in the families. Ardis and Bob were already there along with Kaye's daughter Dina.  The hospital did not have enough of the plasma she needed to keep her going so they had been getting blood from other hospitals in other counties but, nothing seemed to be working.  There was a terrible ice storm making it dangerous and slow for the people doing the tranfers. I remembered her saying something about a blood clot, blood thinner, and a possible broken leg.  But, of course nothing really registered till later.  

After hanging up I called my daughter, Jennifer, to come home that Mom was dying and I needed someone with me (It was also her birthday which I completely forgot).  She called David and told him that Mom had died and he needed to get home.  I obviously was not very clear while I was speaking to her.

Once he got home we started making plans to go to Nebraska, I called work to let them know what was going on and that I would not be in for awhile.  Before, we could get all of the plans together, Kaye called back to say that they were going to transfer Mom to Denver as they felt she may have a better chance there, and that we shouldn't do anything until we heard back from them. Her doctor was not happy about the decision but, finally let Mom go.
  
It was during that second phone call that I began to learn more about what had been going on. Mom had formed another blood clot in her leg and was given blood thinners that she was injecting herself.  She had been feeling bad the day before and noticed a huge purple place on her stomach. She called Kaye to take her to the doctor which Kaye did as soon as she got to the nursing home.  Mom's regular doctor had been away having his own medical problems so had been seeing another doctor in his place, the same doctor that gave her the blood thinners.  She told mom that she was obviously bleeding out somewhere, to discontinue the use of the injections and come back the next day for an x-ray to determine where the bleeding was coming from.  She didn't give her any other medication at that time.  Kaye took her back to the nursing home and with in  a few short hours was called once again to Mom's room.  She had passed out in the bathroom and she needed to get to the hospital.  I'm not sure if Kaye took her or if the ambulance was called.  

Once in the emergency room the doctor ordered x-rays.  Kaye said that the nurses told the her that  Mom was to weak to stand up and felt that they should get a portable  x-ray machine but, the doctor insisted that Mom would be fine and could handle it.  That turned out to be the biggest mistake of all.  Kaye said she could hear the pop, and mom's scream all the way in the room where she was.   Mom had grown weak and couldn't stand, letting her legs give away under her. The x-ray technicians immediately did an x-ray of  her hip only to reveal that there was no break.  

The other x-rays did reveal the bleeding from her stomach in to the abdominal wall.  The  staff worked all that day and through the night trying to get the bleeding stopped and bring her vitals back up, to no avail.  All during this time Mom was in great pain, her abdominal pains came like contractions during labor.  But, her biggest complaint was the pain in her leg, of which the staff kept telling her that her leg was fine and not to worry about it as the x-ray showed no break.  

Now it was Kaye's turn to make a decision, one that she has gone over in her head a million times. Did she do the right thing?  I know my mother.  She was strong willed and a fighter, having a way of coming through things many would have given up on, she was not a quitter.  It was Rob that first mentioned taking Mom to another hospital, and after some deliberation the decision to go was made and the plans were set in motion.  Due to the ice storm it was determined that it would be impossible to go east to Omaha, so Mom was going to Denver.  She would fly out of Hugo, on a helicopter and Kaye and Rob would meet her there as soon as they could.  This meant moving her from her bed to a stretcher, on to the ambulance to Hugo, and then on the helicopter.  I'm not sure what was greater for mom,  the pain she was experiencing or the fear of what was happening to her.  

She was never real fond of flying and here she is on this little tiny board getting on a helicopter in a little tiny space.  Not something she would have done under any other circumstances but, even in her frame of mind she knew it was for her own good.  The nurse that went with her from the hospital is the one who told the flight attendants to be sure that someone checked out her right leg when they got her to Denver, that she felt sure there was something wrong with it.  So, Mom was on her way, Kaye and Rob were making their plans for a long stay and I was waiting for yet another phone call.  It seemed as though time had stood still, with nothing left to do but pray and wait.

The call finally came.  Mom had arrived safely and Rob and Kaye were there with her and most of the results were in.  The bleeding would not be hard to stop and Mom was going to live however, they did find that she had broken her leg which would require some major surgery that would have to wait until they had her more stabilized.  They immediately put her in traction to ease the pain, and began the long road to getting her back to where she was before this all started.

It was determined that Dave and I would wait and see how things went before we went out there as there was really nothing we could do and we may be needed worse later.  A decision I have regretted many times since.  I decided to go back to work that night.  I was a cashier at Wal Mart, and it was Christmas time.  I am probably the only person who truly loved my job at that point.  I remember telling my customers that I had already had the only Christmas present I needed, a true Christmas miracle,  God had given me my mother back.  I knew she had a long way to go but, in my mind I just knew everything would work out.