Things are tough down on the ranch. I’m cross-posting an entry from my Mom’s blog written by my sister. Mom probably won’t be real pleased about the world knowing she’s sick, but I know some mighty prayer warriors read this blog.

To give you a bit of back-story, my mom had much of her liver removed a few years ago due to cancer. You may know that earlier this year she was in a serious car wreck that cost her her spleen. So, now, with no spleen and half a liver, her body has a hard time filtering her blood. The prevailing opinion is that this has lead to some complications in her liver. The ducts that “drain” the toxins from her liver into her intestine have become swollen and are now blocked.

Last I wrote, Dad was trying to get [Mom] to Scott & White for a procedure that would open ducts from her liver. … She was holding tough, but she was not good. Lifting her head made her dizzy, her speech was slurred because her tongue was a little swollen, and so forth. She also was beginning to get jaundice since Monday, maybe Sunday. She stayed reclined most of the time and felt fatigued quickly.

Dad managed to get the procedure scheduled for this Thursday morning, so they left La Grange about 4 a.m. I talked to Dad at 11:30 a.m., and he sounded weary and deflated. He said, “The procedure didn’t work.” The line the doctor ran down from Mom’s throat to her liver would not go through the compressed duct at all. It is either too inflamed, or something is pressing it that hard. They don’t know why.

Another procedure is schedule for tomorrow, something about going in through a needle into her side. Dad said, at the time I talked to him, that Mom was not coherent yet, so she hadn’t heard the news. It is possible that the doctors will order a PET scan to show them what the CAT scan could not.

I had planned a visit for this weekend, so I’ve got Friday off work already. Looks like I might be headed to the hospital rather than the ranch. But, as we’ve all learned, plans aren’t worth much.