ITS HARD TO SLEEP TONIGHT.....03.14.2012...Barbara H.....

...I'm not worrying

but praying and thinking about how long our family has

known Cindy Snell Wolff.

I first met her when she walked to the school bus and

climbed on to travel to kindergarten with my daughter

Beth.

Cindy's father had brought her because her mom had

Multiple Sclerosis and could not make it to the bus stop.

Cindy and Beth were both five years old and have remained

friends from that day to this and have never lived more

than ten miles apart, although they have traveled a life

together.

Beth and Cindy are 46 now and their birthdays fall in

November with Beth a few days older than Cindy,

something Cindy has always teased Beth about with

birthday cards hinting at her being the older woman.

Cindy always plots ways with Beth's two girls, Morgan

and Kayleigh to push the issue.

Beth knew that Cindy had been suffering headaches

but did not realize the extent of the pain, although she

had told Cindy that she should certainly get herself to

the family doctor.

Beth is the school nurse for the same school district the

two had attended and Cindy always teased her about

that fact too, saying Beth was such a stickler in health

matters.

Last week Cindy awoke with such pain that her husband,

Steve, took her to the emergency room where she was

evaluated and promptly taken by ambulance to the

Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh where she underwent

surgery for a brain aneurism.

Although her condition is better today than yesterday, she

remains in intensive care and in critical condition.

Her situation is very tenuous.

She had pressure on the brain which the doctors lessened

with an opening in the front of her skull and they did a

newer procedure which involved spiraling a wire into the

aneurism at the back of her brain area and placing a drain to

empty the blood and allow for healing.

She was treated with Lasix which helps alleviate fluid

buildup that was inhibiting her breathing and she is

breathing more easily but with a mask that helps force

the oxygen.

The doctors are trying everything to keep from using a

ventilator but each time they remove the oxygen her

pressure goes down and they need it higher to keep

the blood flowing freely and preventing a stroke.

She has already developed a blood clot in her leg and

they placed a filter in the area to keep the clot from

traveling to the lungs and heart.

Beth has been trying to visit Cindy after work as often

as she is able and soothes her in telling her that her only

job is to stay calm, deep breathe and let the doctors care

for her.

Cindy has been removing her mask to try to have sips of

liquid and Beth found a small opening through which Cindy

could use a straw.

When Beth left this evening Cindy was enjoying the first

taste of diet pepsi she has had in weeks. She has been

limited to ice chips and was promised her first real

breakfast tomorrow morning.

Cindy's husband Steve has stayed with her for seven days

now, with their son and daughter traveling to Pittsburgh

along with their Aunt Linda each day.

The same Aunt Linda that was taken to the same hospital

by lifeflight in December after being critically injured in

a head on crash.

My husband Bill was in ICU at Presbyterian at that time

and Beth and Cindy, who were visiting him, were called to

the emergency area to find Aunt Linda being rushed to

 surgery.

Linda is walking again after having bolts and plates placed

in her legs and hip and weeks of physical therapy but still

has only partial use of her left hand.

At the time of the accident she had just returned from a

shopping trip with her daughter who was to be married

in three weeks.

Just last year Linda became a widow when her husband

died after years of suffering Multiple Sclerosis.

Cindy was the primary caregiver for her dear grandmother

when she fell ill seven years ago and has been sharing

her care with her cousin until Mrs. Snell died last year just

before Linda's husband.

It has been one thing after another for Cindy and her

family and each member has stepped up to the plate in

any way they could to help each other, never though,

as much as Cindy with Beth at her back.

What Cindy is going through is quite a lesson about the

way life seems to work. Givers give until they can't

anymore, then someone else must step up to shoulder

the task.

I'm not worried, I'm praying and thinking that Cindy has

so many years before her. A son who is attending college

and a daughter who has a key role in the high school

musical, Music Man in May and Cindy has never missed a

school function.

I'm thinking I don't want her to miss this one either.

I guess I'm hoping there will be so many prayers and

well wishers that she won't.

03.13.2012

Barbara H.