So as I mentioned in my last article, Mom was in the hospital for double pneumonia and reactions to medication at the age of 94. A very sick woman. Actually, she came close to dying about six times in two weeks, that’s how sick she was. But each time, she pulled through, miraculously.

Health-care being what it is now, if the hospitals can’t cure you in two weeks, they have to either suggest a new procedure or move you someplace else where you can recuperate. So after two weeks, when Mom really wasn’t getting much better, the doctors did their doctor thing. They suggested a new, highly risky procedure. They wanted to insert a permanent chest tube to help drain the fluid from mom’s lungs, and teach her how to drain and clean the tube regularly. Mom was lucid enough for this to be her decision, thankfully. But she wanted everyone’s input. We researched what we could, and shared our findings. This was a high risk procedure that could lead to death or at the least, infection which could then lead to death. Not to mention, it involved anesthetic, something not recommended for a 94 year old. As siblings, our vote was no. Mom’s vote was no for similar reasons. She didn’t want to go through with the procedure because she didn’t think she needed to. One doctor had said that some people just have their lung fluid dry up on their own, without needing continual aspiration. And that was her choice. To dry up on her own.

In order to do that, she needed to be moved to a rehabilitation center where they would work with her lungs and breathing, and monitor her pneumonia and see what they could do to facilitate healing. The doctors at the hospital acted like they were sending her home to die.

Not Mom. She wasn’t going home to die. She was going to rehab to get better, and then going home. All along, that was her plan. It didn’t matter that her lungs were more than fifty percent filled with fluid. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t walk any more because it had been so long since she had left the bed. It didn’t matter that she had developed a blood clot in her leg and was on a blood thinner to keep it from going to her lung. She was moving in the direction she wanted to go. Home.

After a month in rehab, Mom was strong enough to go home, although we as siblings felt that doing so might be a short term solution. Yes, she was strong enough to go home, but she needed 24 hour care, and monitoring by a nurse. It took a lot of work and expense to make all that care happen. But it’s what Mom wanted, and we didn’t want to deny her of that.

When she left rehab, the nurses said to her, “Do you realize your lungs are free of fluid? Do you know how lucky you are? We are calling you The Miracle Lady! Because when you first came in, we didn’t know how much longer you would live. But look at you! Free of pneumonia! That is so terrific!”

What did it take for her to be The Miracle Lady? Certainly her intentions. She kept telling the doctors, “I’m not ready to die yet.” And her belief that her lungs could dry up on their own, and be free of fluid.

I believe another reason she became The Miracle Lady was all our prayers. Not just the family, but all the other people who said, “I’ll send a prayer for your mother.” Her church, her friends and acquaintances, our friends and acquaintances, everyone sent prayers.

And I believe unconditionally, that one of the biggest reasons Mom became The Miracle Lady was because for the entire time she was in rehab, I was working on the telesummit, When Heaven Touches Earth: Miracles really are for everyone. When you concentrate on miracles for 30 days, what do you get? More miracles. Every day I would get up at 5AM and work on the telesummit until 2PM. Then I’d go to Mom’s, and most times have dinner with her and stay until around 7PM or so. I’d come back to my sister’s and either work some more or have time with her until I fell into bed at 10PM. And start all over the next day. I was interviewing authors on their miracles. I was creating a telesummit website on miracles. I was advertising miracles. And Mom was the walking miracle result.

Intention, Prayer, and Concentration equals Miracles. What a prescription I wish more doctors would write!