I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but life has been crazy. For the last few weeks, I've traveled to Tennessee for my sister's, Carliea, birthday. She wasn't doing well, and I wanted to come and see her on her birthday.
She had gastric bypass in March of 2011. She has been slowly losing the weight from 580 pounds. When I saw her at Christmas, she had reached a low of 385 pounds. She was so excited about losing the weight and was making plans for the rest of her life. At the end of May, she started gaining weight. She couldn't figure out why. She was retaining fluid. The doctors thought it was infection from a burn she had on her stomach from scalding water. She was in the hospital for about a week and came home before her birthday. While at the hospital, the doctor informed her she had Cirrhosis of the Liver. She turned 38 years old on June 15th. I drove in to see her for her birthday and to hope she had a good birthday. She was unable to get out of the bed or roll over due to the size of her stomach from the fluid retention. She ended up going to the hospital on the 17th, but they didn't keep her. They gave her an antibiotic and sent her home. She progressively worsened over the next week. My mother finally convinced her to go to the hospital. She knew she was dying. They took her by ambulance to Parkwest Hospital on June 26th. I left Myrtle Beach and drove to Knoxville hoping I come to better circumstances. While on the road, my niece called and said she was bad. Carliea was asking that I would hurry and get there. I arrived at 7:30pm. She passed away at 9:15pm.
I was so excited for her to be able to go and see Jesus! I was thinking this morning how much joy and peace she is feeling in Heaven. I could only imagine what the joy of the Lord feels like for a few moments, but to be filled with the joy of the Lord continually and never stop! Wow! No wonder everyone praises God continually. I wouldn't be to do anything else! I am so happy she is able to sing and dance and laugh! I can't imagine how beautiful she is now! She was so beautiful before! Oh, I can only imagine!
