Funeral

Obituary/Funeral
I just found out that Laura's Funeral and Tribute video from the viewing are available on the Lindquist site. If you click the link above it will take you to the Obituary and just above it is the sound recording of the funeral and a link to the tribute video. I don't think it will be available for much longer.

Photo Post

Thank you mom

Today marks the 26th anniversary of the day I was born. A day that wouldn't have been with my beautiful Mother. I thought in honor of her I should post the tribute I read at her funeral. (As I typed it up I realized how much I lack in my ability to write especially in comparison with her talent so please forgive me for that). I only had two minutes to speak and tell her and all those who loved her how much I admired her. If I'd had longer I would have said more about the incredibly amazing mother and grandmother that she was and is. Since I was the last to speak my sisters had already done an amazing job of honoring her for that role. I decided to focus a little more on her desire to love and serve.

I may have inherited my mothers ability to talk but I did not inherit her ability to write. After many failed attempts trying to write about my mom Bryce suggested I just write her a letter telling her how I feel. 

Mom,

How can I even begin to thank you enough for everything you have done for me. You gave me a life and a home full of love. You have given me six amazing sisters to take care of me now that you are gone. Thank you for making me want to be a mother. You taught me to change a poopy diaper with a smile on my face! Thank you for holding me all those nights that I was sick. Something about your warm arms always made everything better. You are not only a mother to us but to every friend that ever walked through your door.

You have such an amazing way of answering the prayers of those you know and love and also of strangers you come across in need. The stories come flooding when I think of all those you have helped without a second thought. The woman broken down on the side of the road who was on the way to her wedding. You got her there on time. The mother who got off the bus 3 stops too late on a freezing day with her 2 young children. You drove her home without a second thought. Or the man with no hands that may have not needed the gloves you offered , but did need a break from carrying his groceries with his mouth and gladly accepted the ride home. You have shown me the importance of loving others and the big impact that small and simple things can have on a life. You are an example to us all. I love you and I am proud to be your daughter and to carry your name. 

Love Laura Lee

I love this Picture

Little Laura

Monica's Tribute to Mom

Monica is serving a mission at this difficult time but sent this tribute to be read at the funeral. We were all thankful she was able to watch the funeral live Via Skype. 

I don't have words to express any of my feelings. The dissapointment and grief has been crushing. When I received the call that mom had passed away many thoughts came to my head that I had to wrestle with. I questioned If I had a lack of faith, or was unworthy of the miracle I wanted so much. Then I was flooded with these thoughts. My mom is the miracle. My 22 years with her as my mother was a miracle. Her Family is a miracle. She's no longer in pain, that's a miracle. All my precious memories are a miracle. The Atonement is a miracle. The Restoration is a miracle. So I still believe in miracles, I have been witness to many. I'm so grateful she's not hurting or scared. I attribute so much of me to my mom, my love for children, my love for all the beautiful simple things, and so much more. I love Alma 40:12 "And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow." That's all i've ever wanted for you mom, it is quite thrilling to think of you having it. The moments you would look at me like I was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen or praise me for a poem i had written like I was the most talented person you'd ever met have done so much for me.I know i'm not but I know you really believed it. You've always loved poetry and i wish I had the talent to express all that I want but this poem is for you my angel mother.

The day has come too soon for me

My angel mother I cannot see,

Time here seems so very long

but in my heart you are a song,

A song of love and warmth so pure

The kind of song that will endure,

That's why a missionary I chose to be

To sing that song you've sung to me,

Thankyou for all you've taught

Something that could not be bought,

In this work I've had many tell me I'm wrong

but now more than ever I don't doubt the song,

Though in sorrow my head I bow

Because you're my angel mother now,

The truth is that's nothing new to me

My angel mother you've always been and will be.

It was a tender mercy to recieve you're birthday card early mom. I love you and like you so much too. I'm honored to be your baby. I am so grateful that even though you had your hands more than full you added me to the beautiful picture of your life. I miss you so much but i'm so excited for forever. I know you are the busiest most beautiful angel up there and now you have no limits and can serve all you've want.. wow i bet you're happy. This has turned into a letter to my mom but i would like to thank all of you for all the love and support. I want you to know I know that God lives and that families are forever!

In the near future I would like to add some key points from my mothers funeral, some of her poems, and pictures of her life. I know that not everyone was able to attend the service. It was beautiful just like her. I'll try to start updating sooner than later.
LauraLee

Thank You

Your love, support, and prayers have been felt at this difficult time. I have plenty I could and should say at this time but I am having a hard time finding the right words to express how I feel. So for now, thank you for everything.
LauraLee

Laura Workman Savage (August 26, 1954 - November 5, 2010)

OGDEN – Laura Workman Savage, 56, died on Friday, November 5, 2010, from injuries sustained in a car accident. She was born on August 26, 1954 to Dan and Barbara Workman. She married Mylan Savage on April 26, 1974 in the Logan LDS Temple.

She thrived on and excelled at being a mother and grandmother. Her creative mind and compassionate soul made her a truly remarkable person. We will miss her beautiful smile and her desire to make everyone around her comfortable and happy. She was always first to the rescue!

She received her Bachelor’s degree from Utah State in Early Childhood Education and Family Life. She was pursuing a master’s degree in Gerontology. She was a founding member of the Young Mothers Association in Cache Valley and organized many large craft boutiques.

She is survived by her husband Mylan Savage; parents Dan and Barbara Workman; mother-in-law Zenda Savage; daughters Jennifer (Mark) McBride, Melinda (Michael) Lomax, Barbara (Justin) Lether, Heather (Paul) Wykstra, Holly (Mark) Egan, Laura Lee (Bryce) Wheeler and Monica Savage (serving an LDS mission in Canada [Toronto East]); 15 grandchildren; and 8 brothers and sisters.

She was greeted by her grandson Maxwell, father-in-law and her grandparents.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Road. Friends and family may call Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. at the mortuary. Interment, Ogden City Cemetery.

Funeral - UPDATED

The funeral will be as follows:

11:00 am on Wednesday November 10th at the Layton Lindquist Mortuary (1867 N Fairfield Rd, Layton Ut 84041).

With a viewing on Tuesday night at the Mortuary from 6-8, and on Wednesday morning from 9:45 to 10:45.

Change of plans - she will be buried in the Ogden Cemetery following the service.

Many have asked where they can send Dad a note. His mailing address is PO Box 92, Kaysville Ut 84037.

PLEASE pray for Monica (our youngest sister) out in the Mission Field. Her Mission President has asked her to stay out in the field, so she won't be coming home for the funeral. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for her over these next couple of days.

Thanks for all the love and support.

Thank you

Thank you for all your support.
Laura passed away last night around 9 O'clock.  We all feel so sad, yet relieved that she is no longer in pain.  We feel so blessed for the two weeks we had with her, but we know that it was her time to go.  She was significantly less responsive throughout the day yesterday, and we could tell something was changing with her.  She waited until her husband arrived to spend the evening with her.  The hospital did try to stabalize her and revive her when her heart began to fail, but it was not God's will she lived.  We will post funeral information here when we finalize the arrangements this afternoon. 

working hard!

Mom is working hard everyday to try to regulate her own heart rate and breathing. The goal is to get her off the ventilator, she does really well at times but then gets anxious and has to depend more on the ventilator. She has a respitory therapist, a speech therapist and a physical therapist and maybe more i havent been there to meet who are all working very hard with her. She is being a real trooper, it is obvious that even the simple things like a thumbs up or blinking is very tiresome but I am sure she is giving it all shes got. She knows how much we all need her. Please keep those prayers going. I am sure they are giving her as well as our whole family much needed strength.
Heather

Moms Schedule

This is the schedule/info posted in moms room :

8:00 - 10:00 Therapy/Nursing Cares
10:00 - 11:00 Down Time
11:00 - 1:00 Visitors for short periods
1:00 - 3:00 Therapy/Nursing Cares
3:00 - 5:00 Down Time
5:00 - 8:00 Visitors for short periods until sleep hour, limit stimulation
8:00 pm to 8:00 am - Sleep time

Down time = Decreased environmental stimulation (lights down, tv off, limited conversation, allow her to rest quietly)

Please keep number of visitors at one time limited to a minimum. For optimal brain healing a balance between stimulation and down time is required.

If you are wanting to come visit mom and say hi she would love to see you during the visiting hours. When her brother Russ came to see her today she lit up and it really did seem to make her happy. If you are available to come sit for a few hours and read a book or something while mom rests so she is not alone you could give one of us girls a call and we could tell you when we are needing some help or work around your schedule too. We all appreciate all of your love and support and prayers so much.

In Transit

Change of plans again! Mom is going to Promise Hospital as I write this. Dad is with her. They decided not to put the permanent feeding tube in until the doctors at Promise could evaluate her more fully (on the chance that she won't need a permanent feeding tube.)

The Promise admissions team came to McKay this morning and everyone decided that it would be better to get her there as soon as possible so that they can start on the aggressive theropy.

We'll get their visiting hours and policies and then we want to make a visiting schedule. We are hoping to be able to have a family member with her whenever they will let us. However Dad needs to start working again, and we (the girls) need to start spending a little more time with our families :). We'll let you know as soon as we can what the needs are.

Thank you!!!

Moving upstairs

They'll move mom to the step-down unit on the third floor tomorrow. They are hoping get her into the LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) hospital by mid week. We went and toured the facility and feel confident about it. It is called Promise Hospital and is located in Salt Lake at 1050 E South Temple, 3rd Floor.

P.S. They did get her initiating her own breaths and doing some of the work. Her temperature was consistently good throughout the day. She is trying hard to move her mouth, but the movements so far have been very small.

step by step

Mom got her trac at 7:30 this morning. The nurse said that respitory will come and do therapy on her to see if they can get her initiating her own breaths and possibly doing some of the work.

Love this!

A friend shared this quote from Pres. Uchtdorf and I can't stop thinking about it!
"There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope, even when everything around us seems to contradict that hope."
Thank you for your love and support and Hope!

The Schedule

The rib surgery didn't do as much as they had hoped for mom's breathing, but it should help a lot with her pain.

It looks like they will give mom a tracheostomy [not sure how to spell that] early next week. She'll still be on her ventilator but it won't have to go through her mouth and should be a lot more comfortable. They will also put her feeding tube in through her belly so she won't have that going down her nose and throat.

Middle of next week we hope to be in the step down unit from the ICU, and they plan on moving her to a long term acute care facility near the end of next week. They said to plan on her being in this facility for 3-4 weeks where they will do aggressive rehabilitation and try to wean her off the ventilator. At that point they'll decide what type of facility she will go to next where she will stay for a much longer period of time.

The meeting with the doctors was very sobering. Her injuries are extreme, and there is still no way of predicting the outcome. The amount of progress she makes in the next few months will likely be life defining. Please pray for her! We are all full of faith that there are miracles available to our family. Thanks again for all the love and support.

Update

She had the surgery and they plated 4 of her ribs. They said she did well.

Today my dad was in the room when they rolled her to her side to check her epidural so that she was facing away from him when he said "that didn't seem to bother her too much." The nurse who was facing mom said that she rolled her eyes VERY distinctly at my dad's comment. My dad feels bad that he said that (he won't be happy I wrote it in here) but it makes me feel like she really is understanding a lot of what is going on around her.

We are having a family meeting tomorrow with her main doctor where they will bring us up to speed. Hopefully we'll have a lot of info to post tomorrow. Sleep well mom.

Surgery on her ribs

They've decided to take mom into surgery tomorrow to "plate her ribs." I guess this is uncommon (they usually just leave them alone) but the doctor says he thinks it will help her heal and get comfortable much more quickly. They haven't told us what time they will do it. More info when we have it!

Tonight

They got the epidural in and mom seemed much more relaxed afterwards. Good news from the doctor that her bowels are working (they've been concerned about that.)

Some have asked about the fever she's been running off and on. They've checked her for pneumonia and they say she doesn't have any signs of it right now "nothing is growing in the dish". Her fever was up to 102 again tonight and they can't give her any Tylenol because of her liver so they just keep her room cold and use ice packs to draw it down. The nurse said that this fever could just be part of the head injury - not necessarily an infection that they are unaware of.

The doctor said that our next big step is to try to get the ventilator out, and he's guessing that they will try to do that in a couple of days. Before they will even try she has to be awake enough and able to protect her own airway with neck control and with coughing. She hasn't coughed yet and that may be because of the pain and it may be a result of the brain injury. So let's all pray for a good cough!

She should have a good night without pain. I pray she does. Thanks for all the prayers, Mel

Family Fast

My dad has asked that we do a family fast this Sunday, with everyone breaking the fast with a prayer at 5:00 pm wherever they may be. If you would like to join us my sisters and I will be fasting specifically (among other things) that she will have peace and in graditude that her life was spared.

I was with mom yesterday and she opened her eyes for me. She blinked when I asked if she knew who I was and that was a huge relief to me. I can't imagine how confusing and scary it must be to wake up in that state. I know that the lack of knowlege about what we're dealing with is extrememly frustrating for me, and she is the least informed of us all.

She is still on a ventilator but initiating her own breaths. They are giving her an epidural today to help control the pain during breathing. I'm hoping that this means that we are getting closer to having them reduce the sedation for more than just a few minutes a few times a day.

She can have pictures on her wall and we are playing instrumental music to her (her favorite way to relax before the accident.)

Thank for all the love, support and prayers, Melinda

We know so many of you are anxious for an update on Laura so we will do our best to keep you informed. I just spoke with Heather, Laura's daughter, and she told me that the doctors will be giving her an epidural in the near future to help with the pain so they can begin to lower her sedation in an effort to work with her on her breathing. During her breaks from sedation she is communicating with her eyes, blinking and opening her eyes really wide in response to questions. Her ability to do this is extremely comforting to her family. We still don't know much concerning her brain injury. Time will be the biggest factor in evaluating the severity.
Laurie

On October 22nd, our mother, Laura had just picked up the wedding cake for her daughter's wedding when she drifted off of the freeway and into 2 poles. Her injuries include 12 broken ribs, broke​n vertebrae a​nd most concening a brain injury. We have been told that the spectrum of possibiliti​es is very broad and that ea​ch day will bring more information.​ Because so many want to know how she is doing, we will try to post the latest information as quickly as possible. Thank you for uniting your faith with ours in her behalf.