A Fight for Life

How much suffering must one person bear? In August, while in the hospital recovering from surgery on her hip, her husband died suddenly on a Sunday morning. In deep shock and  pain she whispered, "I am going into a shell and stay there."
A few weeks later, at home, ill with an infection and still in great pain, she was unable to attend the memorial service for the man she had been married to for over half a century.
Three days later,  back to the emergency room at the hospital, her toes had turned deep blue. A blood clot developed in her leg and she underwent surgery again. She rallied and looks foreward to going home again. She says she will take  physical therapy. She wants a cat. She has a name picked out for the cat. I plan to give her Tiger. She would love Tiger.
Before she could go home, a week ago, another surgery - amputation of the leg that had the blood clot. 
Yesteday she was dismissed from the hospital and admitted to a nursing facility. Her pain still intense, but dulled with strong meds. One of her daughters visited and they talked. She seems to be improving, we hear.
We are all amazed. We have always known her determination. Like the pine on the cliff above the ocean, buffetted by the hard winds of life, she grew stronger and learned to bend instead of break.
We thought she might give up, have nothing to live for now that her husband is gone. She has undergone three major surgeries in two months. Still she fights to live.
Late last night, back in the hospital again, unable to breathe, her lungs have filled with fluid. We pray that this is not the end. We ask God to reward her determination, her super-human efforts to cling to life.