Today my mom, brother, cousin, and I went to the hospital to
visit my grandma. When we got there the
nurse had told us that she had just fallen asleep and would be drowsy from the
morphine. When we went in I was glad to
see that she was getting better. The
last time I had seen her, she was still not moving and had the ventilator tube
in her throat. But today, she forced
herself to stay awake even though she couldn't talk yet. She responded by staring at whoever was
talking and when someone made a joke she would heave like she was laughing.
Let me go back and explain.
My grandma was admitted to the hospital a few weeks back because she had
an infection that would have killed her.
That Saturday, my whole family was at the hospital all day waiting to
hear some news about how she was doing. The doctor had come and told us that she
needed surgery. Without the surgery she
would have died for sure. With the
surgery there was a slim chance for survival.
We stayed at the hospital the whole day waiting for the surgery. People dealt with it in different ways. Some cried, some made jokes to lighten the
mood, and some people just acted like she was going to be fine. I was in the latter of the 2 groups.
After the surgery, my cousin, brother and I were in our grandmas’
hospital room, we had to wear gloves, a mask, and a gown to be in her room and
I couldn’t help but feel slightly like a doctor in all that gear. I looked at my cousin and brother and
mentioned this then, with a straight face I look at them and demand for a scalpel. Once we got out of the room, my cousin and
brother both slapped me and said what I did was not funny and uncalled for. My mom had asked what I did and we told
her. Her response was “What’s wrong with
that? Grandma would have laughed”. Anyway, a few weeks later, we learned she had
a new infection in her chest and told us we needed to wash with special hand
soap before we left. The days between
that Saturday and this past Monday were rough on my family at least up until we
received news a few days back that she was doing better and finally waking up.
I hope things are getting better for you and you family. Watching sick loved ones in the hospital Is hard for anybody. Family is one of the most important things on this earth. They help shape you as a person by the way the support and teach you through out your life time. Sounds lik your family is pretty close and thats good. My family is more seperated in thier support. My grandma passed away in 1994 and I wasn't allowed to miss school to travel the several states over to see her before she went. It's something I hold against them to this day. I grew up in Oregon and she lived in Nebraska. I wish I whould have gotten the opportunity to get to know her a lot better. Cerish every moment you have with family, it's important. I wish we had the means to visit my home state more so my kids and my family could get to know each other better. Again, I sorry to her she's sick and I hope she recovers soon.
ReplyDeleteAdam, just checking in to see how you, your family, and your grandma is doing. Its been awhile since you posted and we haven't heard any updates ,and Im concerned. I hope your grandma is doing better by now and is out of the hospital. Im glad to hear that you and your family took time out of your busy schedule to be with your grandma while she was going through surgery. That shows that your family is loving and caring and very very close to each other. Cherish every moment you can with yuour grandma. Time is of the essence and once its gone its gone and their is no way to bring it back. I can relate to what you are saying. I was in the same situation as you, but it happened to my mother not my grandma. My mother was having problems with falling all the time and no one was ever around when it would happen. By the time she had fell for the forth time, (these all happened within three months of each other). She ended up going to the hospital and staying for a month. She ended up having broken ribs. They evenually sent her home and before the family knew it she was back in the hospital. Here they found out that she had internal bleeding and so they had to do a quick surgery to try to stop the bleeding. On top of all that she ended up getting staff infection at the hospital. She was eventually put into three different nursing homes. The last one was when she started to get worse. The doctor had to keep doing surgery to stop the bleeding which led her to have a big hole on the side of her stomach. Than one day the doctor said he thougt she would not be able to go thru any more scapping of the skin to get rid of the staff infection. My mother was eventually put into the Hospice Center. And like you the family was called in. Their was not one day that I left. I ate their, slept their and talked to her. So I hope your grandma is doing better and if she is home im glad she had a speedy recovery.
DeleteThsnk you both very much she has been doing a lot better lately. She was taken out of the nursing home, and the infection in her chest has cleared up. Since then she has been slightly more active getting out every once in a while. Even though she's doing better, she won't eat unless she's forced too, but someone from my family is always there to at least force her to eat something. I'm sure after a while she will get her appetite back. Karie, I'm sorry to hear that you aren't that close to your family, that's something everyone should have (Though I'm kind of a hypocrite for saying so because my dad's side of the family isn't all that close. Other then holidays we really don't see them). Mary, I'm sorry to hear about your mother. My grandma had a habit of falling down when nobody was around though she would also go outside to her patio when nobody was home and for that she had to go down steps. But like I said she's in a nursing home for the time being and has about three more months there before the re-evaluate to see if she's allowed to go home or has to stay there.
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