Grandma update

Just a quick update on my grandma (previous pots can be found here and here): I mentioned that she was really out of it mentally. I feared she'd never return to the grandma I knew. But after some medication, she's much better. She knows who we are, and she speaks English again. And she LOVES her quilt, which makes me so happy!

My Grandma

My grandma is going to be 90 this summer. She's always been healthy as a horse. My grandpa, that was a whole 'nother story. He had everything wrong with him, and maybe the fact that my grandma had to do everything and take care of everyone is what kept her strong and healthy.

She still lives alone and takes care of herself.

Until Tuesday evening, when she went outside to do something. She fell and cut up her head, and she broke her hip and pelvis several times. It was freezing out, and just after dark.

What did she do? She crawled. She could only use one leg. And did I mention she's about to turn 90? That's right. For a 90-year-old to crawl any distance at all would be hard. To do it with multiple bone breaks, the use of only one leg and a head wound, well, I can't even imagine.

But she's a tough cookie, and after some time out in the cold night, she made it into her house and called for help.

She's doing surprisingly well. She's alert and already had surgery and is doing physical therapy. She's in good spirits. Of course, we don't know what this means for her future or if she'll be able to recover enough to go home and live alone again. But I thank God that she had the strength to get inside. She would have likely frozen to death out there.

Grandma Update

She's going home today (well, to my uncle's house for a while)!

Grandma update

Grandma is doing much better. She got that awful tube out of her nose. It was draining her stomach. Now she can have broth and probably Jell-O tonight. She should be released in the next few days. She's walking farther and looking good. She'll go to my aunt and uncle's house because they work from home and are around. Then, next weekend when they have to go out of town for their business, my cousin will come from Phoenix to stay with her.

Grandma update

Grandma's doing much better today. When asked if she's feeling better, she doesn't seem to think so, but I could tell by how she looked and acted that she is. She also didn't have any pain meds today, so it was much more manageable. She got up and did her walks and sat in the chair without complaint. Yesterday was much harder. She was also very happy to see my uncle, who was out of town, and talk to her grandsons. I think she'll be much better in a few days. Yesterday, she told the nurse, "This is a pain in the butt." I think it's more a pain in the GUT. HA!

Grandma update

The surgeon called me last night about 12:30 a.m. to update me after my grandma's surgery. She said she's really, really glad we decided not to hold off and see how things go. She said it wasn't a blockage, but rather her intestines had twisted up and the blood supply was cut off. She lost about 3 feet of her small intestines (I think, I was tired). The doctor said she could have died even if we'd waited one more day because they would have possibly ruptured. I think she's doing fine after surgery -- haven't made it in yet. That's what I've go to go do now.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of her on her "throne" on Christmas 2004:

You have to find SOMETHING to laugh about

Today I got a call that my grandma was in the hospital. This took me by surprise because despite the fact that she's 85 years old, she's been healthy as a horse all of her life. Healthier, really. I mean, she has perfect organs -- no heart trouble or anything. No diabetes. The only health problem she has is acid reflux. They think there's some sort of intestinal blockage. Well, she got terribly ill Thursday night and didn't call my mom until after 5 hours of vomiting and other problems. She was taken to the ER, but since NO HOSPITALS ANYWHERE IN ALBUQUERQUE had any vacancies, she languished there in the ER for 20 hours. I had to yell about that because Albuquerque is a city of more than half a million people. You'd think you could get a hospital room around here if you need one. She finally got admitted to a real hospital room across town around 8 pm tonight.
The surgeon said that often they hope they can resolve these blockages without surgery, but my grandma's white blood count keeps rising, so the doctor was afraid to let it go. So she is currently in surgery. In a way, I think she's glad because she was so tired and all she wanted to do was sleep. They promised her she can sleep all she wants during surgery.
Grandma doesn't like people fussing over her. This is a woman who got walking pneumonia a few years ago (one of the few times I've seen her get sick at all) and swore till the end it was just allergies.
I'm waiting to hear from the surgeon whether all went well. I have a positive outlook because my Grandma's strong and mighty.

OK, here's the funny thing. We were in her room and I needed to go to the bathroom. That's when I noticed there's a toilet in the room -- not a separate bathroom or anything. Next to the toilet is a window that has blinds you can lower. But say there's someone in the room with you and you have to use the bathroom. Never fear -- there's a curtain that pulls all the way around the toilet. Only the curtain, as you'll notice in this picture, would reach to about your upper arms if you sat down on the toilet, thereby not offering one ounce of privacy for the region that actually needs it. I'm thinking it's that baby mentality that if they can't see you, you can't see them, and since your face is blocked by the curtain, your naked butt is invisible. Here is a camera phone-quality photo (the curtain is not the curtain for the window, but the toilet "privacy" wrap-around curtain):