The first call came in around 9:30 am Saturday morning. The second call came an hour or so later. I had already talked directly to my grandmother earlier that morning around 8:45-ish and she had seemed out of breath… I was just starting my work out class when the third call happened- this time I called my Mom and asked to go and check on my grandmother. The phone rang throughout my workout with updates… by the time I was on the road from my workout heading back to the house, she was on her way to the Emergency Room in an ambulance. In the ER, they discovered the bruising covering her entire back… from the fall she had taken a week or so ago… she did not remember the details, but this time she did admit to falling. She was assigned a room. My Mother stayed with her all day long throughout the saga… my grandmother’s son showed up only for a while- long enough to wreak havoc on the others around him in the ER and of course cause the typical embarrassing scene with my grandmother resulting from his usual over-indulgence of spirits. Fortunately, I arrived after he left… and boy did she look pitiful laying in that hospital bed… eyes closed… mouth gaping open… she would go on later in the evening to express her fear in being alone in “this place” and asked if I would sleep with her here. Well, we all know that answer… I would do ANY thing that lady asks for! And I am here to tell you that was the longest 10 hours of my life… I never did actually fall asleep. Besides the fact, I had to sleep in a turquoise shaded nylon recliner-type chair in the corner… the ongoing circus of staff coming in her room at all hours of the night was almost unbearable. There was the lady arriving every 2 hours to check her temperature and blood pressure and then there was the next lady coming to take blood every 2 hours on opposite rotation from the first lady. Since, my grandmother was on an IV with fluids and antibiotics, she had to pee every hour or so which would require a call to the nurses station and then them coming to the room to “put” her on a bedpan to do her business. And then on top of all of that, her IV was inserted into the bottom of her forearm so she could not bend her left arm or she would set off the VERY LOUD alarm on the IV monitor. So, in summary, ALL night long I was up calling the nurse to come stop the IV alarm or fussing at her to stop bending that arm, or calling the nurse to put her on the bed pan or watching the blood pressure/temperature lady or the blood taking lab lady… over and over and over… A-L-L N-I-G-H-T L-O-N-G!!!!!! So you can imagine how Sunday was for me… same clothes on from Saturday, sweaty and sticky feeling, mentally annoyed senseless, short-tempered and irritated in general, and longing badly to be at home with my husband… I absolutely did not want to be here on that day at that moment with her, here in this hospital… But, I did not leave her… I was here again all day Monday and here I am on a stormy Tuesday morning. My mother and brother came to be with her too yesterday afternoon… no sign of her son at all on Sunday… he did finally call me briefly yesterday… as usual, he had no intention of coming to visit her in person yesterday. And with the weather, he probably won’t show his face today either. Yes, it seems that a few drops of rain keeps just about every one at home down here- the fear of what might happen in their vehicle on a wet road maybe? Gimme a break. Rain or snow would not keep me from here… but, that is just me.
More later…
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