When it rains it pours!!

Here I am again trying to get back into my blog.  I hope to post a few things that happened last year as well.  I'm hoping by writing things down it means that I have come to the end of hard times, and soon will have good things happening.

It all began in January when my 95 year old grandpa came to visit me.  Everything was great until one morning I had gone to the Newman Center.  When I came home it was about 9:30 and I noticed my grandpa's door was open but there was no grandpa to be found!  I went into his room and heard him snoring.  It was odd because he normally doesn't take such an early nap.  He was fully dressed so I knew he had gotten up.  I called my sister and when I got off the phone with her I heard him coughing.  When I went in he looked all twisted in the bed.  I don't know how to describe it except he looked like he couldn't get comfortable, and I knew something was wrong.

I immediately asked him if I should call 911 and he said no.  I said I would take him to the doctor, and he also said no.  So I called my Dad, who told me to tell him that he said he has to go.  When I went back into the room he was up on his walker shaking and unsteady.

He said, "I need to go to the doctor".

That made me happy.  But the first thing I noticed is how unsteady he was.  My grandpa can still walk to the grocery store and even ride a tricycle, so this was unlike him.  I didn't think he could make it to the car.  I kept asking if I should call 911 and he kept saying "No" stubbornly.  He slowly hobbled to the car and I thanked God he made it safely.

I rushed him to the emergency room, and called my sister in law, Emily, to pick up my kids.  My sister Marylou then said she would pick them up bring them to gymnastics that evening.  After 5 hours in triage with my grandpa and Maya (thank goodness she was an angel, even without any entertainment) the doctor came in.  He didn't tell us anything but just said, "We will take good care of you".  When he left my grandpa said, "We need to go get the nurse.  She needs to discharge us."  He was already tired of being there.

I was confused.  At that point they moved him into a bed, and the nurse said I should go run some errands.  I asked what was going on, if they got the results of his tests.  She said, "Oh, I can't believe your nurse didn't tell you.  He has pneumonia!  He is being admitted."

I left to get my kids from my sister, assuring grandpa I would be back.  Brian was out of town on business, so I was going to bring the kids into the ER with me that night.  I called my other sister in law Katie and she said she would take them overnight for me.  So I decided that was best and dropped them off there.  Marylou said she would go with me to check on Grandpa.

Grandpa was so happy to see Marylou and I.  I think at this point he was sick and confused and scared.  He's not good at expressing how he is feeling.  The hospital he was at is very busy, so they didn't have a bed ready for him.  We turned on some cartoons (he asked for the shows that the kids watch, but we could only find adult cartoons at that point...but he got a good laugh out of it, so that was good).  We left around 10pm that night tucking him in.  We didn't know he was having terrible back pain and ended up having morphine for the pain that night.

In the morning my friend Molly offered to take Maya all day, so that I could go to the hospital without her.  My grandpa was still in the ER.  I brought him a large coffee, which he was happy about.  I brought him some magazines to read and music to listen to.  At this point he was very emotional.  Crying about everything we talked about.  He said he hoped he would make it home for Superbowl (which is actually pretty funny because ne NEVER watches sports).  At this point he was in the hallway waiting for a bed.  Thankfully it was next to the nurses station.  After speaking (and crying) with my mom a few times she decided to take a few days off of work to help me take care of him.  At first I didn't know if it was necessary, but soon I saw her help would be so helpful.

My mother in law came around 2pm and I left to pick up the kids.  That night my sister in law Ingrid came and watched the kids so I could go at 7 to take care of grandpa again and thankfully he was moved to a room.  That night my mom flew in at 9, and we went to see grandpa.  We tucked him in, and went home to get my mom a good nights sleep since she wasn't feeling well herself.  Good thing Grandpa had an alarm on him because he could barely walk to the bathroom, and needed assistance.  I was afraid to leave him and he might fall if we weren't there.

The next day we brought Maya to the hospital with us.  She noticed the tune that the bed alarm made right away and started singing "Mary had a little lamb!"  and started cracking up.  She was very well behaved for being in the hospital for more than 5 hours strait.  My mom stayed the whole day with him, since it seemed to be very important to make sure we were there when doctors were coming in.  There never seemed to be a dull moment!  He had IV's go bad, help with brushing his teeth, finding his glasses, spilling water... it seemed like there was always something to help him with.  I had to leave to pick up my boys from school.

My Aunt Dee drove in that evening, and my sister Marylou brought my mom home that night after having some good laughs and a game of scrabble, I heard!  The next day I stayed as long as I could with Maya, but she was getting a little restless at the doctor.  Thankfully Brian was now home, and Dee made Spaghetti for Grandpa so he would have food when he got home.  That night Dee put grandpa to bed, and stopped him from getting more morphine for back pain related to the pneumonia, and suggested Tylenol instead - which did work, so that was good.

Saturday morning he was doing much better.  The physical therapist said he was walking well.  We met with a speech therapist because they found out that his pneumonia was caused by aspiration (coughing) not bacteria.  They were giving him some tips on eating and swallowing so it wouldn't happen again.  He was released at 2pm (right during Connor's basketball game), and my mom spent one night with him before going home.

Each day he got better and better. He did make it home for the superbowl as he had hoped and watched it with Marylou and her boyfriend.  He was a little concerned that he was sleeping so much, but he hadn't had a good full nights sleep since he had been at the hospital.

The next week my parents came back on Thursday, on a trip they had already planned, and besides being extremely weak in the mornings he was doing pretty well.  I was sad that it might be the last time my grandpa would be able to travel here, but thankful when my parents brought him home on the plane.  We survived it!!!

Now he is currently doing much better and building his strength.  I'm waiting to hear back from him on whether his chest x-ray has come back clear, but I know he will make a full recovery.