Nicole (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
trickykitty) wrote2008-08-02 02:35 pm
trickykitty) wrote2008-08-02 02:35 pm
Gah, more family news
My dad's mom, Grandma to me, is in the hospital with pneumonia and she won't eat. If the doctors determine that they have to put a feeding tube in, she may just end up starving to death, literally, as my entire family believes in the DNR route to salvation. Despite the bad pun, deep down I'm really not in a laughing mood. She's weighing in at 47kilos/103lbs and has Alzheimer's. Overall there is still hope, but I'm not delusional enough to blind myself to the reality that things aren't really looking too good.
My dad's father, Grandpa to me, (beloved husband to the aforementioned grandmother) fell late last night and is also now in the hospital with most likely a broken hip, x-rays pending. He's so frail that he can't even lift himself out of a chair without assistance and he's been heading straight towards dementia ever since his open heart surgery almost a full decade ago. Somehow he came out of the anesthesia a completely different man who was much slower with communicating and thinking, which I've since read about is more common than it is known when it comes to old folks and heart surgery. We thought it would wear off in a day or two of recovery, because it was horribly noticeable the moment we first visited him. Nope. It only got worse from there.
They were both moved from their assisted-living apartment into a locked down Alzheimer's living facility a couple of years ago when it became obvious that they were unable to, what's the correct way of saying this, keep their right minds out in the real world. It was confirmed by both of my out-of-state uncles after visiting and/or talking to them over the phone that my parents, essentially their caretakers now, were doing the right thing with the move. It's been a long road getting to this point as their mental deterioration has been at a very slow, steady downward pace. I haven't visited them since they were moved in there.
My mom's mom, Nani to me, has been seeing a neurologist and is being tested for sleeping disorders. She's been having a hard time walking recently. She's a pretty tough one. She's been through breast cancer, has diabetes, and has a few times landed herself in the hospital due to falls. She's become forgetful/senile recently, more so than her normal ditziness that she's had forever. My mom talks to her pretty regularly and is starting to notice gaps in her thinking. So far everything on that end looks ok, but coupled with my other grandparents it's hard to watch all of this unfold at once.
My sister, age 25, now has a boyfriend. He works as an oil rig supervisor/manager or something like that. He has a job, a house, a car, doesn't do drugs, and is 43 years old.
...
I really have not much more of a response to that one aside from dead silence.
...
She says she's happy.
My youngest nephew does in fact have infantile arthritis in his knee. It requires regular stretching and medication.
My oldest nephew loves his summer pre-school. I discovered that they have an arcade case in his room with Super Mario Bros and he's pretty good, although he missed a few (although not all) of the secret hiding blocks on levels 1 and 2 while I was watching.
I'll be going with my parents and possibly sister, provided that she's back from her date last night, to visit Grandma and Grandpa in the hospital. Just as soon as I get home from my day of hell at work and take a shower.
EDIT - I almost forgot. Finals are next week. MY OFFICIAL LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! (at least for my BS)
My dad's father, Grandpa to me, (beloved husband to the aforementioned grandmother) fell late last night and is also now in the hospital with most likely a broken hip, x-rays pending. He's so frail that he can't even lift himself out of a chair without assistance and he's been heading straight towards dementia ever since his open heart surgery almost a full decade ago. Somehow he came out of the anesthesia a completely different man who was much slower with communicating and thinking, which I've since read about is more common than it is known when it comes to old folks and heart surgery. We thought it would wear off in a day or two of recovery, because it was horribly noticeable the moment we first visited him. Nope. It only got worse from there.
They were both moved from their assisted-living apartment into a locked down Alzheimer's living facility a couple of years ago when it became obvious that they were unable to, what's the correct way of saying this, keep their right minds out in the real world. It was confirmed by both of my out-of-state uncles after visiting and/or talking to them over the phone that my parents, essentially their caretakers now, were doing the right thing with the move. It's been a long road getting to this point as their mental deterioration has been at a very slow, steady downward pace. I haven't visited them since they were moved in there.
My mom's mom, Nani to me, has been seeing a neurologist and is being tested for sleeping disorders. She's been having a hard time walking recently. She's a pretty tough one. She's been through breast cancer, has diabetes, and has a few times landed herself in the hospital due to falls. She's become forgetful/senile recently, more so than her normal ditziness that she's had forever. My mom talks to her pretty regularly and is starting to notice gaps in her thinking. So far everything on that end looks ok, but coupled with my other grandparents it's hard to watch all of this unfold at once.
My sister, age 25, now has a boyfriend. He works as an oil rig supervisor/manager or something like that. He has a job, a house, a car, doesn't do drugs, and is 43 years old.
...
I really have not much more of a response to that one aside from dead silence.
...
She says she's happy.
My youngest nephew does in fact have infantile arthritis in his knee. It requires regular stretching and medication.
My oldest nephew loves his summer pre-school. I discovered that they have an arcade case in his room with Super Mario Bros and he's pretty good, although he missed a few (although not all) of the secret hiding blocks on levels 1 and 2 while I was watching.
I'll be going with my parents and possibly sister, provided that she's back from her date last night, to visit Grandma and Grandpa in the hospital. Just as soon as I get home from my day of hell at work and take a shower.
EDIT - I almost forgot. Finals are next week. MY OFFICIAL LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! (at least for my BS)