Well, I've had more relaxing trips home
This past week was my regularly scheduled long trip back to western Kentucky for the most wonderful niece ever's birthday. She was wonderful, and her present turned out wonderfully (I'll post pictures later), and she seemed to have a wonderful birthday. Everything else...was less wonderful.
My grandfather's been in and out of the hospital the couple of weeks before I went home. Not the one with the terminal colon cancer, mind you. The other one. He collapsed due to blood loss from a GI bleed, and when they gave him blood he went into congestive heart failure. Got dyspneic, turned blue, all that fun shit. They got him stablized, sent him home a few days later. A few days after that, he woke up and couldn't breathe and got another trip to the hospital. He was released about an hour after I got to Mom and Dad's.
He really ought not to have been released. At the very least, they should have arranged for him to have a home health aid or something. He was too weak to walk unassisted, and he fell while my grandmother and aunt were trying to get him up the steps into the house. Mom and I came to sit with him the next morning so they could get out for a while (diet club meeting and standing hair appointment for Grandma), and it was just horrible.
It took two of us to get him out of a chair. It took two of us to get him into a chair. When he decided he wanted to lay down on the couch, we had to cradle his back and legs and swing him into position, like putting a sleeping child to bed. When he needed to go to the bathroom, someone had to follow the walker ready to grab him if he collapsed, and then once he was actually in the room and turned around, pull down his pjs and help him down onto the toilet. The whole ordeal took about 30 minutes, and by the time he got back to his chair he just sat there with his arms on his knees panting like he'd run a couple of miles.
So that was my Friday.
Saturday was the trip to Bowling Green for Sam's birthday party.
Sunday we sat with Grandpa again. He was better, but still not normal. He's been waxing and waning all week, and he can go from able to walk alone with his cane to too weak to get out of his chair in less than an hour. And he's been having some sort of intermittent swelling in his face, but damned if that asshole cardiologist of his will listen to anything about that. There was no swelling when Michael Jarvis examined him, and therefore we are all stupid and hysterical and should go away and stop bothering him.
Monday we spent cooking and serving dinner at a local home/shelter/mission/whatever for recovering alcholics. (How my parents got started with that is a long story, replete with the tangled lines of blood family, family by marriage, family that we just call family, etc. that abound in stories about my family.)
Tuesday we spent at the funereal home with my aunt. Her mother-in-law finally died over the weekend, and the poor confused old thing had outlived her husband, all her siblings, both her sons, and one of her grandkids. What friends she'd had were either dead or confined to nursing homes, so we went and hung around most of the visitation just so the place wouldn't seem so empty.
Wednesday Mom had her six-month recheck with the guy who did her gastric bypass, who is in Louisville. That ate up pretty much the whole day, but we had a good time talking about not much of anything while we drove. And she's broken the 90 pound mark!
Thursday Dad had his heart cath done, so we spent most of the day (and night) hanging around the hospital waiting. And, just to be real honest, worrying about what they'd find. He has some blockages, which is pretty much standard for Daddy. Given the placement and number, Dr. Vora isn't sure if he should put in more stents, or just go on and refer Dad for another bypass. He's going to review the old cath films and then consult with a surgeon and get back to us...sometime.
It was fairly late when they started on Dad, so they kept him overnight, and we didn't get him out of there until noon. There was no way I was making it to Berea in time to pick up my jury submission and I didn't really want to drive the whole 5 hours this morning, so I hung around a while later and just came up to Lexington. Crashed on Jenn's couch, and will go pick up my stuff on my way home.
Actually, will probably go on to my in-laws' house instead of home. She wants us to come to dinner, and it's much shorter to just go there from Berea than to go home, drop off my stuff, and go back up to Beattyville.
My grandfather's been in and out of the hospital the couple of weeks before I went home. Not the one with the terminal colon cancer, mind you. The other one. He collapsed due to blood loss from a GI bleed, and when they gave him blood he went into congestive heart failure. Got dyspneic, turned blue, all that fun shit. They got him stablized, sent him home a few days later. A few days after that, he woke up and couldn't breathe and got another trip to the hospital. He was released about an hour after I got to Mom and Dad's.
He really ought not to have been released. At the very least, they should have arranged for him to have a home health aid or something. He was too weak to walk unassisted, and he fell while my grandmother and aunt were trying to get him up the steps into the house. Mom and I came to sit with him the next morning so they could get out for a while (diet club meeting and standing hair appointment for Grandma), and it was just horrible.
It took two of us to get him out of a chair. It took two of us to get him into a chair. When he decided he wanted to lay down on the couch, we had to cradle his back and legs and swing him into position, like putting a sleeping child to bed. When he needed to go to the bathroom, someone had to follow the walker ready to grab him if he collapsed, and then once he was actually in the room and turned around, pull down his pjs and help him down onto the toilet. The whole ordeal took about 30 minutes, and by the time he got back to his chair he just sat there with his arms on his knees panting like he'd run a couple of miles.
So that was my Friday.
Saturday was the trip to Bowling Green for Sam's birthday party.
Sunday we sat with Grandpa again. He was better, but still not normal. He's been waxing and waning all week, and he can go from able to walk alone with his cane to too weak to get out of his chair in less than an hour. And he's been having some sort of intermittent swelling in his face, but damned if that asshole cardiologist of his will listen to anything about that. There was no swelling when Michael Jarvis examined him, and therefore we are all stupid and hysterical and should go away and stop bothering him.
Monday we spent cooking and serving dinner at a local home/shelter/mission/whatever for recovering alcholics. (How my parents got started with that is a long story, replete with the tangled lines of blood family, family by marriage, family that we just call family, etc. that abound in stories about my family.)
Tuesday we spent at the funereal home with my aunt. Her mother-in-law finally died over the weekend, and the poor confused old thing had outlived her husband, all her siblings, both her sons, and one of her grandkids. What friends she'd had were either dead or confined to nursing homes, so we went and hung around most of the visitation just so the place wouldn't seem so empty.
Wednesday Mom had her six-month recheck with the guy who did her gastric bypass, who is in Louisville. That ate up pretty much the whole day, but we had a good time talking about not much of anything while we drove. And she's broken the 90 pound mark!
Thursday Dad had his heart cath done, so we spent most of the day (and night) hanging around the hospital waiting. And, just to be real honest, worrying about what they'd find. He has some blockages, which is pretty much standard for Daddy. Given the placement and number, Dr. Vora isn't sure if he should put in more stents, or just go on and refer Dad for another bypass. He's going to review the old cath films and then consult with a surgeon and get back to us...sometime.
It was fairly late when they started on Dad, so they kept him overnight, and we didn't get him out of there until noon. There was no way I was making it to Berea in time to pick up my jury submission and I didn't really want to drive the whole 5 hours this morning, so I hung around a while later and just came up to Lexington. Crashed on Jenn's couch, and will go pick up my stuff on my way home.
Actually, will probably go on to my in-laws' house instead of home. She wants us to come to dinner, and it's much shorter to just go there from Berea than to go home, drop off my stuff, and go back up to Beattyville.