It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. Normally it’s a weekend of family, fun and plenty of food. This year it’s slightly different for our family. My Grandmother (my last Grandparent) was rushed to the hospital on September 24th, her body had gone into a diabetic ketoacidosis. For the first 4 days she was frail, couldn’t eat or drink and looked as though she wasn’t going to live for very long. However, on the morning of day 5 she kind of woke up. She was coherent, she could carry a conversation and she was moving around in bed on her own.
Each day she has slowly progressed. She was still in tremendous pain due to a lump in her stomach (a pre-existing condition), but she seemed to be getting stronger. Her potassium levels were becoming normal again, as well as her blood sugars. When I went to see her 2 days ago she was sitting in a chair by the window, full of spunk, and talking about going home.
I returned to the hospital yesterday afternoon and discovered she was quite different. She was back in bed, back on the IV and back on oxygen (she hasn’t been on oxygen since the night she was admitted). I was upset to discover that the hospital had not called us to tell us of her sudden change in condition. It was the OT guy who noticed the difference in her condition, not the nurses working in her unit. When I approached the nurses station to ask why we hadn’t been called, one Nurse responded with “Well we have a lot going on, it’s too hard for us to remember to call the family. You’re welcome to call us anytime though and check on her condition”. My response was an angry one about how we as the family obviously need to be at the hospital 24/7 to make sure my Grandmother is taken care of.
My Grandmother spent her 88th birthday in the hospital, she’s had CT Scans, and MRI’s. Her fingers are pricked for blood sugar tests 4-5 times a day and they draw blood from her arm everyday as well. We’ve recently found out that she has pancreatic cancer and that there is nothing they can do for her. She will have to struggle through the pain an IF she wants to live in an Assisted Living Facility instead of being in Pallative Care she’ll have to exercise and be able to take care of herself. At this point, I’m not sure if she can. She has less than a year to live according to her doctors, and we think about that on a regular basis. She wants us to live our lives and not worry about her, but the one day that we listen to her, her condition gets worse.
Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. This morning we’ll be at the hospital with my Grandmother, hoping to catch her doctor and find out some more answers. This afternoon we have to be home to make Thanksgiving dinner (My Dad and brother won’t do it), and then we’ll go back to the hospital afterwards. I’m not sure what I can do. I’m not sure how to balance my life and still be available to my family and Grandmother when I live 2.5 hrs away.
I pray that there are not too many other families spending this holiday the way ours is.
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