Family Matters

Yesterday my family and I had to unexpectedly drop everything and travel to Kentucky.

My grandfather just recently had a surgery to implant a pacemaker, and was in the process of recovering when his cardiorespiratory cavity filled with fluid, causing his kidneys to fail, which caused his heart to go wonky. My uncle called my mother telling her we better get to the hospital while we could, because they didn't think my grandfather was going to be with us much longer. So, grieving and rushed, we threw some things in bags, canceled all appointments for the day, found last minute pet care and were on our way in our two car caravan.

Once en route, we got the somewhat heartening news that the doctors had managed to jump start grandpa's heart, as well as regulate his kidney function. That definitely made the drive a little less stressful. We got in last night around 10:00pm or so, and went directly to the hospital. We were able to go visit him in the ICU. My uncle was still there. My grandfather was doing better, and was even awake and able to talk with us, but he is still in pretty critical condition. We only stayed about an hour so as not to tire him out too much.

This morning, after breakfast, we came back over, and have been here ever since. Grandpa's still holding his own today. He's very swollen, and is on oxygen and who knows what medications, but he's cognizant and is able to carry on conversations with us. I honestly don't know how he has the energy to entertain our motley crew in his state. We all, as good Southerners, are trying to help him so much that we are likely just keeping him from getting some much needed rest. He's sleeping right now, though. I stayed in the room with him while the rest of the gang went down to the cafeteria. (I brought my lunch.) So, I sat here reading my PT book, and when I got too sleepy to do that, I got out the laptop and started typing this.

Mom came in for a few moments, but with no helpful chores to do for her sleeping dad, found herself staring at the machine that runs the vital statistics. Any blink, beep or change in the numbers was causing her to freak out, so she decided she would go wait with the others in the waiting lounge.

The pastor of grandpa's church just came in, and while I'm sure he meant well, he roused my grandpa from his rest, which I think is pretty crummy. They are carrying on a conversation now. So, I guess I will wrap this up and join in the chatter.

If you have any spare mojo or good healing vibes that you can send our way, we would be most appreciative. Thanks, in advance. I'll let you know what happens as I learn more.