Tonight I was contemplating dinner in the kitchen when I heard my phone ring in the living room. I raced to the living room and saw it was my Mom. She was calling to tell me that
my beloved Grandma (I can't find the post I wrote about her) fell today.
My heart dropped as you can imagine when you hear that your 89-year-old Grandma has fallen. She missed a step and according to the diagnosis she has a
fractured tibial plateau which according to that link can take several months to heal. I'm assuming this website is NOT talking about 89-year-olds and that it could take even longer to heal. It can also lead to arthritis, which just made us laugh, as Grandma's had arthritis for years.
Of course, since health care in this country sucks canal water, the stupid hospital sent Grandma home. Let me fill in the blanks for you here: she's 89 years old, she lives alone, her bedroom/bathroom is on the second floor, she can't even move her leg without being in extreme pain (the painkillers are not working and it's been more than 3 hours since the hospital gave it to her). This means that tonight my aunt is staying with her, I will not be sleeping until noon tomorrow (as was my original plan), but instead have to relieve my aunt at 10:00 (she graciously moved the time from 9:00) so she can go to work, then she'll come back so I can come home.
I'm asking for thoughts, prayers, vibes, etc. for Grandma, because I'm pretty sure she's going to need them. She has to go back to the hospital on Monday to see the orthopedic surgeon. I talked to her earlier tonight and she sounded pretty darn good, I have to say. She's angry at herself for missing the step and falling, especially as we have plans to go flying across the country next month and that's obviously not going to happen. After her husband died last September, she was really looking forward to getting back to traveling, and now she has to wait a little longer.
Update: I spent yesterday with Grandma and she said the pain wasn't as bad as the day before, which is good, but it also could be an indication of us keeping her doped up on goofballs. Later in the afternoon, she told me I could go home and she'd be okay until the next person showed up (who I expected to be my aunt, but turned out to be my mom). I told her that there was no way in hell I was leaving her alone. Thankfully my uncle was over when Grandma needed to hit the ladies room, because there was no way in hell I could have done it alone. I like to think I'm a brute, but the actuality is that I'm a wimp. I wasn't pleased that Mom was spending the night with Grandma alone, because Mom's weaker than I am. I'm not even sure the two of us could have gotten Grandma to the bathroom without causing Grandma undue pain. Grandma is to see the ortho tomorrow still, so please keep her in your prayers. She appreciates it, as do I.
Update #2: My mom and her siblings had a confab yesterday and decided to take Grandma to the hospital and get her admitted. As Grandma was not in as much pain yesterday, and scheduled to see the orthopedic surgeon today, I wasn't a fan of this decision, as hospitals suck and patients catch pneumonia in them, and it's just better being at your own home, generally. Turns out that her hemoglobin is at 7.5 (normal for women is between 12 & 16) which will, of course, delay any surgery, if deemed necessary, so it was a good decision. I'm thinking that if the stupid hospital had done bloodwork on Friday, she'd be ahead by three days at this point. Of course, not only does she need to see the orthopedic surgeon, as well as a blood transfusion, the hospital needs to find out where she's suffering from the internal bleeding. *sigh* That's all I know at this point, however. *double sigh*
Thanks for all prayers, good thoughts, vibes, candle-lightings, etc.
Labels: Falling, Grandma
