It's been a busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago my mum called me to let me know that my Grandma had not been well and had called an ambulance to the flat as she was feeling terrible and having troubling breathing properly. The paramedics made her comfortable and left, but later on that night she was throwing up and having more trouble breathing and my uncle's wife (who was staying with her luckily) called the ambulance out again and she was whisked into hospital. There then followed a stressful couple of days speaking to nurses etc and not really getting the full picture of how Grandma was, so I made the decision to go down myself on Wednesday. Luckily my bosses were amazingly understanding, especially considering it's a new job, and gave me a few days off.
I drove down on the Wednesday, with Isla and the dog. I thought Isla should come with me as, by this point, I was't sure if she would have the chance again. We also took the dog, to give us light relief and dog walks in between hospital visits. We left the house at 11, and arrived at the hospital and 7.30, absolutely shattered. It took us ages to find the ward, but when we did Grandma was awake, and we had a little chat with her. She didn't like the mask the nurses were putting on to help her breathing and kept taking it off, but I tried to persuade her it would help her get better. I told her who else had been in to visit, but she couldn't remember, and I joked that at least when Isla and I arrived again the next day she'd get a nice surprise again! She thought that was funny!
We eventually got to Grandma's flat, where we were staying, at about 9.30. We got the car unloaded, and got Dominoes for dinner and phoned various people to bring them up to date.
I woke up at the crack of dawn on Thursday and took the dog straight up to Portchester Castle for a walk while Isla slept. The castle is one of my favourite places in the whole world, especially when there's no one else there. It's amazing - the outer wall is Roman, and the keep is Norman. You can go up the keep, but I haven't done that for years. Anyway, I got chatting to a nice man from Northern Ireland who had a husky and the two dogs tired each other out which was good! I didn't catch up with him again which was a bit of a shame.
We went up to the hospital at 11 when visiting started, and Grandma was sitting up in the chair - I was right, she hadn't remembered us being there the night before, so, not only was she delighted to see us, but I got to make the joke again and make her laugh again. We sat and chatted for a bit, and then Isla and I went off to find some luch - Pizza Hut buffet yum!
We went to get some supplies from Tesco, and I got Grandma a toothbrush, toothpaste and some mouthwash as none of the nurses had taken the time to brush her teeth. When we got there she had her dinner there, so I managed to coax her into drinking her soup as she hadn't been eating anything at all. We then went home to wait for my mum who was on the ferry on her way.
We were expecting her around 9.30, but she didn't arrive until about 10.45 as they were so damn slow in the ferry port. As soon as she arrived I phoned Dominoes again - ok, shitty diet but the last thing I wanted to do was set to and cook, especially in Grandma's tiny kitchen! We we up pretty late talking and had a few drinks - my mum promised she would get up for the early morning dog walk, but I had my doubts! Needless to say she didn't! She did the next couple of days though.
We went back up to the hospital in the morning and Grandma was delighted to see my mum. We spoke to one of the nurses and everything seemed to be going in the right direction.
It was boiling hot so my mum got my AC regassed for an early birthday psent, and we took the dog to a big park for a walk while they were gassing it.
We did manage to squeeze in a couple of nice things to do in between hospital visits - we went for a carvery on Hayling Island, took Isla to see the house we lived in when I was born, and went to have a Verecchia's ice cream,at the seafront.
We got a phone call on the Saturday morning to say that Grandma had been moved off the critical ward and on to the acute respiratory ward. This sounded pretty good, but when we arrived at the hospital she was in a terrible state, incoherent rambling and a very high temperature so we went immediately to find a nurse. To give them their due, they sprung into action straight away, and she was a little better by the time we left. We spent a horrible evening thinking that it was not going to be long, and although I was meant to be leaving on Sunday I didn't know if I would be able to. We phoned first thing Sunday morning to be told that Grandma was sitting up out of bed and happily
eating her breakfast! We were massively relieved, and I then had to pack the car up to drive north. I would have stayed longer if necessary, but I had only started my new job 2 weeks earlier so it was difficult to know what to do. I drove away feeling with every bone in my body that I was doing the wrong thing, until I had a text from my mum saying that Grandma was up being showered. What a difference from the day before.
The drive north was horrendous after a few such stressful days, and we stopped several times to buy food to keep me awake. We finally got home about 9.30, completely knackered. And then had to go to work the next day!
Grandma continues to improve, and the hospital let her go home on Wednesday. So she's now recuperating in her own flat with my mum and her carers to look after her.
I know she's 91 and it has to happen sometime, but not yet please.
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Location:Peebles,United Kingdom
