Home Safe

I want to thank everybody for the wonderful support - it's been a whirlwind and it feels like I've been gone a lot longer than 36 hours.

I'm happy to report that my sweet, wonderful Grandma managed to pull through this very dark episode. At least, so far... and while she is still with us, this was the big "things will never be the same" we've been dreading. It's to soon to know what will happen, or if she'll ever be able to go home, but if she does a lot of things in daily life will have to be adjusted to accommodate her new needs.

When they called me she had a horrible case of pneumonia, was struggling to breath, had a high fever, hadn't been able to eat or drink in a week, and had gone into congestive heart failure. She didn't have the strength to move or speak. My mom was nearly hysterical when she called to ask I come down.

When I arrived, Grandma was sitting up having her blood pressure taken and jokingly complaining that she's sick to death of ice chips and could someone please get her a pitcher of peach tea. It took about all the energy she had, to sit up for that short time, but at least she could do it.

She's far from ok, and she may never actually be able to eat solid food again. It's too soon to tell - when I left today she was able to get out of bed and sit in the chair for a while, the chest xrays showed the congestion was clearing up and they were talking about trying some chicken broth.

I usually plan my trips downstate with several weeks notice and dropping everything to go down there on a moment's notice was tough on me for lots of reasons. After spending some more time with her this morning and being convinced she was out of immediate danger, I decided to head back home today. My aunt gave me a really hard time about it and wanted me to stay several days, but I figured if I could get back here and get ahead on some work, if she takes a turn for the worse I'll be in a better position with my client load to travel for a few days.

That, and the fact that, 200 miles in the trip down, Wonderful Husband called to inform me that my suitcase was not, technically, in the car with me. (A detail the fault for which will give us something to bicker about for the next 40 years or so.)

Again, thank you so much for your kind words. Dealing with my family is painful and challenging at the best of times, and I hold the support of my sane friends dear to my heart.



ust because she was clearly out of danger, but because