Life Intervenes

I just got one of those "who on earth is calling at 6:45 am" calls.

The kind where, after the initial irritation at being woken up, you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach because there's only a bare handful of reasons to call someone at that hour, and none of them are good.

Grandma's in the hospital. Again. But this time she's not expected to come out.

It started with aspiration pneumonia caused by a problem with her esophagus. She can't eat or drink, so got dehydrated. They gave her IV fluids for the dehydration and she went into congestive heart failure.

The surgical option to repair the esophagus would require a GI tube - a measure she declined in her DNR. And there's no guarantee she'd survive the surgery anyway.

My family has some very tough decisions to make. Because of the distance involved, mom is always saying "you don't have to come down," but I've been here before. Years of experience have taught me that she doesn't call me until things are at their worst and she is about to crack. In fact, Grandma's been in the hospital since Tuesday, and this is the first I've heard of it, when things are so bad I might not even have time to get down there before it's too late.

My aunt is an RN and has power of attorney, so it's really up to her, but mom and my other aunt have already reassured her they will not allow her to take that burden by herself. If that's what this is - deciding to turn off the machines - then damnit, I can at least stand there and hold my mom's hand while it happens.

So. Not so much with the training right now.

Instead, I'm packing a bag and getting in the car, grateful that my life is blessed enough I can drop everything to support my family when they need it.