Grandma

I haven’t written about this and I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’ve needed time to process it all. Maybe because I’ve been too busy going through it. Maybe I’ve been too lazy.

On January 15 around 5:30ish in the morning, a woman delivered the newspaper and found my 80-year-old grandmother lying unconscious just inside the door. The day before, my grandma had received a local anesthetic to get some teeth pulled. She insisted she was fine so my sister left her in her own home.

Something went wrong. We still don’t know what happened. I received the call as I got ready for work. They said grandma was unconscious but in the Sparrow’s ER. My mom and sister told me to wait so I went to work. I stayed a few hours and then left for Lansing. Grandma was put into a room by the time Joey and I got there. My cousin Jennie was with her. Grandma seemed weak but she knew who we were. After a few hours, we left. I went to work the next day and around 1:00, my sister called me again.

“Grandma isn’t doing so well.”

I left work again and raced to the hospital. In the parking ramp, I prayed. I prayed for my grandmother. I prayed I would get along with my uncle. I prayed for strength. I got to the fourth floor and as I walked down the hall, my two uncles were walking toward me. I flashed back to when my grandfather was in a coma. These two uncles had told me he wasn’t going to wake up. My heart was pounding.

Uncle Brian: Grandma isn’t looking good.
Uncle Chuck: She took a turn for the worse.

When I saw my grandmother, they were wheeling her out of the room for tests. I almost cried. She looked horrible, like she was a second away from dying. Pale, weak…she reminded me of when grandpa died.

The family went down to the cafeteria to talk. We just weren’t sure what was going to happen. In my heart, I prayed again.

Uncle Brian and I were standing in the hall outside of grandma’s room waiting for her to return. We were making jokes, laughing at each other and really getting along. Grandma returned and seemed a lot better. She began talking to us…but we then noticed her brain was somewhere else. She was seeing people who were dead. She thought she saw a picture of her brother and my mother on the wall. We all knew she was hallucinating, showing signs of dementia and maybe having a mini stroke. Before I left, I told my uncle I had prayed for he and I and for grandma.

“You must be her angel then because she has turned around since this afternoon.”

I left the hospital and went to the Mason vs. Holt wrestling meet. It was the only match I had wanted to see all year. Joey’s former school wrestling his current school. Before I left Joey’s house for the meet, my sister called. “I don’t know if grandma is going to make it through the night. I’ll call you with updates.” I went to the meet anyway and was ready to leave if I needed to. The match was intense and Mason took an early lead. Steve Sommerlot attended and it was cool to see him get so involved in the matches.

After Holt won, Joey and I went back up to the hospital. Grandma was going to pull through. My cousin Jennie slept in a chair next to her that entire night. If she wouldn’t have, I would have. I learned when the last grandma died that I didn’t want this grandma to be alone.

Thursday around noon, I went up to the hospital. My great uncle was there. He is my grandma’s youngest brother. She was 16 or 17 when he was born. He often jokes that she is his real mother and it is the biggest family secret. She laughs at him. It was good to see the two of them interact. Gary really picked her spirits up. Her mind was clearer and we finally knew what was wrong with her: urinary tract infection and a fractured fibula.

She was going to be released to the hospital but where would she go? We needed a place for her until she could go back home. The only place available was a place on Willoughby. I had been to that place in the past but there was no way I was letting her go there.

More to follow....