Well where to start.
i still live with my grammie in daly city. i have been here for 2 years now learning to understand the elderly in a new capacity. it has changed my life for the better.
last week on tuesday, we had family in from out of town too which my grammie gave up her room for them to stay in. as the they moved in their luggage they left it in the walk way and sadly my grammie fell over it.
she was fine for the first night, although it was painful, the wine and blood thinners she normally takes hid the real pain. by the middle of the night she was unable to make it to the bathroom and in quite a bit of pain. by 7am we called an ambulance to have her transported as she could not move from the bed.
the hospital stay stared in the emergency room where she was seen right away, but sat in the ER for more then 13 hours as there was no bed for her in any other part of the hospital. we waited all day to hear the results of for xrays. the doctors were busy with 3 car accidents that took priority. finally by about 6 she was taken to a room where she was taken care of by nurses and professional eldercare personal. we still waited for information, to which we got none. we stayed bed side, till 12 pm when she finally fell asleep after the nurse gave her more pain meds.
the second day we returned at 8am with no news of what was going on. it was not until about 3 pm until we found out it was a broken leg, right below the hip (basically she broke her hip but on the curve part). it was not a matter of waiting for the dr to coordinate with the surgeon as to what was going to happen depending on how bad the xray was. we waited all day, and still no infomration by this time.
the third day, the dr had told us they were regulating her blood thinners with vitamin k, and trying to get her on a normal level so they could operate. she was at 2.6, and she needed to be less then 1.5 to operate. her blood is basically water, like most elderly people. so we waited some more as the dr said he was going to try and get her into surgeury as soon as possible. different doctors came in telling us there was room, then there was not room. then we found out there was another vehicle accident that occupied the OR for the afternoon and well into the night. by this time she had not had anything to eat for nearly 3 days, only an IV. they dont let her eat because she might throw-up during surgery, and we dont need an elvis death occurring. so the doctor came in at 6pm saying there was a large chance they could get her in at 9pm. we waited. by the time 11pm cam around the dr came back and said there was no way he was going to operate that night, so she was finally allowed to eat. to which she had a piece of bread and a cup of water.
on the forth day, we got there at 9am and were told that surgery was scheduled for 1pm. (keeping in mind that broken legs, keep people from producing blood for the body, and in the elderly it means death within a few days.) so we are all pretty worried and emotionally drained by this time already. FINALLY the dr comes in, gives her a paper to sign and they take her off to surgury. we have a chance to eat and come back and she is already done by 4pm back in her room. no it was not clear at the time, but she was dosed with a very powerful narcotic called Norco. For those of you that dont know, its basically the medical equivalent to heroine and causes crazy hallucinations and rips through your brain. so she finally ate and was coherent enough to speak to us but didnt no want anyone around. this is where is started to get rough. that night after i left, my mother told me she started to go a little crazy. yelling at nurses and being rude to everyone around her. she didnt know where she was and was trying to get out of bed and walk around half of the day. apart from tying her too the bed there was little the could do. my mom told me she had a conversation over the phone with her that night and my mom ended up scared and crying because of the things she was saying. it was traumatizing for my mother and father because she was being very hurtful and just completely insane.
on day five she was getting better and eating some food, but this time it should be saturday, and the whole family came in to support her, but she wanted nothing to do with anyone and was still being rude and talking craziness. we waited to hear what was going to happen with her and had to talk about what to do next, which i knew would be the hard part.
day six i was out of town to try to get away, but it was to difficult as i was still in contact and hearing about what my mother had to go through.
day seven was time for her to go home. at this point the dr had taken her off of the Norco but they said it would take 6 weeks for her to return to normal. (WTF) so needless to say i was just upset yet ready for what was to come, or so i thought. we got her home and she did nothing but fight with everyone from the nurses to the ambulance people who took her home. she wouldn't take medication or listen to anyone. we were not sure if it was even a good idea to bring her home, but we figured being in her own home would help her calm down we hoped. my uncle by this point had arranged to bring his friend who would come and stay the night and make sure she could get up and use the bathroom at night. it was monday. i had to organize 13 different medication into little bags, to which were later thrown away and disorganized anyway. took me 4 hours to do it, all for nothing. this is getting a little long so ill cut it off....but basically my grammie was so rude to my family that my uncle and then nurse ended up leaving, so i had to stay up all night, bedside making sure she didn't fall when she tried to get up and go to the bathroom at night. talk about difficult. so we had to have a sit down with her and try to explain that she was rude and starting to tare the family apart from the inside, but she would not listen. ON TOP of all this, her 99 year old boyfriend is here also, trying to convince her to do different things left and right which makes it ever so much harder to deal with. sighhh. so finally, my mom put her foot down, after all of us cried for hours trying to get my grammie to see what she was doing to us, and having her not understand a thing. we cant figure out if its the drugs or she is just starting to lose it completely, but finally we hired a nurse so as i sit here there is a girl upstairs that is listening to a baby monitor as to when grammie gets up, so she can go help. (long sentence) i have not really slept in more then 40 hours, and the short time i did sleep i cant really call it sleep. booze didnt help, krispy kreme donughts didnt help, nor did watching the simpsons. im emotionally drained and dont know how much longer this will last. but i have to tell you guys, its a test of will and has challenged my mentally with almost every ounce of energy i have. (which probably does not make sence. im beat) so its 12 on wednesday, i have class at 8am and i cant get my eyes to close more then half way.
she currently can sleep, walk through the house, be independent during the day and even take her own medication. but its her mind i worry about. as of now, we are positive but aware.
i dont mean for this to be such a negative thing. i have unimaginable strength which i have gained from living here the past 2 years, to which i am calling on to get me through this. but i just thought you guys should know what's going on. and thinking about our friendship and the fun times that slipped through my fingers when i was younger helps me to power through the bad and look forward to the brighter days. although daly city does not have sun often.
hope all is well with you guys. miss you a lot.
money is not an issue. we all need a meeting place.
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