Tuesday pm - Wednesday am

Its 3:36am and I am inside the emergency room...

 

I haven't been in this hospital for 20 years and 2 weeks!! Since the day Kameron was born!

 

Sam and I left yesterday morning [after voting] for Newport.. We handled the stuff we needed to buy at Home Depot, rented a hotel room and went back to the house to drop the stuff off... 

[carpet was being installed the next morning]

 

By now it was about 6pm... We were planning to go see Grampa after traffic died down... So I called to make sure Grampa would be awake around 8pm...

 

Marlo told me she ran to the bank and to the grocery store, Becky was at the house with Grampa... When she came home no one was there!!!

 

So I called Sam's sister Tina...

 

I found out Grampa fell and broke his hip 

 [not the one from 3 years ago, the other side]

 

OMG!!! Sam and I headed over there...

 

We pull up and Sam's sister Lisa and his sister Becky are outside

[As much as I can't stand Becky, I put my anger aside for the time being... Its not the time or place]

 

We went inside to an unbelievable scene  [the lobby was jam packed] there were no emergency room beds left either... So there was Grampa on a gurney in front of the ER nursing station in the hallway!

 

{We are still almost 12 hours later smack dab in front of the ER nurses station}

 

You know what... I swear I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

If you had the 'night watch' with someone and had to stay up all night in a hospital.... Where would you rather be?  Tucked away in some room or front row seat to "Life in the ER"?  I have been playing Dr. Kendra all night... [that patient doesn't need to be in an ER, that patient has a sprain its not broken, 104 degree fever in a baby... Can we get a Tylenol suppository stat... exactly what they did too... Damn I am good...]

 

I guess I am skirting the truly hard part about being here... We had to make a decision on whether to operate or not... Grampa has a fracture in the ball part of his hip, he also has a couple of pelvis fractures...

 

[Remember now, this is a man with bone cancer and prostate cancer with only a few months to live]

 

I won't go into the long debate we all had {Sam, his 3 sisters and me}  In the end, we unanimously agreed on surgery... We just hope the bone cancer hasn't spread so far he hasn't got any good bone to attach to. 

We all agreed to shifts, staying by Grampa's side

[remember he has Alzheimer's... earlier today they asked him his birthday, and he remembered that to our surprise... However, when asked what year it was... he said

"Um... 1960 something?"]

So anyway... Sam and I are on the overnight shift... 

Grampa sleeps for about 20 minutes, wakes up and looks at me [I am in a chair at the end of the gurney by his feet]  He keeps telling me "Your special, very, very special, you know that" and he smiles... That makes doing the 'night shift' worth every minute to me!

 

Its so sad tho... Grampa is so thin he looks like a Holocaust Survivor, his mouth is hanging open, and his eyes are half shut... He looks like my Mother in Hospice before she passed away...

 

He is on his way to Heaven and fighting every step of the way... Part of me just wants to tell him

"Dad... it's okay to go, we will be fine" but I could just hear him say

"Who the Sam Hill said I'm going anywhere?"

 

Earlier he couldn't have anything to drink because they said he may have surgery... So they gave us some lemon swabs, he could swab his mouth with...

Grampa says "Could ya dip them in Scotch, please?"

Later when a nurse hooked him up to an IV he says "Gulp"  we all laughed

 

You know, part of me says don't do the surgery but after spending the night here with him I realize morphine and being uncomfortable every 20 minutes isn't the answer either... We have to TRY!

Hey this is a man who was on his death bed 35 years ago with stomach cancer, they gave him last rights but he fought his way out of the surgery and went on to have 2 years of chemo and radiation... He is a fighter!

 

Its now almost 5am on Wednesday, thanks for being here with me and Grampa ;) 

Talking to you guys made it easier...

 

I wish I could tell you about all the trauma drama going on all around me but it would take forever... Let me just tell you this... A front row seat for 'code red' and 'code blue' is fascinating...

 

I look at Grampa and wonder will he ever get to go home again? Surgery & then a Rehabilitation place...

[Just like your father ... Mary]

Will there be complications?

Will he make it through surgery?

Will he be in more pain after they replace his hip and put a metal rod down his femur? 

 

I have been watching Grampa do an interesting thing all night... he reaches for the seam in his blanket and makes a motion with both hands like he is doing the Rosary...  Unfortunately, this makes his IV line pinch up and the machine starts beeping needing to be restarted...

 

Lucky for the ER nurses I have IV experience

 

[Remember I had to give Kieffer an IV every day for 2 hours, for 6 weeks!]

 

Hell, I could flush the line too... if they gave me the saline or heparin to do it!

 

I'll leave them my address, so they can send my paycheck

 

Oh good news... Grampa finally has a room getting ready for him... I said "Oh good... a Queen... non smoking?"

the nurse laughed...

 

Grampa is scheduled for surgery today [Wednesday at 5pm]

 

After they get him in his room and his sister Becky comes at 10am, we are going to a Motel to sleep... we are exhausted

 

I'll keep ya posted...  Thanks for being here with me every step of the way...