It's official...
...I'm going to Pittsburgh. After putting off buying plane tickes for awhile now, I finally booked tickets tonight for this weekend. Non-stop, all the way, just the way I like it. The car thing is starting to sort itself out. I told my mom that no way would I fly back unless I had a guaranteed car to drive--she'd wanted me to rely on bumming rides from the relatives. I found one car company, enterprise, that doesn't charge a 'young driver' fee for locations outside of airports. Unfortunately they seem to have higher prices for their rentals to begin with, so it would still be around $900 for the month. I also talked to my dad and found another untapped car resource. His old truck is back there at my parents vacation place outside of Pittsburgh. Downside, it's a stick. Although I have driven a standard a few times in some smaller cars, they really have only been a few practice trips done in the evening. No driving one on a regular basis in any kind of traffic. Nor have I driven one on any roads that actually go over anything remotely close to a real hill--like the very steep hills that Pittsburgh has a lot of. Plus my practice vehicles have all been little cars and this is a big old Ford truck. Both of my parents are a bit skeptical, but since my mom will still be in Pittsburgh with her rental car when I first get back there, I figure I can practice with the truck while she's still there and then if I can't handle it then we'll get the rental car.
I can't wait to get back there. I miss my gram soooo much. Last week my mom snuck her cell phone into gram's room so that I could talk to her for a little bit. She's still intubated so my mom held the phone up to gram's ear and she just listened while I talked. Then the other day my mom was in the room visiting and her cell phone started ringing and she said gram started motioning with her hands to bring the phone over. Mom says she thinks gram wanted to talk to me but since the nurse was in the room giving her evil looks she had to turn her phone off. Mom is trying so hard to help gram get better. She had her bypass surgery back in March, almost 2 months ago and she's still stuck in the hospital, in the icu no less. I hate to sound so cliched but it really does seem that for every step forward there are two steps back. Recently the doctors discovered that she has two bacterial infections, staph and another that starts with a c, so she's in isolation now. Everyone who comes to visit her has to wear a gown, mask, and gloves and she can't have cards or pictures in her room anymore. She cried the first day they did that. I don't think she will die anymore, although there was a period there when she first got admitted to the icu in critical condition and her kidneys were failing and they first intubated her that I was really worried she would. She was really close to death then I think, although I wouldn't dare admit as much to my mom, who flew back to Pittsburgh just as it happened. She's strong and stubborn and I don't think she's going to be dying anytime soon. But my biggest fear is that she won't get well enough to leave and go back home. I worry that she'll be stuck in some nursing home, and even worse stuck being on a ventillator, because I know how much she would hate it. I remember watching tv with her and seeing those commercials come on for those scooters, the scooter store or something, with those old people driving around next to their grandkids and such, and I remember her saying how she'd rather die then have to use one of those. Now she was probably being a bit overdramatic but I also know just how much she values her independence. She's been living in the same home that she raised all her kids in, for geez probably like 50 years or so, and for almost the last 20 of those she's been there more or less by herself since my grandpa died. She is one stubborn independent spirit and I'd hate to see that spirit crushed by anything. She turned 81 years old this past February. Old people do take a bit longer to recover from surgery than us 'youngins.' I hope that's all it is. I just want my old gram back.
I can't wait to get back there. I miss my gram soooo much. Last week my mom snuck her cell phone into gram's room so that I could talk to her for a little bit. She's still intubated so my mom held the phone up to gram's ear and she just listened while I talked. Then the other day my mom was in the room visiting and her cell phone started ringing and she said gram started motioning with her hands to bring the phone over. Mom says she thinks gram wanted to talk to me but since the nurse was in the room giving her evil looks she had to turn her phone off. Mom is trying so hard to help gram get better. She had her bypass surgery back in March, almost 2 months ago and she's still stuck in the hospital, in the icu no less. I hate to sound so cliched but it really does seem that for every step forward there are two steps back. Recently the doctors discovered that she has two bacterial infections, staph and another that starts with a c, so she's in isolation now. Everyone who comes to visit her has to wear a gown, mask, and gloves and she can't have cards or pictures in her room anymore. She cried the first day they did that. I don't think she will die anymore, although there was a period there when she first got admitted to the icu in critical condition and her kidneys were failing and they first intubated her that I was really worried she would. She was really close to death then I think, although I wouldn't dare admit as much to my mom, who flew back to Pittsburgh just as it happened. She's strong and stubborn and I don't think she's going to be dying anytime soon. But my biggest fear is that she won't get well enough to leave and go back home. I worry that she'll be stuck in some nursing home, and even worse stuck being on a ventillator, because I know how much she would hate it. I remember watching tv with her and seeing those commercials come on for those scooters, the scooter store or something, with those old people driving around next to their grandkids and such, and I remember her saying how she'd rather die then have to use one of those. Now she was probably being a bit overdramatic but I also know just how much she values her independence. She's been living in the same home that she raised all her kids in, for geez probably like 50 years or so, and for almost the last 20 of those she's been there more or less by herself since my grandpa died. She is one stubborn independent spirit and I'd hate to see that spirit crushed by anything. She turned 81 years old this past February. Old people do take a bit longer to recover from surgery than us 'youngins.' I hope that's all it is. I just want my old gram back.