;_;
This morning, at about 6 am my mother scared the living shit outta me while waking me up to tell me - breathlessly -that my grandfather had fallen and they were going to take him to the emergency room.
So, I roused myself enough to ask if he had JUST fallen (my mother has a tendency of thinking I can't handle the truth sometimes) or if it was more serious. She said, she though he might have broken something.
Which he did. His hip.
Now, my grandfather has been slowly declining in health over the last seven years. He can barely walk anymore, even with a walker because when the temperature changes (i.e. he exits an air conditioned room into the heat outside or just drinks ice cold water) he has these little weak spells where his entire body just sort of crumples.
We've been trying (without success - him and my grandmother are VERY STUBBORN PEOPLE) to convince him to get a wheel chair or one of those motorized carts, but I guess it's hard to admit you can't move around as much as you used to. My Daddy (who lost his mother this past May) has been telling my mom to get them to take better care because, "if he falls and breaks his hip, that's it."
Well, if that wasn't prophetic or what.
Anyway, my grandfather is going into surgery this afternoon (after he gets a platelet transfusion since he's been taking a blood thinner) to get a partial hip replacement. I'm actually more worried about AFTER the surgery since my grandfather's kidneys have failed four times in the past seven years (all after surgeries). And there is the very real fear his heart won't be able to handle the trauma of going under the knife again.
I know. I'm pessimistic. I guess I'm just trying to prepare myself in a worst case scenario. I've lost one grandparent this year . . . I honestly don't know how it will effect me to lose a second.
In any case, I've offered my platelets in the event a match cannot be made with the platelets in storage, and I've told my grandmother to call me if he loses blood during surgery - I'll run and donate if they'll let me. It's all I can really do at this point, and I hate feeling useless.
- Kysra
So, I roused myself enough to ask if he had JUST fallen (my mother has a tendency of thinking I can't handle the truth sometimes) or if it was more serious. She said, she though he might have broken something.
Which he did. His hip.
Now, my grandfather has been slowly declining in health over the last seven years. He can barely walk anymore, even with a walker because when the temperature changes (i.e. he exits an air conditioned room into the heat outside or just drinks ice cold water) he has these little weak spells where his entire body just sort of crumples.
We've been trying (without success - him and my grandmother are VERY STUBBORN PEOPLE) to convince him to get a wheel chair or one of those motorized carts, but I guess it's hard to admit you can't move around as much as you used to. My Daddy (who lost his mother this past May) has been telling my mom to get them to take better care because, "if he falls and breaks his hip, that's it."
Well, if that wasn't prophetic or what.
Anyway, my grandfather is going into surgery this afternoon (after he gets a platelet transfusion since he's been taking a blood thinner) to get a partial hip replacement. I'm actually more worried about AFTER the surgery since my grandfather's kidneys have failed four times in the past seven years (all after surgeries). And there is the very real fear his heart won't be able to handle the trauma of going under the knife again.
I know. I'm pessimistic. I guess I'm just trying to prepare myself in a worst case scenario. I've lost one grandparent this year . . . I honestly don't know how it will effect me to lose a second.
In any case, I've offered my platelets in the event a match cannot be made with the platelets in storage, and I've told my grandmother to call me if he loses blood during surgery - I'll run and donate if they'll let me. It's all I can really do at this point, and I hate feeling useless.
- Kysra