Family crap to follow.
Me being me, didn't call my mom on Mother's day or anything. I didn't forget, I just got messed up on the time difference between Seattle and Houston and every time I thought about it it would be too late over there.
So I finally called home the other day and got my father. That's always awkward because we don't have any communication between us. He makes no effort to talk to me so I don't go out of my way to talk to him. Anyways, I got him and he tells me that Grandma is in the hospital and Mom is at her house getting her animals. He said it was something about her heart and that's all he knows. He gives me Grandma's home number so I call over there hoping to get Mom and find out more.
It would seem that a couple of days ago my Grandma called mom complaining of her arm and jaw hurting. They take her in to the family doctor and he sends her downstairs to the ER. Apparently, one of her atria (upper heart chamber) isn't beating, it's just quivering. My Grandma is 89 years old and while she's still active and driving and in fairly decent shape, she has been getting sicker more often lately.
Mom and I talk for a while about life in general and family updates. I have two cousins that went to West Point. One graduated a few years ago and now flies black hawk helicopters or something. His little brother is graduating from West Point this weekend and everyone was supposed to fly up to go to his ceremony. The older brother was going to pin him at the ceremony, but a few weeks ago he was caught in an engine fire and burned a good portion of his body. He's recovering, but they aren't sure if he can do the pinning anymore. Mom said that she most likely wouldn't go to the ceremony because someone needed to stay behind and take care of Grandma.
I got an email from Mom today stating that Grandma is still in the hospital. They've tried drugs to regulate her heart and it's not working. They apparently 'put her to sleep so they could try shocking her heart' and that didn't work either, so now they're back on trying drugs. The doctor flat out told everyone that he advised against going to the ceremony because they needed to be there for Grandma. To me, that is NOT a good sign.
Now, let me make this clear: I don't exactly have a good relationship with my Grandma. My family is very hierarchical and she was the self appointed queen. Everyone on my mom's side of the family lives with in 10 miles of each other and she made herself a part of everyone's business. She was constantly disowning people, threatening not to speak to them, condescending, passive aggressive, rude, insulting, and on more than one occasion would bring me to tears. She's the kind of person that would see you for the first time in ten years and right off the bat say, "You're a lot fatter than you were. Maybe you should watch what you eat. I don't really like that hair cut on you either, it makes your face too round. So what are you doing with your life now? Have you gotten your act together yet or are you still doing what you were doing before?"
Will I be sad when she dies? Yes. Will I be reduced to a crying mess? No. I think what I worry about the most is my mom. Mom's family is a mess and she has always been the glue that holds it all together. When someone is sick or in trouble, she's always the one that has to step in to take care of it to the point where she's taken for granted a lot. She's in her late sixties and has never been in the best of health. Lately, her memory has really gone down hill at an alarming rate to the point where I actually worry about things like Alzheimer and dementia.
How bad is it? She spoke with me on Tuesday about Grandma. I got an email from her on Thursday that started off with, "I can't remember if I told you yet or not, but your Grandma is in the hospital."
The bad thing is that when Grandma dies, now or some time in the future, there is going to be chaos over her estate. My relatives are all greedy selfish people that are constantly going on about who will get Grandma's riches (Grandma always used that as her ace in the hole. "If you don't do this then I'm going to write you out of my will!") and what not. Historically, when family members have died, there has always been a terrible drama over sorting things out. I worry that Mom will get caught up in it all and I can't go down there to help her.
Ugh.
In other news: I finally heard back about a job and I'm set to start on 06/03/12. Now I just need to worry about passing the license exam. Considering I've forgotten half my schooling already and was hardly the best of students while I was in there to begin with.... I'm not feeling so hot about this right now.