It’s been insane in my world lately. And probably not in the best way possible, either.
We started the month of June by throwing Garrett his second birthday party (actual birthday is 5/30). Poor kid was sick at his own party. He went to the doctor the next day and was diagnosed with pink eye and allergies. He went back to the doctor three days later and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Kid can’t win. (He’s healthy now, though!)
Then it was hectic at my work because a co-worker was off for an unknown amount of time due to her husband having to have emergency heart surgery. Luckily I think she only missed 3 weeks … but it was the worst 3 weeks to miss at our work! So in addition to doing my work I had to pick up half of her work. And it was at the first of the month (billing) and the 10th of the month (payables). Ugh. But I made it through knowing that my mini-vacation was right around the corner.
And we had a blast on vacation. We left the kiddo at home and went to the Dominican Republic to see one of my very closest friends get married. She had a beautiful beach ceremony and a lovely reception at the Italian restaurant on the compound of our all-inclusive resort. It was a very nice time. And like I said very much needed after the previous weeks I had with all the work. But we did miss Garrett like crazy. We *could* have taken him with us, we were at a child-friendly all-inclusive resort. But we knew with the wedding/reception we would need help and he had to be 3 to be eligible for the children’s area. And since no one seemed interested in going to the DR with us for 4 nights, we left him home with the grandparents.
But it was what we were met with upon our return from vacation that has been the most difficult. My grandmother had been taken to the hospital the day we left for vacation. I knew she had been having some issues with a nagging cough. But she had seen her doctor and had medicine, and my mom said she seemed to be doing better. Maybe it was my mom not telling me the whole story, I don’t know. Either way, she was in the hospital with pneumonia. And her white blood cell count was through the roof. (Normal is under 10, she was at 24). So we got home late Monday night and Tuesday we were at the hospital visiting my grandmother. She looked horrible. The first time we saw her she wasn’t even aware of her surroundings. Never woke up the entire time we were there. The next time I went to see her she was at least opening her eyes and was aware of who I was, that was a wonderful thing for me to see after seeing her like she was before!
Now she’s got the pneumonia cleared up, but we’ve had to place her in a nursing home rehab facility to get her stronger. She’s on oxygen 24/7 now (and likely will be for the rest of her life) and she has therapy twice a day to get her strength back. Unfortunately, she was also diagnosed with dementia. We knew that her mind had been failing her for the last two years, but we were unaware of how badly she had deteriorated. My grandfather had really been covering for her so we wouldn’t know. It’s tough to know that it’s possible in a year or two she might not have any clue as to who I am. It just breaks my heart when I think about it really.
So that’s kind of where I am right now. I feel bad for my mom and aunt who are having to do so much when they can only do so little. My grandfather is in denial as to how badly my grandmother needs help. He doesn’t want her to remain in the nursing home indefinitely. They have the money for in-home care, but he doesn’t want anyone in his house. He wants to take her home with him and have it the way it was before she went to the hospital. Unfortunately that’s not going to be able to happen. He is so deaf that if she got up and fell in the middle of the night, he would never hear her yell for help. They will have to have care. But he’s fighting it tooth and nail. So of course my mother is incredibly stressed out and I hate seeing my family in this turmoil.
On the reading side, I’ve just started reading the book, Elizabeth is Missing for a TLC book tour. Unfortunately I’m having a very hard time getting through it. I’m only on about page 65 and have been “reading” it for three days now. The main character has dementia/Alzheimer’s. And I just can’t stand to read it knowing that that’s what my grandmother is going through. I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass on this review and it bums me out because when I was pitched this book it sounded so interesting. Now it’s just hitting too close to home. Part of me wants to read it just to have a better understanding of what she’s going through, the other part can’t bear to know what she’s going through. I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet.
Well that’s enough moping about my problems for now. I’m sorry to have unloaded it all on my readers, but I really needed to get it all out.
Hopefully things will start getting better in my world.
Until next time … have a great weekend!!
Tales of a Book Addict 