Grandpa

My grandpa is in the hospital right now. He's doing better, and it's not as bad as the doctor originally thought it was, and he's out of the ICU now, but still it was scary for a bit.

I got a call on my cell phone on Thursday. It was my cousin. She left a message, which I didn't notice until right before lunch. I listened to the message as I was walking out to my car.

I almost didn't make it to the car.

On Wednesday, it seems my grandfather complained to my cousin about not being able to breath. So they called his heart doctor, who advised he take some nitro and then go to emergency. Once there, they started taking xrays and running tests, and determined that it looked like there was an artery that was clogged 100%. They pumped him up with blood pressure meds, and said they were going to run more tests and do an angiogram on Thursday afternoon.

I was shaking. I called my cousin back, and she said she was in touch with the doctor's office, and would call with any updates. I tried calling my mom, and I left a message at home. No one called me back, so I assumed no one got the messages. I went to lunch and forced myself to eat. I went back to work and told my manager what was going on. I waited for my cousin to call back anxiously, while trying to pretend to work, because I couldn't focus and couldn't concentrate.

At 5, I rushed home (in my old, beat-up car), changed, and rushed to the hospital to visit the grandfather. The mom and the dad were not home, but I didn't want to wait. We had just arrived at the hospital when my mom called, demanding more information, which of course I didn't have yet.

We went in to visit, talked to my cousin, who said the doctor hadn't come in yet, and that the nurses didn't really have any information to give us. We stayed until they kicked us out for their shift rotation, and I started back for home. I called my mom, got a bit singed for not having more information to give her (ouch, teach me to forget to don the flame-retardant suit), then picked something up for dinner on the way back. After dinner, my mom and 2 of her sisters went back to the hospital to see if they could find out more information, but the doctor never came and they came back at around 11:30 or so, exhausted.

Friday morning, I decided to not go to work, and help my mom and my aunt wait at the hospital. They went early, I went a little later on. Grandpa was glad to see us, and seemed more at ease with the company, although he kept dozing offl. We waited most of the morning, until nearly 12, when the nurses came to take grandpa for some more testing. They said they'd be back in an hour or two, so we went to lunch. We came back, but at 2 grandpa still wasn't back. We waited longer, and finally around 3ish he was back - but we had missed the doctor, and there was still no news.

At around 4 or so, the ICU nurse came to say that they were moving grandpa out of the ICU and to another room upstairs, because his condition was no longer critical. He had dinner first (the rice wasn't sticky, the food didn't taste good without salt, but he got vanilla wafers for dessert - grandpa loves his dessert), then they moved him. But still, no doctor. Finally around 6 or so, just as I was getting ready to take my mom home, the doctor showed up. He explained that the artery wasn't 100% blocked as they originally thought, but it was 60% or so clogged. But they still didn't know what was causing the breathing problems, so they were going to hold him for a bit longer. Also his bloodpressure was irregular, so they had increased his medications to stabilize it.

Grandpa was feeling better though. He was joking with the nurses, and eager to watch the Angels/Mariners game. Always a good sign, when Grandpa can complain about how the Angels keep choking under the pressure of away games.

^_^;