Grandma 8/22/07

Grandma is still hanging on. We think she is waiting on two of her sons to come see her, but I don't know if that will happen. The one son is in New Hampshire. He says he'll be here, but it's taking time to get plans arranged. The other son lives in Washington DC and his wife is very ill so he's not able to just drop everything and come either.

I've been at the nursing home every day. Today when I was sitting by grandma's bedside, I held her hand and she squeezed so hard I thought she was going to cut off the circulation! It felt good though, knowing that she knew I was there. She does look at you now and will follow you with her eyes as you walk around the room, but there's still no speech and she can't move her right side.

Her body wasn't processing the fluids that she was getting via IV so they took her off of that. The doctor said that it was actually making her worse because the fluids had nowhere to go. Her hands are very swollen because of this, but that will eventually be reabsorbed back into her body. She was also very congested, but is now breathing much easier. She still coughs, but nothing like she.

The Hospice nurses have talked to the family and gave us information on what to expect. It was hard to read, but it does answer some of our questions. Everyone knows that grandma won't be with us much longer so we're all trying to spend as much time with her as possible. I think grandma knows this and appreciates not being alone.

Grandma gazes at the ceiling a lot during the day when she is awake and mom said today that she wished she knew what grandma was seeing. I told mom that grandma is watching all of her angels and that right in the middle of the group is my grandpa, waiting patiently with open arms. Of course, mom cried, but she said that was the most beautiful and peaceful image for her to imagine and it was something that made her feel good to think about. I told her that is how I get through the day, by knowing that there are so many people waiting to have grandma with them again.