Last night my mother told me that my grandmother doesn't have long left to live. For the last two years she has given us a scare on a regular basis that it was her time to die. It got to the point that when my mother would call and tell me that Grandma didn't have long to live, I'd shrug it off figuring she would bounce back. And every time she would. Inevitably most of the family felt that way.

Now we have a slightly different situation. They put Grandma has gotten worse, last night they finalized all the paperwork for a DNR (Do not Resuscitate). They also instructed the staff to take Grandma off of her meds, only keeping her on her meds that will keep her comfortable. While at work this morning I receive a call from my mother, "The hospice called, they say your Grandma is going to pass shortly".

I left work quickly and drove to the nursing home as fast as I could, I wanted to see her one last time. I had been planning on stopping in today on my lunch break, but it didn't look like I was going to be able to wait that long. When I arrived at the nursing home, Grandma's breathing was labored and shallow, her pulse was up over 110 and they couldn't take her blood pressure anymore. Her blood oxygen level was around 65%. She sounded really bad. Nurses and attendants where in and out all day checking on her and kept giving us the same line, "anytime now".

I sat with her for 3 hours, finally I had to go get Clone. Mom runs a daycare and usually watches him, but since she was with Grandma, she had a substitute filling in for her. Unfortunately the substitute couldn't stay all afternoon and Clone was the only kid she had left. Now I'm sitting home with the boys waiting for the call.

Unfortunately I'm not sure if it's going to happen tonight, tomorrow or when. It's going to be a long wait.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:06 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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