Afraid of losing my Grandmother... :(

Hey everyone, I know I don't normally make these kinds of posts, but it's been a really rough week, and I just need an outlet.

This past Monday my grandmother fell at the gas station while filling up her van, she tripped over the hose and couldn't get up... we had to take her to the emergency room, and THANKFULLY she only sustained a compression fracture to the lumbar region of her back... nothing really major, just a lot of rest and pain killers needed.

Well... then again on Wednesday she fell around 8:30 in the morning. This time she fell on carpet, but this time at an odd angle and flat on her face. This time she sustained ANOTHER compression fracture in the back, but a couple of disks up. She also complained of some serious pain in her ribs.

Well, today, just an hour or so after I got off of work, she called my mother and I over by phone saying her chest hurt... We get over there and she was having such severe chest pains that she was in tears and couldn't breathe... I ran home to get my stethescope and cuff and took a quick BP reading and her BP was about 25 points higher than normal and her heart was racing...I began to fear the worst.

We ended up calling an ambulance, and my dad, being on the fire department heard the call come in and so he raced home and helped out the medics and then my mom went to the emergency room with grandma... again. Needless to say, I'm pretty frantic and worried sick... I don't know how much more of this stress I can take. It just broke my heart sitting there with my grandpa (who has severe alzheimers) and having to tell him where grandma was every 30 minutes...

I haven't heard back from mom about how grandma is doing, and I'm really hoping that in this case no news is good news... but I still can't help but be worried sick about it!

Sandra, will send a prayer up right now for your family.

You're all in my thoughts!

Thinking of you and wishing you thoughts of a speedy recovery for your Grandma.

Tilly, I'll have you and your family in my thoughts and prayers today. Please keep us updated.

Hugs and prayers go out to you and your family...

Get well, Grammy!!!!

Thinking of you & saying prayers for you & your family.

I'm so sorry to hear this, will offer prayers up today for your grandmother and family. I sincerely hope your grandmother's condition has improved.

Sandra,
I'm praying for you and your family. It's wonderful that she has family members that know what to do medically. Please keep us posted.

Hugs

Hey everyone, sorry for not updating this, It's been a crazy week.

Well, grandma did have a mild heart attack, but the doctors think it was partially brought on by all the pain meds from the falls; needless to say, she gave us quite a scare!

She is home, finally, but on oxygen 24/7 until her ribs and such heal enough for her to breathe properly on her own. We got her a lift chair to make it easier for her to get up from her favorite spot on her own, a walker so she can get around and a cordless phone to sit right next to her chair so she doesn't have to get up to answer the phone. But, we've still been over at their house a lot, cooking, cleaning, all that jazz so she doesn't have to.

We have no idea how long it'll take for her to be completely healed from all the falls, and if this gets to much worse, or if mom and I get the jobs we're hoping to get and aren't able to be there all the time to help, well, we may be looking at an assisted living home for them.

Grandma has scheduled a proceedure to have the compression fractures in her spine fixed, so hopefully that will help a lot.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! They mean a lot.

Are they doing kyphoplasties on her Sandra? Glad things are a bit better. Is your potential job in your surgical tech field? Been wondering about you.

So glad to hear she is on the mend.

Big hugs

I'm glad she's home. I'll keep praying she has a strong recovery.

Yes, Matha, she has sheduled a kyphoplasty procedure for her fractures, and yes, I'm searching for a surgical tech position, with little luck yet...I'm now volunteering at hospitals nearby to get my foot in the door and to get some more assets for my resume.

Hope the kypos go well. Have helped with several and it is a relatively simple procedure if that makes you feel any better. I sure wish you lived down here. We are so short right now in our OR that I am looking at nearly 32 hours of overtime this paycheck. Had 20 on the last one.

Yeah, up here the hospitals are making cuts left and right... they may be understaffed, but they aren't affording a lot of new hirees... at least not for surg. techs... and those few who are 'hiring' get so applications it's mind boggling.

Shame, we have 3 RN and 2 tech openings last I looked. Adding two more surgeons to staff this summer (ortho and general surgeon) and within past six months just added a neuro guy and another urologist. I was supposed to have Friday and Monday off (on call Sat/Sun) but they asked me to come in Monday cause I'm the "queen of neuro currently -- Arghh but I am grateful for my job considering the economy these days!