View from the Other Side

My grandma Kay was not on any prescription medication and had never had a hospital stay outside of having her two girls. She has been having a little more trouble getting around in the last few years due to arthritis in her knees and back, but outside of that was a relatively healthy woman.

About two months ago she got a virus that she just never really recovered from and after a month of not feeling well she agreed to let my aunt take her to the doctor. After a few tests, they recommended that she go to the ER where she was admitted on May 9, the Friday of Mother’s Day weekend. Her chief complaints were shortness of breath and a cough. The doctor’s in the ER deemed her a “diagnostic dilemma”. We teased that this suited her! The weekend involved mostly tests and tests and more tests.

Zach and I had already planned on being in Clarksville for Mother’s Day weekend and we kept those plans and took our moms to dinner. On Sunday Mom, Dad, and I traveled to Memphis. I just really wanted to be there to support my grandmother and my mom during her time in the hospital. God worked things out perfectly because Jess was also in Clarksville that weekend so Zach rode back home with her and I was able to drive my car to Memphis.

GK didn’t know I was going to be with mom and dad. She was so surprised to see me and I was glad to be a blessing to her during the not-so-fun time of a hospital stay. It was a bit shocking to see her sitting there with the oxygen on, but my first impression of her was that she looked so good!

Mom and Dad had to head back home but I was able to stay for a couple of days, while mom finished things up at school. It was very strange being “the family” of a a patient. I got to see things from the other side of the fence and it’s not a place I want to find myself. I will say that I was impressed with the care she received at the hospital and the place was very clean. Unfortunately that is not true at every hospital (I speak from experience!). I met her doctors on Monday morning and one of them deemed as the “medical expert” for the family. I told him I wouldn’t call myself an expert and he reminded me that the person in the family with the most medical experience immediately becomes the expert. Me and my SLP self began trying to decipher what was said and what the next step would be. While a lot of medical stuff is familiar to me it doesn’t mean that I understand it... therefore me and google/webmd became close buds.

We received some surprising news that morning. One of the ultrasounds revealed a fairly large abdominal aortic aneurysm. This came as a big shock to us and the doctor, especially since it was in no way related to her initial complaints. I knew enough about this diagnosis to know that it would require surgery and a long recovery. The surgeon met with us shortly after the news and said they would run a more detailed test (CT) to determine what type of surgery she would need. The next morning the same surgeon came in and gave us some more surprising news. In his words “I never get to give this kind of news”. She did not have the abdominal aortic aneurysm. It wasn’t there. No surgery. We were shocked but super excited. We know that it was a miracle.

When I was leaving the hospital that afternoon I saw the surgeon walking by and he recognized me and was still smiling. It was neat to see the guy truly excited for our family!

...to be continued...