Exhausted

This past weekend was extremely exhausting.  My grandpa went to the hospital June 4th for abdominal pain; which he learned was caused by his gall bladder.  Even though he is 88 years old with several health problem, he led a fairly normal life.  After he had surgery on June 8th he was fine for 2 days.  Then the next morning he was delusional.  He came in and out of this over the past 2 weeks.  His heart rate was 150 and his blood pressure was 180/120 for the first week after surgery.  He then went into kidney failure and was placed in ICU for 2 days.

My grandma called me this past Thursday night upset because she was stressed, sad and exhausted.  Friday morning I drove to the hospital in Mtn. Home to help where I could.  I didn't have any idea of what to expect.  My grandpa was still delusional, would hardly open his eyes and difficult to understand.  I have never experienced anything like this with a close family member.  Before my grandma and I went to her house he woke up and talked a little bit.  The hospital made arrangements to transport him to a nursing home for rehab the next day.

When we went to the nursing home Saturday he was in a wheel chair, eyes opened, and talking!  He was very aware of what had happened over the past 2 weeks as the nursing home staff explained it to him.  He was doing much better, but very tired.  My grandma and I left at midnight while my uncle stayed to watch him overnight. 

Sunday morning he was about the same, but his incision was bothering him.  We asked the nurse to change the bandage and when she did we saw that the incision came open (not pretty)!  He was then transported back to the hospital to repair the incision.  I left Mtn. Home at that point since I had to return to work today.

My grandma called me at 9:30 last night upset again.  I attempted to persuade her to go to bed so she could rest, but she wouldn't.  This really upset me that there was nothing I could do.  I was trying to decide if I should use PTO to go back to help her out or stay here for my surgery.  I called her this morning and she said that she and grandpa are doing much better!  She said the surgery went really well yesterday and he was sitting up in a recliner this morning reading the newspaper!  She said he keeps falling asleep; which is expected after all that he has been through.

His heart rate stays around 68 and his blood pressure around 130/80!  I know he has a long road ahead of him, but I am really impressed with how his health is improving!  Please pray for him and my grandma.