Jan. 17th, 2010 05:15 pm
Grandpa-Watch, Day six
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johnstonmrWhen this all began, it looked like grandpa was going to die within days. Now it seems it could be a while.
He's recovered a bit--he can understand us, and signal "yes" and "no" by nodding or shaking his head. But he has no speech--my sister claims he said "jesus christ!" clearly when they were putting his knee therapy machine on this morning, but he's said nothing while I was there; he hasn't even tried. So I'm not sure if he DID say it, or if it was wishful thinking on her part (or he wasn't all that clear but she got it because she knows him like I do). He can swallow, but hasn't much appetite. He's in Congestive Heart Failure, but the doctors think they can fix that relatively easily by changing his meds.
The neurologist has not changed his prognosis, but he says it could be six months or so before we really know whether grandpa can survive in the long term. Either he can, in a sort of shitty half-life he'll despise, needing others to care for him (he's VERY independent, and only lives with my aunt because he can't afford to live on his own anymore), or he can't, in which case he won't see the next Christmas. And while the latter seemed likely last week, he's gotten a little bit better each day, so he could recover.
I know he's angry, laying there unable to feed himself or get up, but there's little we can do for him. He'll be in the hospital for an indeterminate time, and then he'll either have to go to Karla's house on what essentially amounts to hospice care, or a nursing home.
Grandpa went under the knee surgery that started all this because he would rather be dead than in a wheelchair. So he threw the dice, and they came up snake eyes. He is pissed.
I'm going back to work on tuesday, where I'll have to explain all this over and over again. Bleah.
He's recovered a bit--he can understand us, and signal "yes" and "no" by nodding or shaking his head. But he has no speech--my sister claims he said "jesus christ!" clearly when they were putting his knee therapy machine on this morning, but he's said nothing while I was there; he hasn't even tried. So I'm not sure if he DID say it, or if it was wishful thinking on her part (or he wasn't all that clear but she got it because she knows him like I do). He can swallow, but hasn't much appetite. He's in Congestive Heart Failure, but the doctors think they can fix that relatively easily by changing his meds.
The neurologist has not changed his prognosis, but he says it could be six months or so before we really know whether grandpa can survive in the long term. Either he can, in a sort of shitty half-life he'll despise, needing others to care for him (he's VERY independent, and only lives with my aunt because he can't afford to live on his own anymore), or he can't, in which case he won't see the next Christmas. And while the latter seemed likely last week, he's gotten a little bit better each day, so he could recover.
I know he's angry, laying there unable to feed himself or get up, but there's little we can do for him. He'll be in the hospital for an indeterminate time, and then he'll either have to go to Karla's house on what essentially amounts to hospice care, or a nursing home.
Grandpa went under the knee surgery that started all this because he would rather be dead than in a wheelchair. So he threw the dice, and they came up snake eyes. He is pissed.
I'm going back to work on tuesday, where I'll have to explain all this over and over again. Bleah.
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