My parents are taking care of my grandparents as they are too forgetful (etc.) to stay on their own. It is a beautiful challenge and it gets more exciting when my parents go away. Then they need to find replacement grandparent-sitters, usually in the form of us grandkids and a sweet lady from our church. My first "shift" was from Wednesday 6:00 am to around 3:15 pm, when I had to leave for voice lessons, and my sister-in-law was going to take over. Wednesday morning, besides being crazy early (I live a half-hour away from my parents house) and the two spiders in the kitchen sink (which I thought was a bit much for 5:00 in the morning), went very smoothly. They had breakfast, made cookies, had lunch, took naps and as they read and wondered about the house, I even got to practice and warm up for my voice lesson.
Around 2:50 or 3:00, Grandpa wanted to go outside to get the mail. This is one of his "chores" which he takes great satisfaction in completing. I watched him go out, but rather than checking the mail, he got in the car. I had the keys with me, so I let him sit in the car, with the door open for a little bit. When he shut the car door, I knew he would get too hot, so I went out and tried to persuade him to get out of the car. You can't really reason with him because his brain doesn't work logically anymore, but you also can really tell him what to do because that gets him mad. So finally, he asked me what I wanted him to do, and I said that I wanted him to either get the mail and come inside, or to come inside and get the mail later.
He went off and got the mail. He makes a little circuit: out the driveway, down the side of the road, up the stairs by the mailbox, and then inside. I knew he was a little upset, so I didn't want to aggravate the situation by standing there, so I watched from inside. He made his little circuit, but instead of coming inside, he did it again. And then again. On the third time around I called to him, but he continued with his path. I then saw he was having trouble with the stairs so I took his cane out to help him in. I tried to persuade him to walk up the side of the road, rather than use the steps, but he kept trying anyway. I tried asking him to tell me what he was doing and why he was doing it that way, just to see what he was thinking, but he couldn't tell me that either. I finally got him off the steps, and as I looked up to see my sister-in-law driving down the road, he started bending over as if he couldn't stand up, and then started shaking.
After that, things started to get crazy. The first thought was heat exhaustion, so we brought him water and a cool washcloth. We knew we had to get him inside, but we also knew we couldn't carry him. We were able to set him down on the steps beside the mailbox and let him rest there. We couldn't get ahold of one of the neighbors, a gentleman who usually is able to come help, but we were able to reach the other neighbors, who came over and helped us get him in a car and then in the house. I had one arm, one of the neighbors had his other arm, I lifted one leg, while the other neighbor pushed his other foot forward in steps. We left a message for the doctor and for mom. We gave kept giving him water and once the excitement settled down, and my brother was on his way to join his wife, I left for my music lesson, about 45 minutes late.
The nurses called back and said that they should call an ambulance because he might have had a minor stroke, so they did and he got taken to the hospital that evening. Meanwhile, I called my husband to let him know that I would be late to voice lessons, where we were supposed to meet. He informed me that he wouldn't be there, because the car broke down, but he had taken it to a garage and could borrow the Press truck to get home. We planned to meet at a friend's house for dinner.
After that I about lost everything and wanted to cry, but I got to my voice lesson and my teacher was so understanding and the song we worked on was "Oh Rest in the Lord." How appropriate. It, by the grace of God, soothed my soul and gave me strength to continue with the day. However, on my way home, Thomas called again and asked me to pick him up because the Press truck was giving him trouble. It had died in the middle of an intersection, and though he was able to get it started and home safely, he didn't really trust it that much. We later found out that it just does that every now and again.
I picked him up, we had dinner at a friends and since Thomas had a pretty bad headache, he dropped me off to teach my prayer meeting class. That was enjoyable, though I had two extra older students. Praise God I had the cookies from earlier in the day so I even had snacks for everyone. Finally I got home, took a bath and went to bed.
Blessings? where are the blessings? Well, because Grandpa was in the hospital, we didn't have to worry about washing him, dressing him, making sure he didn't run away, or eat stuff he shouldn't or anything. We also had something for Grandma to look forward to in the afternoon and to do in the evenings (visit Grandpa in the hospital). Those can be difficult times to explain why they can't go back to the farm. Also because we rented a car, it didn't break down on the way to GA last week. And we had one of the parents cars for this weekend, so we were never completely without a car. I also felt like the week brought my family closer together, gave Mom and Dad a break, and let Thomas and I understand how we can help and pray better for them.
I am sure there are lots more blessings too. I just haven't discovered them yet.
P.S. Grandpa is coming home from the hospital today. He is fine, they couldn't find any evidence of a stroke, as far as I heard, but were most concerned about his irregular heartbeat - which is actually normal for him. Mom was able to persuade the doctor that it would be better for her to give him 24-hour care rather than put him in a nursing home, where he wouldn't have nearly as much attention.
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