The beginning I suppose. What a time the last 2 weeks have been.
Tuesday 2 weeks ago, fast asleep in my bed when I was woken by my mobile at 4:15am. I wasn’t on call from work and when I looked to see the time on the phone, caller ID said it was my father. Panic.
He said he needed to “check something with your mother”, yeah right. He’d been calling her but she was out for the count so had to try me. I jump at the sound of a phone ringing so he knew he’d get me.
Funnily enough, my mother never heard her mobile ringing all the times that it rang, just me saying simply “mam” wokoe her like a shot.
My brother was still up, at that hour, watching movies so he came out when he heard both of us up and talking. I left mam talkinig with dad and got a drink in the kitchen with Steve.
A minute later my mother starts doing a headless chicken dance, running all over the place half naked trying to find clothes in one room, then another, then back to the first room etc, trying to find lots of clothes, warm clothes. My poor brother almost saw things no son should ever see.
It was a good thing my brother was up, as my mother was in no state to drive, and it was going to be a long night/morning.
My grandfather had taken very ill, extremely ill. Unable to breathe, turning white/blue type ill.
My aunt was staying at my grandparents that night, it’s just so funny how things work out like this. If she hadn’t been there, woken at the sound of him gasping for air and known what to do – I’m sure we’d have buried him. Anyone else, even my uncle who just flew out to France the day before and lives there fulltime, wouldn’t have had a clue.
My mother rushed down to my grandparents anyway, Steve drove her at about 90 down the road. When she got there the ambulance had just pulled up so it was crazy as my other aunts/uncles who lived nearby were there also.
She tells Steve to wait in the car because if he’s very bad she doesn’t want him seeing him like that. But Steve ended up bring giving a job to do by the paramedics so that kept him out of the line of sight. Considering what my mother told me later how he looked, this was a good thing.
Anyway, rushed to hospital and it’s an hour or so before we hear – pneumonia. And at 87 this is very bad.
They kept him in intensive care for nearly 5 days, but he was with it. Forgetful, but with it and knew what was going on. He was very depressed in there, but that’s understandable. Keeping him in intensive care only drives it in that he could’ve been a goner.
Massive relief when he was moved out of intensive care last Friday and came home this past Friday.
I spent most of those 10 days or so driving my mother around, back and forth to the hospital/home/grandparents/work/etc and the rest in the hospital itself.
