In Hospital

Hey, Y'all,
I hope this one will make sense to all of you. On Wednesday, Gramps was taken to the hospital with renal failure, and we were not sure he would even make it. We are now much more hopeful. I had been with him most of the day at the nursing home, and he had been complaining for several days with back pain in the area of the kidneys, and I had been telling the personnel there about his complaints. He also had a quite extended belly and it was hurting as well. No one took my or his complaints seriously until Wednesday afternoon when the CNA noticed pink in the commode after Gramps had been on it (but apparently not voiding). Gramps had also not had any stool movements since arriving at the nursing home that we knew of.

Anyway, the nurses had taken blood samples earlier on, and apparently no one had really checked them. When the CNA reported the pink and the nurse checked the blood report, they got on the ball and immediately called the Rescue Squad to transport him to the hospital. When he arrived at the hospital (Jefferson Memorial), they examined him and pronounced that he had renal failure and might have to go on dialysis if he so chose. Needless to say, we were quite alarmed and he said he did not want to go on dialysis. I agreed with him. However, they immediately catheterized him and by the next day (yesterday) he was much improved and the doctor said he was almost back to normal. They are also taking care of the other problem.

We had no sooner arrived at the hospital, (I followed the ambulance in my car) when our pastor showed up. I had called Allie, and she had called Judy, and she had told the pastor, Rev. J.W. Taylor, and there he was. It was not long before Allie came and then came Judy and Gene. Dub (Gramps) was taken to the hospital about 4 p.m. and by 8:30 there were 5 of us in the room with him back in the emergency area. By 11 p.m. he was in a room and settled in. Allie spent the night with him and I went home, taking Mark with me so he could crash on the couch and get up early the next morning (Thursday) and go with me back to the hospital.

Would you believe that I just got home (it is early Friday morning) after having spent the last 24 hours with Dub? (except for a short time eating lunch with niece, Donna) yesterday. Today will probably be a full day, too. I have been here at home about an hour and a half. I will be going to eat breakfast at the church with the senior citizens in a few minutes, then back to the hospital. Dub was awake all night until about 5 a.m. when he finally went to sleep. The reason we are spending time with him so much is because he wants to pull out the IV needle and also the catheter in his bladder. I noticed a blood clot in the Foley tube and asked the nurse if that was normal and she said, "no, it isn't". They have run several tests on him (ct scans and x-rays). The doctor told me yesterday that the scans showed either the liver or kidneys as okay and right now I am not sure which it was. I know that is terrible that I can't remember, but well, folks, I have had no sleep for the last 24 hours.

I will write more later because there is a lot more I want to tell you. My internet was on the fritz wednesday night so I couldn't write anything then or yesterday morning. Thank all of you for your prayers and sweet comments. I love all of you. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Bye. More later.