Valkyre

And Then Things Get Worse

Monday, I have to leave for work in about 45 minutes and I notice my cell phone is almost dead. So, I put it on the charger, hoping that that 45 minutes would buy me a little time. And then, I leave and forget it. Of all days to forget my cell phone. Work was bad yesterday and I end up getting home at 8:00pm, which is really late. As soon as I pull up, my youngest comes running out, "Call Aunt Sally! She called and said that Grandpa has been taken to the hospital!" Crap! I call her on the land line. High fever, shaking, sweating. They think he has pneumonia. My mind swirls. First dementia, now this!? She actually doesn't want me to go see him yet. At that moment, he was still in the process of being checked in. "Could you please get his dog? She's been left alone at the house." I call Mike, who was not too far from the house and ask him to get her. I boil water, and pour it into my cup to steep the Green Tea bags. Mike calls. He doesn't have keys to the house and the dog is locked inside! Crap! I have to run down there. No time to unwind. I drive down there. The dog is so relieved to see us. We go inside the house and calm her down. Then I go around and shut any open window and lock them. Made sure all the doors were locked and left a light on in the living room, so it would look like someone is home. Since it was now pushing almost 10:00pm, I grab some fast food. I didn't sleep well. Got by on less than 5 hours.

Visited him today. He's in ICU being monitored. Tests, tests and more tests. They don't really seem to know what's going on. He can't swallow that well and they think that some food got into his lungs. It's a certain kind of pneumonia, but the name escapes me. He's on fluids and antibiotics. His blood pressure isn't all that great. He slept most of the time we were there. He woke up once for about 5 minutes and seemed happy to see us. We didn't stay that long. He was weak and wanted to sleep. So, we left. All of us feel that he may not come out of the hospital. Maybe we won't feel like this when they find out what's going on.