Gramma's coming home!

Well, Gramma should be coming home from the hospital tomorrow. She's been in there for 2 weeks now with pneumonia. My husband and I have visited her at the hospital just about every day. I hate hospitals, but I'll do anything for Gramma. We've been living with her for several years, and my life pretty much revolves around her. Having the house to ourselves for 2 weeks has actually been weird. I'm just so used to her being there, fixing dinner for her, talking with her, and just having her around. The great thing about Gramma is that, mentally, she's still sharp as a tack, even though she's 93. We moved in here because it was getting too hard for her to take care of the house and her arthritis kept her from doing a lot of things. I couldn't see moving her into a nursing home- that's an absolute last resort. I don't mind taking care of her and the house and the yard. She took care of me until I was 13, so it's only right that I return the favor.

Her pneumonia appears to have cleared up, and she's spent the last several days doing physical therapy to regain the strength she's lost over the last month or so. This all started at the beginning of May with bronchitis, which the antibiotics never fully cured. Poor thing hasn't been eating much for quite a while, so it'll take a while for her to get back to "full strength". Of course the terrible hospital food hasn't helped either. Her social worker told me she'd be getting a physical therapist coming to the house a few times a week once she gets home. I'll be able to see what the therapist does, then do the same when she's not there. One good thing about Gramma is that she's always worked very hard at therapy. She had both knees replaced several years ago and recovered much more quickly than anyone expected. Partially because she had a great surgeon and partially because she worked so hard with her therapy.

Normally she's not bedridden. She gets up, has breakfast, gets dressed (sometimes with help), and keeps herself busy throughout the day. She can't cook any more, but she does chop all the vegetables for the soups and stews I make. I consider it part of her occupational therapy. If she can do it, I don't stop her from doing it. I just make sure she knows that I will gladly take care of anything she can't handle. I don't know how she'll be when she gets home tomorrow, or how much more I'll have to do for her, but I'll just play it by ear. Thankfully I can work from home and arrange my schedule around her needs. She tries hard to do all that she's capable of. I know she doesn't want to be a burden to anybody, but there's no way she'd ever be a burden to me. I love her and I'll do ANYTHING she needs me to do. I'm so thankful to have her in my life, and I'm very happy she'll be back home, where she belongs. Even the cats have missed her- they've been looking all over for her. She'll be glad to see Ozzy and Cedric too- they always make her laugh.