Gramma passed away

Those of you who know me, know that I've been living with and taking care of my grandmother for quite a few years now. This last year or so has been really rough. She's been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia and other issues since last spring. She never fully recovered from her first hospital and subsequent rehabilitation stay at the hospital. This time around we discovered that she had uterine cancer, and it was quite advanced. I believe just about everyone in her family died from cancer, so she really wasn't very surprised with the diagnosis. While risky, she opted to have surgery to remove the tumors. She fully understood the risks involved, and the final decision was hers to make. The surgery itself went well, and I really thought she might recover and have at least a few more good years. Two days after the surgery, however her organs started to fail. She was in so much pain that last day, it ripped my heart apart to see her like that. Years ago she made a living will, and told me she didn't want to be kept alive on machines. She put a huge amount of trust in me to carry out her wishes. When the doctor told me that the only thing keeping her alive was those machines, and that nothing they could do would make her better, I knew I had to tell them to turn off the machines. It's what she would have told them, had she been able to speak at that point. Earlier that day I told her I loved her, and she was able to say that she loved me too. Mere words can't encompass all I felt for Gramma though. I only hope she knew just how much she meant to me. I'm not really sure what I'll do without her. I'm glad I was with her, holding her hand when she passed. Now she's up in Heaven with my brother Jeff, my grandfather, and the rest of her family, friends, and pets who have gone before her. I feel so blessed to have had in my life for as long as I did. The picture above is from my high school graduation (I always was a bit of a goof). She was always my biggest supporter, and loved me no matter what stupid things I did as a teen. She's a huge part of who I am, and I can only hope I live up to her expectations. I know God has a very special place for her among the angels.
Rest in peace Gramma. I love you more than you'll ever know.
Eva Waldeck 4-15-16 to 5-16-10
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

Gramma's back home again

Gramma's back from the nursing home!
Those of you who know me may have heard that Gramma has been in the nursing home for some time now (just about a month). At the end of January she went to the hospital with bronchitis, then was moved to the nursing home for her rehabilitation. She worked really hard at her therapy with the goal of becoming strong enough to come home. Tuesday was her first day back home, and she did pretty good. It was hectic, but she didn't seem to get too stressed out. We had a new hospital bed delivered to replace her very old Craftmatic Adjustable bed. The hardest part was taking apart the old bed. Those things have a ton of screws and bolts! The new bed is smaller, and much easier for me to move around it. The delivery guy had it put together and set up in no time. It has locking wheels, so I can move it whenever I need to. It also seems to be easier for her to get in and out as well. Then the medical supply company dropped off a machine for oxygen, which I think will be temporary. She's never been on oxygen before, and it was just prescribed to use at night. Gramma said she hasn't noticed any difference when she's not using it. When the nurse came to the house and checked her oxygen it was 97%, and Gramma had me turn the machine off about 9am, so she had over 5 hours without any additional oxygen. The nurse said if Gramma felt she didn't need it, she didn't have to use the machine. Gramma's mood and attitude are pretty good too, which is nice to see. It's good to see her smile and hear her laugh. We'll have all sorts of nurses, aides, and therapists coming to the house for a while. So far they've all been very nice and answered all our questions and concerns. I was so proud of Gramma for getting herself in and out of bed today (I could see how bad she wanted to do it by herself). She also walked up and down the hall (with the walker) about 5 times. I hope she remains this motivated. I think it will help that spring is coming and she can sit out in the living room and see the sunshine, animals, and flowers. Winter in NE Ohio is enough to depress anyone!
I just wanted to update everyone on how Gramma was doing. I may not be able to spend as much time online now that she's home, but don't worry, I'm still here!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

Gramma's in the hospital again

For those of you who don't know, I live with my 93 year old grandmother and take care of her. Saturday night I had to call the ambulance because she was having trouble breathing. She didn't want me to call, but I was really worried about her. After the paramedics came she finally agreed to go to the hospital. It was a good thing she went, because it turns out she has bronchitis (again). Last spring she spent 2 weeks in the hospital after bronchitis turned into pneumonia. She really hasn't been the same since she came back from the last hospital stay. She was lot weaker and was starting to forget things and get confused. It's not easy being her sole caregiver. Unfortunately my mother lives in another state, but we've been on the phone together nearly every day. She's coming to visit next month, which I'm really looking forward to. Not only will we be able to take care of some of Gramma's affairs while Mother's here, but it will be nice to have someone else help shoulder the load for a bit. Plus it will be nice to see my mother again and spend some time together.
When I talked to the nurse at the hospital today, she said Gramma was doing a little better than yesterday, although they need to get her blood sugar stabilized (she's diabetic). She doesn't seem to be coughing quite as much as she was, and they had her sitting in the chair for a few hours. She's still on oxygen, but her appetite seems to be returning a bit. They want to send her to a nursing home (one we're quite familiar with) to do her rehabilitation after she gets out of the hospital. Her doctor works there too, so she'll be comfortable with him there. I'm doing all I can to keep her spirits up, and trying to avoid upsetting her in any way. I didn't mention that the heating element in the oven died yesterday. If I told her, she'd just get all worried and upset. Hopefully I can just replace the element, and we'll have a working oven again. Unfortunately I can't bake any polymer clay until we get it fixed (not to mention dinner- LOL). I'm paying all her bills now, as well, so she doesn't have to worry about that either.
I hate seeing her weak and confused, because that's just not Gramma. It's hard to believe she'll be 94 in April. I can only hope that it's a healthy and happy 94. If anyone deserves to be healthy and happy, it's Gramma.
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

Gramma update

Well, Gramma's been home from the hospital for a week now. She did pretty good the first day, but then at 3am she got a bad dizzy spell. She has a condition called Labrynthitis which causes her to get extremely dizzy and nauseous, sometimes for as long as 3 or 4 days. Luckily I was right there with her when it hit, so she didn't fall. That set her back quite a bit. We've had nurses aides and therapist coming all week. After the first few days she was able to sit in a chair to eat her breakfast and dinner before laying back down again.
Of course I managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder getting her into bed the first day, so I wasn't feeling too great myself. Not to mention a severe lack of sleep. I put a bell on Gramma's bedside table so she could ring it when she needed to use the bathroom (or any other time she needed me). She's on a diuretic, so I was running up the stairs every hour or so. To say I'm tired would be putting it mildly. Now we've got it down to every 2 hours or so, which is an improvement, I guess.
Yesterday she did really good though. She managed to walk (with the walker) out to the living room and eat her dinner out there like she used to do. Even Ozzy, my cat, was happy to see her sitting in her chair like normal. Routine is comforting, even for cats. Things have just been so crazy lately. None of us knows whether we're coming or going any more. Now when she went to get up from the chair yesterday evening she pulled a muscle in her back. She took some Tylenol and I massaged it for her for a while. She said it was feeling better this morning. I believe the physical therapist is supposed to come on Monday, so we'll see what kind of exercises she has for Gramma. At least Gramma works really hard at her therapy and does all she can to recover. It's tough being the only one here to do everything for her, but at least she's a good patient. Mentally she seems to be okay too. I'm VERY thankful for that. I can help her out with her physical needs, but when they start to slip into dementia or Alzheimer's, there's only so much a person can do. Heck, she even double checks my work when I write her bills out and balance her checkbook.
Anyway, that's the latest on Gramma. She's been eating good (glad to have real food rather than the horrible stuff they gave her at the hospital), and we seem to be getting her blood sugar back to normal. The main thing right now is getting her strength and endurance back up. I'm just hoping we can get back to some version of normal (and a full night;s sleep would be nice too).

I'm tired!

I've been incredibly busy lately. Gramma came home from the hospital Friday, and was doing pretty good until about 3am when she got a bad dizzy spell. She has something called Labrynthitis, and gets incredibly dizzy and nauseous sometimes. Then on top of that she got a bout of diarrhea, so I was up with her all night long. She's still pretty weak, and has spent the last few days in bed, but is slowly regaining her strength. She does try hard though. She does the best she can to help me out. I gave her a sponge bath yesterday and she said she felt like a new woman. They really didn't take very good care of her in the hospital. She's starting to get her appetite back, as well, which will go a long way in regaining her strength. The nurse's aid came today and gave her another bath, and she'll be coming twice a week for a while. Tomorrow the physical therapist should come, and maybe we'll get an idea of exactly where Gramma stands, strength wise. I haven't gotten much sleep since she came home though. I need to help her to the bathroom, and she takes a diuretic, so that's a lot of trips during the night. I've learned how to organize all her medications, and how to test her blood sugar, and she even "allowed" me to pay her bills and balance her check book. For Gramma, that's showing a LOT of trust in me. Of course I showed her everything I was doing so she felt assured it was all done right.
When I went out to get the paper this morning I realized that the grass in the front yard had gotten REALLY tall, so I figured I'd better get it mowed before somebody complained to the city and we got fined. Things have been so crazy lately I hadn't even noticed how much it had grown. Then of course there's always housework, dishes, cooking, clothes washing, cleaning litterboxes, and all that other fun stuff which never goes away on it's own. I do my best to keep the house as clean as I can. I don't like a dirty house. Granted, the downstairs (where my husband and I live) is more cluttered than usual, but I'll let that slide a bit in order to keep the upstairs (where Gramma lives) clean. If only I could get my husband to do some housecleaning. Ah well, a girl can dream.
Of course there's a lot more that's been going on, but I pulled a muscle in my shoulder while getting Gramma up, so I think I'm about done typing for now. I'm ready for bed, but I've still got plenty to do- no rest for the wicked!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

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.

Craziness!

This last month has been nuts! First, Gramma got bronchitis- not good, but the antibiotics were starting to help. Then her blood sugar dropped really low (she's diabetic) and we had to take a trip to the ER. They sent her home the same day, once her sugar stabilized. She really didn't get much better after that though. She was coughing less, but very weak and tired, and she had no appetite. Did I mention I live with her and take care of her? So I know what's normal for Gramma, and things were not normal. After a few days of this, with no improvement, she decided to have me call the ambulance. There's nothing wrong with Gramma mentally, so these decisions are hers to make. I can offer suggestions, but I can't force her to do anything. I'm here to help her with the things she's unable to do physically, although my responsibilities have steadily been increasing lately. Anyway, they finally figured out that her bronchitis had turned into pneumonia, so they admitted her and she's been in the hospital since Friday. My husband and I have been to see her every day. She's been improving, eating better, sitting up for several hours at a time, and even walking a bit today. She looks more like Gramma now, which does my heart good. I was pretty scared there for a while. She may be 93, but I still can't stand the thought of losing her. She's one of the most important people in my life.

Yesterday (Memorial Day) we went out to my husband's aunt's house for a cookout after leaving the hospital. That's the first time I've been able to see the family for quite a while. I haven't been able to leave Gramma alone for some time now. It was nice to relax a bit and have fun with the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Uncle Don, another gardener like myself, dug up some black raspberries and some rose bushes for me to take home. He's very generous like that. We spend a lot of time talking gardening, animals, and nature. He's a really great man, much like my grandfather. So today I was planting black raspberries and rose bushes (in the rain). By the way, a good way to handle prickly plants like these is to wrap newspaper around the stems and hold the paper. Surprisingly, I didn't get stabbed once. Usually when I deal with roses or raspberries I get all scratched up. I dug deep planting holes for each plant, filled it partially with torn up newspaper, compost, more newspaper, and topsoil. Then I filled the hole with water, to be sure it was well drenched. I put the plant in the hole, covered it with topsoil, more shredded newspaper, and more compost. Then I watered it again. Hopefully all the plants will do well.

When I got home late last night and checked my email I saw that I had made a sale. Turns out I sold 15 items to one lady! By that time I was so tired I wasn't sure if I was reading it right. Now I need to carefully pack up all the individual pieces, which include several of my miniature clay houses, a pen set, several knit stuffed dogs and cats, some earrings, and my World of Warcraft plush Tauren Hunter with his Pet Lion. Oh, and when I logged onto ArtFire last night I saw that the new Fusion studios were live. If you want to check out my new layout go here. I still have some work to do, but I got a good start on it. Feel free to give me your opinion on the new look.

So, I've been incredibly busy this month. Lots of ups and downs. Gramma's health started out as a "down", but is changing to an "up" as she improves. She was pretty talkative today. It's nice when I can call all the relatives and give them good news. They plan to keep her for rehab for another week, which is what she wanted. She'd rather wait until she's strong enough to come back home, rather than rushing things and ending up back in the hospital. My big sale is definitely an "up". To know that someone likes my work enough to purchase a large amount of it makes me so happy. Every sale is a thrill for me. So, that's an overview of my month- no wonder I'm tired! I've barely slowed down enough to eat lately!