Grampy

While at WI this morning (up .8 lbs, BTW) my mom left me a voicemail saying my grandfather is in ICU. A few months ago, my uncle walked in on my grandfather in his shorts and saw that he had some serious swelling going on. Apparently, my grandfather was like that for weeks and felt it was okay not to tell anyone. My uncle (who is also a medic) took him to the doctor, who in return, admitted him to the local hospital with right sided heart failure. They got some of the fluid off him and he was like a new man. Since then, my mom said he started losing some weight, but was doing better. At least he was "trying" to live. Before the heart failure diagnosis he refused to eat and overall had failure to thrive. (Sidenote, he's 89, still lives by himself, walks everywhere, good overall health except for Type II Diabetes.) Between my parents and sister and my uncle and his family, Grampy was getting checked on every day. I guess yesterday my mom went to drop off supper for him and saw that he was throwing up and had diarrhea. Mom cleaned everything and then offered to take Grampy to the hospital, which he refused. He told her he just didn't feel right. This is when it sucks to have some medical knowledge. I worst case scenario stuff, so where everyone else is thinking a stomach flu, I'm thinking something cardiac. (Everyone reading this, if you start puking it does not mean you have heart issues!!) I guess he made himself comfy and a few hours later they tried rousing him for a drink. He was unresponsive so they called 911. Apparently his heart rate was 20 so they started pacing him in his apartment. From the little bit of the story I got from my mom, it sounds like it worked, which is good. He got an indwelling pacer inserted in the ER and then spent the night in the ICU. The doctor says he feels its a combination of cardiac stuff and some underlying infection because his WBC is 23000. Today he's in kidney failure--he hasn't produced any urine. I guess he's more alert...a little more talkative, but they don't still don't know his underlying issue.

My mom told me to stay in MD (they're all in NE PA) until they hear otherwise but I have a feeling we may go up on our own anyway. I tried to get in touch with my uncle to find out more medical information. I hate that part of things....I'm trying to find some medical information out to know how well he really is doing and I'm afraid it comes off as I don't care, which obviously isn't the case.

I, of course, pray that my Grampy comes out of this with flying colors. At the same time, I know if he does, he's no longer going to be living on his own like he has for the past 34 years. Some people, like Brian's grandmother after her stroke, used that as a motivation to get better. I pray that if he ends up in a nursing home setting he thinks the same way.

Please keep him in your thoughts.