I got the call this morning...

7:15 AM the phone rings...I ignore it.

It rings again...this time I get up cause I know something must be wrong. My mom has been in Albany for the last week taking care of my grandmother who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.  Wednesday of last week she was admitted to the hospital because she was becoming dehydrated.

Walk over to the phone, sure enough it's my mom's cell phone. Immediately think to myself "oh man this isn't going to be good"

"Hello?"

"Hi Ralph, I just wanted to let you know your grandmother was admitted into the ICU today and she might not make it to the end of the day."

I was stunned cause my mom said that they were only going to the hospital for IV and now this. I really didn't know what to say to her at that moment...so I listened and then hung up.

I sat there for a while then it hit me like a ton of bricks...I haven't seen my grandmother in months maybe even a year. I was supposed to go up to see her in the beginning of June but the trip got canceled when I had some car trouble.

Then the thought of regret fell upon me...if I don't go right now I might not ever have the chance to see or talk to my grandmother again. That was just not something I wanted to live with the rest of my life.
I called my mom back. "If I come up can I get in to see her?"

"Yes" my mom said.

"I am on my way"

"Ralph, there is nothing you can do for her."

"I am aware of that but all I want is five minutes to at least be able to talk to her."

"OK, just drive safe." my mom demanded.

After taking some directions down and looking up the Hospital name in Google Maps I hung up and called into work...took all I could to finish the voice mail without breaking down. I told Larry (my boss) that I couldn't bare to make the call again to Shondra (Office Manager) and asked if he could let her know.

At that point I hung up the phone and lost it as I was waking Hope up. I think I freaked her out. She had no clue what was going on and thought the worst had happened to one of the boys. I quickly told her what was going on and she gave me a big hug.

She helped me get things ready to go and I packed my laptop up for the trip...I needed to stop into work and print out the maps and directions.

While I was at work Larry spots me and offered up everything he could to help me out. I later told my mom how he offered to help me out and she said "that guy is such a good friend"...she's right..he's always there when I need help in someway, constantly goes out of his way for me.

The ride down was uneventful. I made good time arriving at the hospital with one stop in a little over 3 hours. I had to ask someone how to get to the ICU and when I got off the elevator I ran right into my mom who immediately broke down and gave me a hug.

We went down to the cafeteria as I couldn't get in to see her right away as they only allow 2 visitors for 5 minutes an hour. My aunt and uncle were there getting food and we sat and chatted for a bit and I got up to speed on what happened over the weekend.

We went back up and called into the ICU to see if we could get in. We had to wait a half-an-hour cause she was getting a bath.

Finally a nurse came in and said we could go back. We walked in and I could see her across the ICU. She was a fraction of the woman I had last seen. She had lost so much weight. She had a tube in her nose, many IV's in her hand and a mask providing 100% oxygen.

She looked weak and didn't move much but I was totally reassured when she looked at me and said “Hi Ralph” in her own way that I come to know and love. We talked for about 10 minutes reassuring our love for each other and talked about the kids and how she misses them. Then she wanted to sleep so we left to let her sleep.

I told her I loved her and I would stop in once more before I left.

About two hours later my dad and I went in to see her but she was sound a sleep.. stayed about five minutes and walked out to let my mom in. She was struggling to breathe and it was tough to watch.

I had to leave shortly after that and didn't get to talk to her again. Hopefully I will again. I am planning on going down again Friday if all goes well this week otherwise I'll be making another trip down which won't be fun at all.

But after driving 6 hours and putting up with the 95 degree heat and all the waiting in the waiting room the fifteen minutes I spent with her was worth the trip. It eased my mind and I won't have any regrets if she slipped away and that was the sole purpose of the trip.

Please pray for her. Pray that she doesn't suffer and that my mother has the strength to get through this cause this is especially tough on her.

Tuesday, July 18 2006 at 12:27 AM | Comments [0]
Tags: Mussings