So my 98 yr old Grandmother had a small heart attack on Saturday night. Shes never had anything like this before shes had some falls and broken wrists and things in the last five years which lead to moving her to a home about two years ago. At 98 we're lucky she's here and has all her mind. Her ears and eyes don't work well now and her writing is no longer legible but believe me she knows whats what in our family.
I live interstate to my Mum and all her family and last saw my Gran in March and for the first time i said my goodbyes thinking i might not see her again (hadn't done that before) but i am at peace knowing i have done that (i didn't get to do that for other loved ones and it always hurts to think of it). I think i have made her proud i'm not sure but we don't really know each other well. Its been hard this week being the only member of that side of my family who's not there. Its harder when i think i have two parents i'm going to need to look after and we're all in different states and i don't know how i'm going to be in three places at once.
My Gran is of that lived through wars and depressions era. I smile sometimes when i think of the saving of margarine containers, saving and reusing of baking paper and washing out plastic bags and hanging them on the line to dry so they could be re used. My Grandparents were successful they worked hard and long and did very well. In return my Gran has been very lucky to have money and not have needs unrequited through the last few decades.
Even this week she worked hard to pull through and appears to have done so with no damage to her mind, a little exhausted as you would be but no damage has shown in tests. She has asked to go home and for everyone to stop wasting their time and hers "i'm 98 and going to die next week anyhow".
Chances are she right.
Last night she spoke to my exhausted mum who's been at her bedside since Sunday, making lots of decisions and having lots of conversations of no resuscitation's and no treatments etc for her own mother.
Gran said to her "Dear in my room in the bedside table there is a key. The key opens a drawer over in the cabinet. In a sock in the back of the drawer dear is thirty dollars. You make sure you take that OK?"
Mum just nodded and thanked her.
I just have to smile at that.
Oh, she is AMAZING!
ReplyDeleteMy husband's grandmother died two months short of her 100th birthday. She was amazing. She lived in her own home until just 10 months before she died of a stroke. Had her mind, and kept a clean house. And yes, she looked after everyone right up until she died.
When my brother in law read her obituary, he made a few points similar to yours - "she sure saw alot. And she was older that most houses we drive past in our new cars." It must have been hard to see how the world has changed in just one lifetime hey?
Thanks for this. I hope she's going to be okay. xx