Update Time!

Well, my power just went out for some mysterious reason. It is raining, but not storming or doing anything torrid. We just got home from another long day and luckily Maddie is just beat so she's napping while Rob is out running the errands he needs to for work. And I find myself with a moment.

For those of you who have been calling to check in with us, thank you very much for your concerns! My grandma is doing much better, much much better! It seems that every day she is exponentially better. She had a minor stroke on Saturday night but was luckily found shortly after it happened and rushed to the area's best stroke center. I saw her on Sunday and she wasn't able to talk much, but I now wonder if a large part of that wasn't because she had hit her jaw when she fell and wasn't able to move it. I just got back from a brief visit to the hospital where she could very clearly annunciate a bunch of words and gesture to tell me she was only half-heartedly cheering for Duke, that she had a St. Patrick's Day card for me, and laugh at my pictures of Maddie.

Earlier in the day, I went with my cousin Kate to see her florist to hear about her wedding flowers. I had called Mom before leaving to check and see if she needed anything but Mom wasn't home. We tried to call again later, without success. I had a feeling she was taking my uncle to the airport and maybe going down to Grandma's house, but we all were discussing that we didn't know where Mom was. When we got home from the florist, I got a call from Kate who had gone over to the hospital to see Gram. Grandma was able to communicate to Kate and my aunt, exactly where Mom was -- telling them that my uncle's flight had been cancelled and that Mom and Jack went to Grandma's house to get her slippers. Now that is a lot of vocabulary for a recent stroke victim!

We expect that by mid-next week, Grandma will be moved to a rehabilitation center. After a set number of days in rehab (heh), she'll probably be moved to a nursing home, but it will depend on the progress she makes. Since she can already walk around, do high kicks (she demonstrated for Mom this morning!), talk quite a bit, I'm rather hopeful for a good recovery!

It's been a hectic, hectic week. Rob has worked at least 70 hours this week -- gotta love the coffee biz during Spring Break time. I took a day off to help Mom, but sadly don't really have more time to spare. Mom has very graciously been coming to my house to watch Maddie until I get out of work. I get out at 2 p.m. every day, whip down to spend a few minutes with Gram and then zoom back to let Mom get to the hospital. I'm sure its been very exhausting for her and I really wish I could do more to help her! I'm glad she has my uncle with her for a few more days, because I think it's really good for her to have an extra person around to help.

This has been a situation that all of us have feared for a long time -- particularly my Grandma, whose mother had a stroke. I can't imagine how difficult it is on her to face her worst fears. But the moral of this story is, there is definitely a strong light at the end of the tunnel. I'm heartened by the incredible progress we've seen, and reminded that my Grandma is no ordinary Grandma!