Popsicles. :) She was very crafty. Just this past Christmas when we were going through all the hoopla of my Grandpa breaking his hip she made aprons for all the girls (including her daughters), and pajama pants for each of the grandkids. Her hands were so bad but she still did it. She has had a really rough time the past few years, but especially this past year. She had SO many problems, heart failure, kidney failure, gout, and a few other things. But the amazing thing is she was a lot of fun despite all of her problems. She made a scrapbook for her grandchildren and had a journal for all of us, I could go on and on.....
Now, about her time at the hospital. She had two stress fractures in her spine (that we didn't find out about until about a week later). The fractures were causing horrible pain, and she could only be on a limited amount of pain medicine due to her low blood pressure. Finally they put her on some IV medication to keep her blood pressure up. Because of her weak heart they couldn't do any kind of surgery, so then we thought she might be able to have a procedure where they put some concrete-like substance in the fractures to fill it, and that was supposed to work, but with all of her problems she might not even be eligible for that. There were many long, hard days at the hospital, for all of us. It was such an emotional roller coaster. Some days we thought she was well enough to do the procedure. And other days, actually a couple of times we thought we were about to lose her. Some days all of us were just crying and so sad, and others we thought we had hope.
God has really showed Himself to us through this hard time though. My Grandma was the director of a little crisis pregnancy center in her town for 18 years. And in that time she saved so many lives. One night me and Abigail were sitting in the waiting room after the visiting hours were over, while the rest of our family was still in there with her. She was in ICU which is very strict but we wanted to savor every moment that she was coherent like she was that night. That day had been really emotional and I think we were all tired. Anyway, Abigail and I were sitting in the waiting room by ourselves and there was no one in there accept two ladies on the other side of the dividing wall. We were sitting there watching "I Love Lucy" on my little DVD player. When the opening came on we heard the two ladies humming the song with it, and so Abigail asked me if we should go ask them if they wanted to watch it with us and I thought it was a good idea, so we went over there and she asked them. They both smiled and one of them said, "We just might do that." So me and Abigail went and sat down again and a few minutes later one of the ladies came over and ask if we wanted anything from the cafeteria because they were going down to heat up something. We said no thank you, and she started to walk off and then turned around and said, "You're here with your Grandmother, aren't you?" We said yes, and told her Grandma's name. She said that she had went to Grandma seventeen years ago, and Grandma talk to her about being pregnant, and she said Grandma was so loving and kind. That lady decided to have her baby and now that girl is about Abigail's age. We thanked her and thanked her for telling us that. We really needed to hear that. After she left we just grinned at each other. I called my Mom and told her to come out to the waiting room because we had a really neat story. We weren't allowed back in and they wouldn't be either, so Abigail told her a short version over the phone so Grandma could hear too. After a little while they came out and we gave them all the details. And then the two ladies came back up and we all went over and talked to them. My Mom said that they had been praying a little while before I called her and she had prayed that God would show himself to us. Man, He sure did! Abigail asked if she could pray for them because they were there with their sister, and then she asked if she could pray for Grandma. So we prayed and cried and thanked her again for telling us about it. Even my cousin Mariah (9) was crying.
On Friday May 4th, Grandma wasn't getting better and was just going to get worse so my Mom and Aunt talked to my Grandpa and they decided that it just wasn't right to let her keep suffering like that. So they took her off the medications and just gave her pain medication so she would be peaceful. That was a really long, hard day. We didn't know how long she could make it. My Dad came and got me and Clayton and took us to their house. And then my Mom and Grandpa got home at around 1 a.m. The next morning my Dad got up early and drove to the hospital. He, and two of my Grandma's good friends were with her when she passed away.
There is so much more I want to write. About her funeral and everything. But I have to go get ready for the dress rehearsal for my dance performance tomorrow. I don't really want to do it. This is the 1st recital she hasn't been to. But before she died she said, "Carrington, I want you to keep dancing. I may not be in there to watch you but I want to see the DVD." She was so sure she was going to make it longer then, she wanted to be here for my cousins wedding, and for her 50th wedding anniversary, and her 68th birthday, and all those other things that meant so much to her. I want to post more soon but for now I'll leave you with a few pictures........ ♥
~C.
p.s. Please excuse the typos. My computer won't let me fix it without retyping the whole section. :(
That was so sweet Carrington! It made me cry. I'm so glad that we had each other the weeks she was in the ICU. I don't know how we would have done it without each other!
ReplyDeleteGrandma would be so proud that you danced yesterday.
I love you!
Abigail