My Broken Grama

It's snowing. Again. We don't normally get this many storms in the winter here in northeastern Oklahoma. My office closed today, so I'm enjoying a day off. I can't complain about that. However, in between bouts of cooking (spinach salad with roasted portobello mushrooms and dijon dressing, guacamole, homemade whole wheat tortilla chips, and a vegan cappuccino in the French press), I've been bummed about my grandmother.

No, not the one who was in the hospital before with heart problems. This time it's my mom's mom, who lives here in Tulsa. She had a hip replaced in the fall. She had her other one replaced last week. She has been having a much rougher time healing this go, but it didn't seem too bad. My older cousin is playing caregiver, and they aren't getting on very well (not that they ever did...), so my mom drove down Wednesday night to offer her company and assistance. Thursday morning, my grandmother attempted to make coffee and peel an orange. Unfortunately, she fell and fractured her leg. She had surgery yesterday, and the break is bad enough to require some extensive rehab.

It only gets worse from here. My grandmother is on so much pain medicine that she's not responding to anyone's questions. So, instead of a normal rehab facility, they may have to put her into a nursing home to complete her therapy. She hates nursing homes. My mom is worried that my grandmother won't put forth any effort to feel better and, therefore, won't recover. On top of it all, she can't get anyone to talk to her. My mother is my grandmother's next of kin AND power of attorney, and even still, all the nurses seem to have no idea what's happening nor any inclination to find out. My mom has still never seen the doctor. She had to throw a fit yesterday even to get him on the phone. My car is covered in ice and snow, so I don't think me venturing out is a great idea. Instead I'm fretting and trying to talk my mom through it. If any of you watched Gilmore Girls, my mom gets things done about as well as Emily Gilmore. If she can't get a nurse to answer a question or take care of the IV that made my grandmother bleed all day yesterday (oh yeah, forgot to mention that), then I can't imagine who could.

All I can do now is hope things improve, hope my grandmother starts responding, and hope my mother can talk some sense into the folks at the hospital. I'd really appreciate any positive vibrations the rest of you can send.