a bittersweet trip

[Morrigoon]

Brad, I'm so glad to hear it. And she must be pretty pleased to see the lengths to which you will go out of love for her. And now you can spend some happy time with her.

[Gemini Cricket]

Back in California.

An interesting week, indeed.

First off, my grandma is doing better. The pneumonia has cleared up and her lungs seem to be fine. She's still in a state where she isn't very responsive, but her condition is much improved. She will be checking back into her home either tonight or tomorrow.

My trip was amazingly enlightening and relaxing.
I got to catch up with my immediate family and my favorite aunt. She lives in Vancouver now and I haven't talked to her in about 5 years or so.

I found out quickly that my role for this trip was going to be comic relief, so I ran with it. There was so much grief, regret and anger that my only choice was to counter it with humor. I think it worked. My feeling was that in hard times like this, you can either let it destroy you or you can endure it and live on.

My grandma was not responding to anyone when I arrived. When she responded to me and my aunt, the family was convinced that visits from us out-of-towners improved her condition. I told them that it was possible that she was just ignoring everyone and really wanted to sleep.

Something I learned is that when a person comes to from a long coma-like state, the person that emerges isn't necessarily a wide-eyed, kind soul. Sometimes, a person will be exactly as curmudgeonly as they were when they were last seen. My grandma was that way. She woke once to tell everyone that she had a headache and someone should do something about it or else. Hysterical. What I also found out is that a person in that state isn't necessarily forgiving either, being so close to knocking on heaven's door. Trying to jog Nana's memory, we listed off family members to see if she remembered them. Her least favorite daughter (a family member who stole from my grandma and was a starring character at my grandfather's funeral fiasco) was intentionally 'forgotten' by my grandma. She said she didn't have a daughter named Vera. But all signs pointed to the fact that she knew her but just didn't acknowledge her. Very, very telling.

Anyway, all seems to be back to normal for now.

I will continue about this trip in another thread. Something stunningly revealing happened to me that I'd like to share. But as it has little to do with Nana, I'll start another discussion about it. And, as I am battling the time change and the fact that I have to go to work tomorrow, I'm kinda worn out at the moment.

Thanks for all the kudos and support sent my grandma's way. It worked.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Welcome Back!!

[mousepod]

Welcome home, GC! I'm glad you got to spend some bonus quality time - and that you were the comic relief.

[madmonkeygirl]

Brad good to hear about your grandma. Prayers continue. Glad you are back. When you are up to it you have a couple of PM's.

[Sohrshah]

Wow. I just need to say, what an amazing group of people you all are. I'm proud and happy to be part of this!

GC, I don't know if we've ever met, but I wish you and your Nana all the best.

[~MS~]

Welcome home Brad and glad to hear that your nana is doing ok again.

[katiesue]

Glad you're home safely and your Nana is doing better.

[innerSpaceman]

Pfft, you were practicing your comic-relief talents with text messages from the departing flight before you even got there.

Glad grandma pulled out of it, and I hope she sticks around for quite a while.

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

[JWBear]

Welcome back!