h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just had my sister on the phone. Mum found my grandmother sprawled on the floor today, hot and bothered and unable to speak or understand anything but Estonian. There were signs that the old girl had been throwing things about and being generally weird. She's being taken by ambulance to the hospital, with Mum along for the ride as interpreter. Medical opinion of the moment is that 'it might be a neurological problem'. Well, no sh*t Sherlock.

Anyway - I guess I'm now on standby for a short-notice trip to Adelaide if and when the situation deteriorates.

Apologies in advance for any wierdness on my own part that might result from this.

When I saw the subject title, I had a sinking feeling it was going to be from you.. Oh Ivan!..

Keep us informed love..

Will do.

There's not much shock value in this news, but there is likely to be a lot of consequences that I'll need to deal with, whatever the immediate outcome.

I'm sorry Ivan.

Oh dear! Sorry to hear your grandmother's having health problems, Ivan.

Actually that sounds quite a bit like what my mum went through last November. Her problems were subdural hematomas, hydromas, impending stroke and subsequent seizures. The neurologists did extensive tests. They ruled out invasive brain surgery due to her weak condition. So they put her on massive quantities of drugs that made her hallucinate and become violent enough for me to have to sleep in her hospital room for a week to protect the ss from her outbursts.

She stayed in hospital and rehab therapy for a month. She has some physical weakness and only a little cognitive loss, but she came home for Christmas and is enjoying visiting with friends and doing most everything she used to do before the neurological incident!

I'm hoping for the very best- that your grandmother gets the immediate medical care that she needs and knows the comfort of the care of loved ones.

You've got my caring and supportive thoughts as you wait for news.
Any 'weirdness' as a result from this worrying news will be more than understood by your friends. My equilibrium was knocked for a loop when my Mum went through her health troubles. My friends here gently carried me through the worst of it. I can guarantee that there are a lot of us who'll be here for you through it all. Hang in there!

Thanks everyone.

My grandmother's having a CT scan. So far she's tried to resist a blood test and a blood pressure check, and at some point she hit a nurse. They'll have to catheterise her soon, so that'll be challenging for nursie. I think sedatives are indicated.

My sister points out that the staff will be very familiar with the Estonian word for 'no' before long. (For the record, it's 'ei'.)

Oh poor Ivan. Poor mum & obviously Grandma too, though it seems to me she's certainly retained enough of her faculties to be a stroppy little fighter!

Good for her. I can imagine me being just like that....er...actually i am already just like that in hospital situations. Dear me, the day some idiot said "We're just going to put this tube down your throat dear" he got told in no uncertain terms an alternative destination for said tube.

And don't worry about being weird, me have done weird big style lately; am becoming expert on weird. Throw weird at us, we can cope!



zdt

I'm just worried that she'll go the same way as my great-aunt, who knocked a nurse out cold when she was on her deathbed. They're a feisty lot, these old Baltic types.

There must be some sort of SWAT team of specially trained Amazonian build nurses to cope with Hell's Grannies surely?

Did you ever see Hattie Jacques in the Carry On Nurse film?

She *should* be knocked out for catheter though; it is horiffic, believe me.

zdt

Ivan

Ivan

I keep my fingers crossed for her.

The latest news is that she's had a sort of mini-stroke, with bleeding in the brain somewhere at the back of the head. She's also lost about half her sight overall - hence some of her confusion. She's speaking English again now, which is a relief as it means Mum gets to go home for the night.

Tomorrow there will be an influx of neurologists and neurosurgeons. My sister thinks they'll be focussing on rehabilitation rather than surgery, which is reasonable since the old girl's 88 and not getting younger. She's still amazingly physically strong, but that's no guarantee that she'd come through neurosurgery.

Whatever the outcome, I think we need to start to think about her living arrangements. It might not be wise for her to live alone now, even though she does prefer solitude. The local Estonian nursing home is out of the question, because it's full of people she's insulted or offended over the last few decades, and quite possibly a couple of her old boyfriends and their wives. It's also out of the question for her to live with Mum; that way lies madness. *shudder*

Sorry to hear things have gone weird again for you.
Jeez! Your gran sounds like a feisty one.
I hope it all works out ok.

Maybe she could cope with a carer coming in, daytime one & maybe nighttime one too (at least initially)

Might be worth contacting the Estonian nursing home to see if they have contacts.

Hope her vision comes back, that must be incredibly disorientating. I used to get incredibly bad migraines years back & got weird blank visual spots/tunnel vision thing, often combined with stroke like paralysis & weird inability to communicate; you knew exactly what you wanted to say, but a totally unrelated word came out; horrible.

The fact she is a feisty old bird is good, she's not gonna do "helpless little me" stuff easily; she has made it to 88, bet she runs up a century!

zdt

You have local Estonian nursing home?

*sigh*Well, at least now the doctors know what they're dealing with and can treat your grandmother accordingly. They can prevent any further damage to the brain with steroidal and anti-seizure medications, monitor her progress with these dosages and then prescribe therapeutic rehabilitation.

What an uncanny resemblance your grandmother's circumstance bears to what my Mum went through. The doctors termed my Mum's episode a 'slight stroke'.

You're right to consider what kind of living arangements need to be made upon her hospital discharge. She definitely will have much different lifestyle needs now and she'll need to be kept safe and comfortable.

I opted to take care of my mother myself instead of placing her in an assisted care facility. Some people don't thrive very well in such places. Especially stubbornly independent types like my Mum. But there may be multi-level care facilities around that might by chance suit your grandmother's disposition and needs. I'm hoping you and your family will come upon one in your search in the days to come that will be a perfect match.

Wishing your grandmother and all your family strength and loving support as you go through this together.

My great-great-grandmother lived to 100 and beyond, and my grandmother has every intention of doing the same. (I once heard Mum mutter, 'Go on, amuse me further'.)

I don't think she'd cope with an unrelated carer in her home. Were she in a nursing home, it would be different, but in *her* space it's almost unthinkable. She's sort of an urban hermit, you see.

Oh look, a simulpost.

Cynthesis, the old girl is so ferociously independent that I really don't know what we can do with her. I think I need a good sleep, and maybe I'll wake up with an idea. I know that Mum is a good nurse - she did a good job with Dad until things became too much - but the relationship between Mum and her mother isn't always cosy and relaxed. It would be a challenge, but it might be all the old girl will accept. Sometimes, living 1300km away is good.

Hati, it's a combined Baltic nursing home. By all reports, the Lithuanians keep to themselves as a Catholic community, the Latvians spend all day assessing each other's social status pre-1939, and the Estonians don't talk to each other.

I'll come & look after her; we can discover new ways of driving the world demented & cackling horribly in corners.

zdt

Why restrict yourselves to corners?