Grandma....

I got a phone call from my mom this morning. It was one of those early morning calls that after a quick glance at the clock, tells you that something just isn't right. She told me that my grandmother, who lives with them, was taken to the hospital last night having suffered a stroke, which caused a hemorrhage in her brain. The prognosis doesn't look too good at this time and we have been told that this is pretty serious. The doctors have been giving her vitamin K to thicken the blood and thus stop the bleeding in her brain, but that also increases the chance of another stroke due to blood clots. (She has suffered strokes before, causing her to lose sight in one eye, and thus was on a blood thinner, which now they are trying to counteract in order to stop the hemorrhage and the bleeding which if left as is, would put her in a coma.) Basically it is not a good situation either way.

We will most likely drive down to visit her tomorrow. Thankfully, they are only 2 hours from us. My mother was headed to the hospital again after a few hours of sleep, and we are now awaiting an update.

Please pray for my grandmother, for peace and comfort, as she also suffers greatly from dementia, so being at the hospital and away from her normal surroundings is quite traumatic for her. My mother has also been told that Grandma will most likely NOT be able to come back home to live and will require a nursing facility for her future care, if she survives this. This is very difficult for my mom to hear, and she is fearful as to what new living arrangements will do to Grandma mentally. Please pray for wisdom and comfort for my mother at this time, as she and Bob are faced with some difficult decisions to make. They have cared for my grandparents unselfishly, moving back to the mainland from Kauai two years ago to take them into their own home so that they could be near them during the last years of their life. It has been a real testimony to watch them sacrifice their own time and desires to love and minister to my grandparents and I am thankful that myself and my children have had such a wonderful example.

The good news is that Grandma is a believer and if she is called home at this time, we all can rest assured knowing that she will be in the arms of her Saviour, and that we will all see her again! She lost my grandfather about this time last year, so it has been a difficult and sad year for her and her health has suffered greatly. If you could stop and say a prayer on her behalf today, it would greatly be appreciated!