I don’t even know where to start this blog. I’m in such a haze writing it. Yesterday was a day that ended up OK, but I’ll never forget it. To put it simply, I almost lost my grandma.
Real quick, if you’ve never been here before, click here and see why I’m running 61 marathons this year for Train 4 Autism. But read this blog entry first.
Yesterday at about 11:15, I was sitting at work, plugging away, and I got a call from my stepmom. She told me my grandma had fallen and chipped her tooth and her mouth was bleeding. That wasn’t the most out-of-the-ordinary thing, but my stepmom told me that she heard somebody administered CPR on my grandma, and that doesn’t fit in with a chipped tooth. Something certainly seemed odd.
My grandma has asthma, and she’s 85, so several members of my family wanted me to go to the hospital to check on her status. If you’ve been following along, you know that three weeks ago, my grandparents moved to an assisted living facility about seven minutes from my work. The hospital she went to is five minutes from my work. I called the place they live at just to make sure my grandpa was there with her and he was. So, not really fearing much, I left immediately for the hospital just to make sure everything was OK.
When I got there, I went to the ER and they had no record of her being there. They checked a couple of different ways and she wasn’t in the system. So, I went outside and called the assisted living facility to confirm, and they swore that she was there with my grandpa, taken by paramedics. So I went back in and asked again. They had no record. They checked something else and still couldn’t find her. I was about to go back to work and tell my family it was a false alarm, because she wasn’t there. I asked one last time, because I felt about 60 percent sure she was there, and the woman told me that she found her, but she had been checked in with a different name. I asked if it was her maiden name, which would have been weird, because she’s been married 66 years. The woman told me that no, when patients are more critical, they check them in with a different name. That’s when I became concerned.
“Is she OK?”
“You just need to get a security pass and go to bed number two and talk to the doctors.”
WOW. That’s when I got really concerned. I got back there pretty quick and saw four or five patients crowded around a person who was mostly covered up. I couldn’t tell who it was. There were machines and tubes all over the place. I saw my grandpa sitting in a chair in the corner, crying with a woman consoling him. I knew I was in the right place, so I told him I was there and I went to take a look at the person. It was my grandma. Her face was pretty swollen with a lot of blood coming out of her mouth. I hate to say this, but she looked terrible. I couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead, conscious or not.
I asked one of the doctors if she was alive and they told me yes, that she was slightly coherent, too. I stepped back to my grandpa and he started telling me about how they were at Target and she fell and he wasn’t sure what was going on. He didn’t have his hearing aid in, so it was a little difficult to communicate with him. Within about a minute, a doctor came over to us with the infamous, “let’s go into the hallway to talk” line.
He told us her heart had slowed down quite a bit while they were at Target, and she passed out, landing on her face, which caused the bleeding. She needed a temporary pacemaker put in immediately and would probably need a permanent pacemaker put in about two or three days later.
I loudly gave my grandpa the quick version and the doctor asked him if he’d sign some papers. He said he would, and within about three minutes, my grandma was getting wheeled on her gurney to get that procedure done. I couldn’t make any calls, but I sent some texts, emails and Twitter direct messages to relatives to let them know what was going on.
While my grandma was getting wheeled down the hall, it was pretty shocking to see her with all the tubes and in her hospital attire. She looked more frail than I’d ever thought she was. The ER trauma doctor was walking with me telling me that he had checked her out and she didn’t suffer any trauma. There were no head or spine injuries and no broken bones. But he told me that an off-duty ER physician’s assistant performed CPR on my grandma while she was out at Target and that saved her life. He seemed like he was 100 percent without doubt when he told me that she would have died right there on the ground if not for that person.
I was shocked like I haven’t been shocked in a long, long time. My wife’s grandma is doing terribly and probably isn’t going to be around too long. I couldn’t believe that I had almost lost my grandma first. My grandma is 85, but she’s pretty upbeat and coherent for 85. Here we are in February:
She still has a lot of life in her.
It just didn’t seem right. She’s a pretty young 85. Everything happens for a reason and I believe in God’s plan. Three weeks ago, she just moved about 45 minutes south from her home of 42 years to live in a new assisted living facility. Yesterday, she was on a group outing with her home to go shopping at Target. If she’s at her old home yesterday, I’d be dusting my suit off for a funeral right now. If that mystery person doesn’t perform CPR, it’s the same situation. And speaking of that, I couldn’t imagine performing CPR on an 85-year-old woman bleeding heavily from her mouth. As I said on my Facebook yesterday, thank God for good doctors and good samaritans. I don’t know what more I can say about that.
Anyways, she’s going to be fine. The procedure went fine yesterday and she’s going to get a permanent pacemaker pretty soon. She’s in Cardiac ICU right now and will stay there for the duration of her stay — probably a little less than a week. I stuck around for about four hours, taking care of my grandpa.
He’s a pretty emotional guy, and he was swinging all over the place. He was upset, and then he was OK cracking jokes. At one point, he started telling me he was proud of me and wanted to know where I was running this weekend. Santa Rosa, California.
“Oh, I remember being there when I was young,” he said. “I got pretty drunk, then started running behind a truck, trying to chase it and grab onto it. I nearly got myself killed!”
Ahhh, the things you learn during emotional moments, huh?
“There’s nothing worse than a wine drunk, Sam.”
Glad I stopped drinking, I guess. Anyways, he started placing blame on himself, saying that maybe it was his fault or maybe he could have done something differently. I told him to stop being ridiculous, that her heart would have stopped beating at that moment no matter where they were or what they were doing. They were in the absolute right place at the right time and everything was going to be fine.
My brother came by and finally my dad and my stepmom were able to get there. At that point I went back to work, but I pretty much spaced for the rest of the day. And that’s pretty much it for my story. My grandma’s going to be fine. But she was way too close to dying face down in her own blood yesterday. I’ll be forever grateful to whoever it was that administered CPR on her.
One last thing … I normally have a weekly contest where you guys pick my time. I’m not going to do that this week, just because I’m just not in the mood to have fun. But here’s what I want to do:
My grandma’s youngest son, my uncle Marty, has autism. He’s 50 and somewhere between moderate and severe. He’s definitely got his problems and he’s nowhere near mainstream. As a result of being a mother of an autistic child who has led a life of difficulty, she has formed a pretty special bond with Tiffany and she’s very proud of Jack.
So, instead of having a contest, I want y’all who would be willing to play to donate $5 (or more) in her honor and I’m going to tell her what the number ends up being. I’ll randomly draw one out of every 10 of you who donate and give you your choice of an Operation Jack t-shirt, tech shirt or sweatshirt.
So that’s all. Thanks for getting to the bottom of this. I hope you have a great weekend!
Video Of The Day
Anonymous says
Thanks for sharing Sam, I’m really glad everything turned out okay I’m sure that was terrifying- about the same time yesterday I was at the American Red Cross taking a CPR class and my instructor told us the huge responsibility that comes with that training and even though many ppl are trained there are few who will actually perform in an emergency in a non-medical situation- thank the Lord for that person who was willing to save your grandmother’s life.
Katie Abdolhosseini says
I’m so sorry to hear about this – I am so glad she is going to be alright! Thank God for that good samaritan – life is too dang short! Hope the rest of your week stays uneventful! Sending lots of prayers and good thoughts to you and your family 😉
Ally Phillips says
Oh my goodness! I had no idea it was so bad. So happy that she’s going to be OK, that’s for sure a scary, scary thing. Such a blessing that they moved into that assisted living facility and that the hospital was so close to your work so you could be there with your grandpa. And goodness, what a wonderful person that was who saved your grandma’s life!
Shelly Overton says
Sam,
Thank goodness for the acts of good people, my thoughts are with your grandma and grandpa as I’m sure it was very stressful for both of them. I can tell you that when my grandparents moved into an assisted living facility I was concerned (as it was in Florida), however, we know now how much it added to their lifes and it gave them at least 10 extra years we wouldn’t have had them had they stayed in their own home.
Happy Thursday!
Erin F says
Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your grandma. Thank goodness someone was right there, willing and able to help!
workout mommy says
so incredibly scary and i”m so happy that she is ok. That person that saved her life is truly and angel!
Sharla Wipplinger says
I’m so glad your Grandma is okay. That must have been so surreal at the hospital. I just had to register for a CPR/first aid class. It seems like the only thing to do.
Layla Bohm says
Oh wow, Sam, I’m so glad everything turned out OK. My maternal grandparents are the same age, but they’re 3,000 miles away from their closest relative (me). So I was picturing myself while I read this, and that’s just downright scary. I’m so relieved by the outcome.