I just want to second what Persephone said about Hospice. At the hospital where I work, along with my other duties, I am the answering service for Hospice overnights. These men and women are amazing people. They are so caring and gentle–they truly are angels.
Cristi, my heart goes out to you and your family. I know that your Great-Grandma is one of the many reasons that you are the fantastic person you are today. Give everyone in your family a great big hug and kiss from me, and make sure they give it back.
Take care.
Tracy
Persephone, as weird as it may sound, I’m glad that you and your great-grandma and your family are able to think so clearly in this situation and are at peace with your great-grandma’s decision. I’ve seen times when the adult children disagreed with their parents and fought every decision until the end. No one needs that kind of added stress.
I envy that you got to know your great-grandparents at all. I never did. Your great-grandma sounds like a gem.
I’ll be thinking of you and your family. Take care.
Cristi, my heart goes out to you and your family.
Do me one big favor.
If she is still on the ball as you say she is, don’t let anyone bully her.
I know that sounds odd, but my granny died at 102. She went into the hospital when she fell and broke her hip doing laundry. She thought that they were going to put her in a nursing home, and if she wasn’t going home she wasn’t going anywhere. They were getting ready to send her home with a clean bill of health.
Please do continue to keep us informed, and I will lite a candle for your family if you don’t mind.
My thoughts are with you and your gg, Persephone.
Sorry, I haven’t been on in a few days. I’ve been visiting GG every day, and one day we had a thunderstorm, so I couldn’t get on.
Anyway, what’s going on with my GG is unbelieveable. A week ago, she was admitted with chest pains and shortness of breath. When she got to the hospital, they discovered that her kidneys had failed. They weren’t working at all.
She may be getting out of the hospital next week.
Why, you ask? Is it a crappy HMO that won’t let her stay? Has she decided that she just wants to go to a hospice & die? No.
She’s better.
The toxin levels in her kidneys are steadily dropping. Yesterday, the doctor told us that there was evidence of a blockage in her kidney, and that may have been a large part of the reason her kidneys failed. But the blockage is gone. The doctor said he was going to keep her at least until the end of the week, but maybe a few days more, just to be safe.
I am stunned. My family is stunned. The doctor is stunned.
Don’t get me wrong–I don’t want my GG to die. Last spring, my father-in-law died, and last fall, my grandma (GG’s daughter) died. I don’t want to deal with another one this soon. But I and my whole family were totally prepared to let her go. And now she’s made this amazing recovery, and I am so grateful for it!
It’s good to know that my family is made of such hardy stock! But I also think that the frequent visits of all of my family are playing a large part in her comeback. She’s had a pretty steady stream of visitors all week, and she loves it.
Thanks for all the support, my friends, and any candles/thoughts/prayers are tremendously appreciated! I think they’re helping!
I’m glad that your GG is doing better. I also had the pleasure of knowing my great-grandmother before she died at the age of 96. I still miss her. The stories she used to tell about growing up in the early 1900’s were so amazing. I just wish I had written them down so I could pass them on to my kids.
Wow.
You NEVER KNOW with great-grandparents. Four and a half years ago, my great-grandmother who was then 95 came down with pneumonia. She was so ill that even my aunt who is petrified of flying flew down to Texas to see her.
Obviously, we all thought she was going to die. How many people that age get that sick and recover? Not very many. But one day I was in the room with my mother and Grandmother’s brother who was in his late 80’s – would that be one or two greats- uncle? – and my mom was telling her it looked like this was it.
Grandmother looks over in our direction, interrupting my mom talking to her great-uncle, and says something like, “When are they going to get me out of bed? I need some exercise if I’m going to get better.”
This was the same woman who not four hours before had been begging God to let her die. This sounds awful, but we think she just decided that obviously God hadn’t finished with her on Earth yet, so she decided to quit forcing the issue. 
She’s going to be 100 in March and is doing fine; she’s not even in a nursing home, but in an assisted-living facility. Like you, I didn’t WANT her to die, but I was ready for it. I hate to have to get ready for that again, but it was the closest thing to a miracle I’ve ever seen.
I’m SO GLAD to hear about your great-grandmother! I’m new to the board, so you don’t know me, but I have the silliest grin right now. It’s really amazing, ain’t it?
Wow, that’s really amazing. I’m really glad to hear she’s doing much better now. May she be with your family for many more good times.
I wanted you to know that I have checked on your thread. It’s great that your Grandmother is doing so much better.
Just a quick story here. Somebody had a grandmother that was very sick for a time, and she only understands German. She had been telling her niece “Why doesn’t God let me die.” She had passed the crisses at this point, and the doctors were having her moved from the critical care room. The niece left the room after she said she wish she had died. The nurses come in and start removing all the machines from her. The niece walks in and realizes that grandma thinks she told them to let her die. Grandma is saying “I really like this room, I think I should stay in this room.” Grandma never mentioned wanting to die after that. She fully recovered and is in her late ninties.
I am SO HAPPY your GG is feeling better. Now she can start on the SECOND 97 years!
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