Written by Kristi’s grandmother, Virginia Lee James Taylor, passed away this morning. We are told that she went comfortably and peacefully.
Posts in category Family and Friends
Sad
Written by My grandma’s condition seems to be deteriorating. She was brought back to the hospital on Monday afternoon because she seemed worse. They thought she’d had another silent heart attack but now it’s looking like she didn’t. Her heart is functioning only 5% better than it was before her valve replacement and mentally, she’s not there. She’s confused, sleep deprived, retaining water. She has moments of lucidity but mostly, she dozes in the middle of conversations and can’t really talk much. She did tell me she loved me tonight before we left.
Right now, it’s more waiting. My heart breaks. So many changes in such a short time. It’s more than I want to handle. More than I think I can handle. Mostly, I’m just sad. Profoundly sad.
Updates
2/9 1:00pm update: It’s been pushed back again. No news other than that.
2/9 12:30p update: Last word, the C-section was pushed to 11:30. We haven’t heard any news, other than that the procedure takes 1-2 hours. We plan to drive up to Sacramento this afternoon after Kristi gets home from work to see them.
Latest word on our coming new niece: there’s a C-section scheduled for 10:30 this morning.
A lot of the stress of this last week came about because Virginia’s heart surgery in Modesto happened to be scheduled for last Thursday – which was Janelle’s due date in Sacramento. So we all were somewhat concerned about the possibility of something going wrong here at the same time as the baby was being born a hundred miles away.
Thankfully it didn’t turn out that way. Kristi’s grandmother came through the valve replacement surgery without complication, and since then has been steadily improving. She feels like she’s been hit by a bus; for a while she thought we were hiding things from her when we assured her that she was doing well. But today’s she slated to finally be transferred out of ICU and into “step down” – sort of the transition from post-op ICU to the rehab unit. It’s going to be a long and difficult road to recovery, but she’s alive and getting better and once she’s recovered, Virginia’s going to feel better than she has in a long, long while.
Meanwhile, the baby went breech and so the last few days on that front have been about getting our new niece to flip back over. That’s going to be a stubborn, willful kid: despite warm baths and tummy-flashlight-shining and several days of patience, she’s still wrong side down. So today she’s going to be delivered c-section and brought out into the world.
My Turn
We try to take turns updating the blog and it’s been my turn for the better part of the week. But with everything that’s been going on, I just haven’t had the energy or time to think about it.
Grandma is awake but still in ICU until tomorrow when they will move her to the step-down unit she was in most of last week. She’s really looped on morphine and not making a lot of sense but she’s there. They got her up to walk around a little today and she ate some pudding.
It’s been stressful, scary, terrifying and too real. Life is so fragile.
Our new niece has yet to arrive. She’s stubbornly breech for the time being and tomorrow the doctor will attempt to turn her with medication. If she won’t turn, then it’ll be c-section time for my sister. I’m relieved she didn’t go into labor while my grandma was so critical because my mom has spent virtually the entire week at the hospital. Right now, we’re hoping for a quick and safe delivery.
I’m ready for vacation next week. We’ve had little sleep this weekend and we need to recharge.