Well, on Wednesday we found ourselves in crisis mode again. My sister and I had been taking turns staying at my grandmother’s as she was suffering from what seemed to be a mild cold. This time last year she was in the hospital with pneumonia and it was the most frightening time of our lives and she spent considerable amount of time in a scary rehab facility and had somewhat of a difficult time transitioning back home because of nightmare nurses. None of us wanted to repeat that experience.

Tuesday night she seemed to be recovering well and was eating and getting about. When I came over Wednesday night after work she had not changed out of her pajamas and had managed to consume only a can of insure and was somewhat disoriented (she thought I had merely gone out to see a movie). So I called my sister and we took her to Kaiser. She was getting worse by the minute the whole evening and they took x-rays and it appeared to be pneumonia and they got her in at Fairfax Hospital at 3 am. By 10 am she was intubated (which, because of the risk, was not done the last time) and in the ICU.

Thursday was the most difficult and emotional day. My mother is in Korea and my uncle lives in Massachusetts and we had a lot of “life or death” decisions to make. Fortunately, we are a lot stronger after surviving the crisis last year and are able to manage our emotions and handle things more rationally this time around. My sister and I really know how to pull together for these things. I was so drained come Friday but one has to just get on with things.

My grandmother is a real fighter. She’s 88 years old with all sorts of respiratory and pulmonary conditions and really took a beating with last years illness. We keep on trying to impress upon the doctors and nurses that its not just a matter of it simply being “her time.” She may look frail, but she leads a very full and intellectually active life. I think we’ve been lucky with the quality of the doctors and nurses this time. She’s still in the ICU on the machine but they’ve been trying to wean her off. Saturday she managed half an hour. Yesterday she made two hours. The doctor just called me and said she’s been off for over two hours today so far. She’s still on morphine and other drugs so she’s pretty much asleep so we haven’t been able to talk with her.

We’re more optimistic now and realize this is going to be a long haul once again but this time we know what we are getting into so its less overwhelming. I’m so used to hospitals at this point. I almost lost my job last year because I had to miss so much work, especially after she moved back home and we had all those awful crazy nurses who didn’t show up (one even disappeared with the house key!). My house was flooding at the same time and my grandmother's roof was leaking and it was just a big horrible mess. I was so overwhelmed and in crisis mode I thought was going to explode. A year has passed and I am seasoned and can handle all sorts of things now.

I really wish Fairfax Hospital weren’t so far away because it is a real hassle getting out there once, twice a day from the city. This upcoming weekend will be rough because my sister will be out of town and I don't drive. But I'll be very grateful if there is a weekend at least.