Things Change Too Fast

In all of the excitement and roller coaster of last week's spontaneous trip to L.A, our world was turning a little bit upside down. Or at least cocked sideways...it all happened so fast.

A few weeks ago, my grandma fell in my yard while visiting for lunch. She was ok, but it upset her. Two days later, she fell in HER yard and cut up her arm. That one required an ER visit. I booked my trip on Sunday, and on Tuesday, my mom called and said that grandma had activated her lifeline, and that an ambulance was on their way - she'd fallen in her bathroom. She and my kids and niece went over and stayed with her until the ambulance arrived. And now my children are forever scarred with the image of her on the floor, bleeding everywhere. :(

She hit her bed. BAD. Cut up her face, dislocated her shoulder, and had to get 12 stitches. A few days in the hospital later, with me flying cross-country on a non-refundable plane ticket, she was transferred to a nursing home for skilled care.

I didn't miss too much - the activity all really started in the last couple of days. Things like:
--will she stay there, or move to assisted living once she's rehabbed - doc says she can't go home
--what will happen to her house, her car, her life-savings
--what will happen to my folks' house (they own the adjoining townhouse to her)

Well, it turns out, yesterday, her doctor said that she's rehabbing very well (she's such a go-getter), and that within a few weeks, it'd be ok for her to transfer to assisted living. HOPEFULLY. Well, we took a chance on hope and yesterday, my dad signed a bazillion papers and got her a one-bedroom "apartment" at a very nice facility just steps away from my sister's house. (score!)

Then, we started talking about her house. My folks said if they sell her place, they sell their place. So now we're beginning to look for my folks a new home, too. Only at this stage in their life - both battling illnesses of their own - they decided they need to downsize .This way my sister and I have less on our plates when something happens to them; or whoever survives the other won't have as much to manage. Last night, we made a to-do list to get both houses listing ready. And we started looking for a new place for my folks. On the top of my list, I realized I need to repaint my grandma's bathroom because the bleach it took to clean the blood off the walls took the paint, too. :(

These are big decisions for our family - my dad and uncle Rod are making the major ones, of course. But because of our proximity, my sister and I are involved in the moving/sorting/arranging/assisting roles.

These are BIG topics. They make me cry. My grandma has been the rock in my life for my whole life. And the soft place that I land. She has taught me how to do so many things. Her own mother lived to be 104, the last 15ish years in a nursing home, and it broke my grandma - not in the financial sense, but in the emotional sense. She did NOT want this for herself. It is what it is. But it can still break my heart. We've been getting ready for goodbyes for a while, but I'm still not ready. I never will be.