update on Grandfather pt. 2

I again thank you for the thoughts and prayers.

When we had last left Florida my Grandfather was doing quite well. He was working through his rehab for his hip, although he did have a stumble or two. As you may have guessed by now, he's not a man to be held down. He's always on the go, and because of this he did manage to fall at least 2 times that I know of during his stay in the Rehabilitation facility.

This brings us up to date well nearly up to date, last Thursday he started running a fever and as such they ended up taking him to the Hospital ER once again. After the normal rigor of tests it was determined that he had an urinary tract infection. To you and I this may not seem like a big deal however to a 91 year old man with weak kidneys this must be considered more serious. As it turns out they were able to get him onto antibiotics to help tame the infection. As I understand it, the Dr. (s) feel that this may be yet another toll on his rehab and stability. I also understand that his kidney function is still slowly deteriorating.

At this time, when I call to talk to grandpa its hard for him to talk, I guess the antibiotics and other meds can cause yeasts to grow in his throat that make it more difficult. I know that grandpa is a strong man, and I also know that he is a firm believer in God and Jesus Christ. As he's said, its in God's hands and God knows the right thing to do.

This isn't an easy pill to swallow when you are hearing this from your own loved ones. I'll admit, I've been blessed to not have to deal with much death since I was a child. I know that this will never be an easy thing to deal with. Death may be mysterious, it may be unknown, but we can all be assured that some day our time to will come to an end. If there was one thing I could hope its that I too will be able to look squarely at the ones I love, and tell them that I trust God to make the decisions for me.

Together my grandparents have been instrumental to my life and the love they've shared with me has been life changing.

Today whilst I was thinking about my Grandfather; I had this thought today come to my head. Maybe it will mean something to you too?

The life we live, guides the legacy we leave behind...
-- Matthew Eash

I was online last night, looking up some bible verses and I came across a few that I think make sense. I thought maybe I would share a couple with you.

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
John 13:7

Be still, and know that I am God
Psalm 46:10

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."
John 14:27

Outdated .... Update on My Grandfather...

Sorry to all, just seems like I've been really busy lately.

I wanted to post an update for those who have said prayers and had us in your thoughts. As you know back near the start of the month my grandfather had fallen and broken his left femur (in his hip). The break was such that the head of the femur (the ball) had broken off. The only remedy for such a break is surgery to replace the ball.

So my Mom, Sister, and I headed down to FL to be there for him as he went into surgery. As it turned out Surgery went very well no complications and things looked good. However the next day things really didn't look good. He had basically lost his coherence and ability to communicate well. It should be noted that he wasn't on any pain meds.

He would be semi-coherent for a while, then he was off to la-la land again. He was jibbering and not really making sense most of the time. This was hard for all of us since he had always been of sound mind. Well mostly ;)

So as the days went on this seemed to really not progress well, and the doctors really didn't seem to have a consistent reason for why this was. It came the time that we had to get back home for work, family etc. So on that Friday (Surgery was Tues) we headed back home. We hadn't a real idea on how he was going to progress or if he would at all.

I came home drained and exhausted both physically and mentally. It was refreshing to come home, but at the same time it was difficult not being there. Not just for my grandfather, but also for my grandmother who was going to have to deal with this all from a very different perspective than my own.

While I wanted to stay, I knew that I had responsibilities to tend to back at home. So we headed back home. Things stayed pretty much the same until Tuesday of the next week when we received information that he was again, mostly out of it, and unable to communicate.

At this point pretty much everyone said that he didn't look well and that they expected that this may be the beginning of the end. So based on this information we decided that we should all head back to Florida. This time Rachelle and I drove down with the kids. We left our home around 9:30 PM that night. We drove through the night to save time and money. When we where about to Macon, GA. we received a phone call from our family and they stated that he was sitting up and drinking his coffee. This unexpected news was very exciting as it seemed that he'd made a big turn around with his health.

By the time we'd arrived in Sunny Sarasota, he had been moved to a nursing home for Rehabilitation of his hip. His revived health and attitude was great to see. He was ready to work on his rehab and get back to the swing of things.

I had a great time visiting with him while I was there. We had some terrific conversations and some shared tears as we both shared our love and concerns for each other. When we left he was doing well and working hard to recover so that he would again be able to walk...

It really was amazing to see him back in good spirits and able to speak and remember and share just like I'd recalled. It certainly was a lot different than when I'd left him the previous week. I want to also thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. It has been felt in many ways!

I know this is well overdue, and late coming.. but I wanted to get it out there any way... (there is new news, that I will post in a new note!)

-matt-