The Week From Hell.

I haven't posted since Tuesday due to some unfortunate circumstances.

I've thought every day, as things were happening, just exactly what I would share and how I would share it... but now that I am sitting here at the computer, I just don't have the oomph to get it all out.

Briefly... I will say...

On Wednesday when I made my weekly trip out to my hometown, I learned of an accident at a construction site that claimed the life of a family friend. He was a son, a brother, a husband, and a best friend. He was only 23.

It is a heartbreaking story... and my family was thrown into the thick of things, as my dad was the one who was with the wife when she found out (She and her husband used to rent one of my parents apartments, until just recently when they bought their first house. They were both like family to my dad, in a sense--the guy had worked for my dad during his high school years... and having a towing business, my dad knew about the accident right away because it came over the police scanner. He drove out to her house because she hadn't heard... and the rest, like I said... it's heartbreaking.). I was designated to be "the caller"... calling certain people we know, to let them know... and making sure I got someone out to the young man's mom to tell her (instead of her being blindsided by a phone call). Never again do I want to have to be the one to announce the bad news of a tragic death. My heart aches with the memories of the reactions... they are seared in my memory.... as well as that initial phone call from my dad when the death was confirmed. The sound of the wife wailing uncontrollably in the background will haunt me for a long time.

So sad... so, so sad.

The next couple of days were a whirlwind, as you can imagine. The same night as all of that happened though.. I got a call in the wee hours that my dad was taking my mom to the ER again (she's still dealing with some medical issues that got off the ground last week). What an unsettling ending to an unsettling day!

My mom is OK... however, the next morning (Thurs.) I got a call that my grandma (the one with alzheimers) had a stroke and was semi-conscious, but unresponsive. They'd taken her to the hospital.

So I drove out to my hometown again, not sure if I wanted to go to the hospital to see her because I wanted my last memories of her to be good ones. We had just shared the clown cupcakes I'd made for her birthday the day before. We laughed as a huge glob of icing plopped into her lap, luckily on a paper towel we'd spread out beforehand! She and I held hands and prayed together for the family of the killed man as all of that tragedy was unfolding...... I just couldn't imagine seeing her lying in a hospital bed.

I stayed with my mom most of the day. We got reports from my dad about my grandma, and we basically were told that her stroke could have left her this way and she could either go to Pittsburgh and have surgery to try to remove the plaque (and risk hemorrhage) or we could just keep her at the local hospital and wait it out, which wasn't looking good. They moved her to ICU.

I decided to go in to see her that evening, and she was starting to respond some. She would open her eyes for a few seconds and talk to you, mostly off the wall stuff, sometimes gibberish... but she was responding a bit. And sometimes it DID make sense.

I spent the night at my parents instead of making the drive again, and the next morning when I went in... it was a complete 180!!! Grandma was up and talking. They were even going to try to get her walking again. When I first got there, she had just been taken down for an MRI... so I didn't see her until they brought her up to a regular room, out of ICU, and had given her lunch. She was sitting up and eating it ON HER OWN!

I seriously can't tell you the difference from the previous evening to that morning. It was like night and day. Truly a miracle! She was talking, of course the alzheimers was evident, however she knew who we were and that it was her birthday... and it was just truly amazing!

So much has gone through my mind and heart the past few days... I just want to urge you... HUG your loved ones. Love on them! Tell them you love them... because you never know when their time (or your time) on this earth will end! It really is that important.