Grandma K is making great strides. She is moving both legs and eating pureed foods. She is still not able to move her right arm (but she’s a leftie anyway). At this rate, she’ll be out of the hospital by next week.
Add comment July 3rd, 2008
Bryan got up early with Rees and made sourdough pancakes for everyone for breakfast. They were excellent as usual. The kids and I watched a movie in the car while Bryan visited with Grandma. Today she has more energy and is more alert. She is still very much herself. She told Bryan she would kill him if he damaged her sourdough starter (it’s been alive for many decades). We were talking about the possibility of her being able to swallow, when she said, “I could swallow if they would just give me something to swallow!”
We had lunch at Fiesta Vallarta in “downtown” Delta. I have to admit that I love this kind of Americanized Mexican food (much like Los Hermanos in Utah Valley). The food was yummy but the portions were enormous.
We picked up our stuff from the ranch and went back to the hospital for our last visit this trip. Grandma was still sleepy, but talking well. Still no movement on her right side. The doctors were hoping for more improvement by now. Tomorrow a speech therapist will visit to determine what she is able to swallow. Maryanne has effectively moved to Cedaredge to care for Grandma for as long as it takes, so we said our goodbyes to her for now as well.
The drive back to SLC was uneventful and nice.
Add comment June 29th, 2008
We got started later than we planned (shocking!) and thus did not arrive in Colorado until late afternoon. The kids were great during the drive.
The hospital in Delta is small, but very nice - it looks pretty new. We were the first family members to arrive, but Grandma had plenty of company. Her many friends had been keeping a constant watch over her since her arrival at the hospital. She was groggy and unable to move her right side. It was very sad to see her like that. When Bryan’s parents and aunt arrived, the kids were getting a little rambunctious for the ICU, so I took them out for dinner and to a park in Delta to play.
Afterward we picked up Bryan and went to the ranch. Bob stayed at the hospital with Grandma K and sent Maryanne and Anadeane to the ranch with us to get some sleep. Bryan’s cousin Ben also arrived with his little boy William. The mood is definitely somber. Being at the ranch without Grandma just doesn’t make sense.
Add comment June 28th, 2008
Today was a pretty busy day for us. In the morning we went to the park to feed the ducks (there are ducklings now too), which is Jamie’s favorite activity. He frequently asks if we can go feed ducks. Then we picked up Berkeley from Kairos. He got to drive the robot while there, and told me, “I only crashed it twice!!!” I don’t think there was any real crashing involved.
We then swam at the Murray Pool for a couple of hours. This is our favorite pool for a couple of reasons. It has a zero-depth entry, which is nice for little kids and babies. It also has nice lawn areas to lay out your stuff. And it has one pretty big slide, which Rees loves. Jamie barely tolerates going down the slide with me. Rees is brave and goes down the slide all by himself (I often just wait at the bottom to help catch him). Berkeley was temporarily banned from the slide for some reason - we never figured it out. He also enjoyed jumping off the diving board a lot. Keeping track of three kids at the pool was more difficult than I expected!
After the pool we had lunch while the kids played at McDonalds, and then we took Berkeley back to Grandma & Grandpa B’s. We went home, got cleaned up, picked up Bryan and went to Orem for dinner with my family. Michael (and Maddie) had birthdays in June, my Grandma Hansen is in town, and my dad just returned from a month in Uganda. So we had plenty to celebrate. Rees presented my dad with his Father’s Day gift - tie-dye socks he made himself. They’re groovy!
While having dinner in Orem, we learned that Grandma K (Bryan’s maternal grandmother) suffered a serious stroke in Colorado tonight. The circumstances around the stroke were actually very fortunate - she was not driving and got fast medical attention. We will be driving to Colorado tomorrow morning, along with Bryan’s parents and Aunt Anadeane.
Add comment June 27th, 2008
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