My poor brother. My brother, affectionately known as "Dumpy," has once again suffered the loss of a friend. The friend was a neighbor of ours growing up. He was one of the kids who lived two houses down. This young man was traveling between bars on a newly owned Harley when he lost control in some curves in back city roads. He revved the motor to pull out of it and instead of pulling out of it, he launched himself from the bike, 4 feet into the air, causing instant death when he met up with the telephone pole. Since the bleed-out was so massive, the thought was that perhaps he tore open the aorta on impact. My brother and his friends went to the scene later on the next day and found a pool of blood on the roadway. There was massive bleeding. I told him that in this case, instantaneous death was a blessing. They said that he died before he fell to the roadway.
My heart aches for the parents. This young man was a few years younger than my brother-- 26 years old. While his final choices weren't the best, he has parents, families and a one year old daughter and her mother. The one year old? She has multiple issues and has already had multiple surgeries. My mom and dad spent a few hours with his parents the other day. Both of my parents are in tears and I know that my mom is probably not sleeping because of it.
He was a neighborhood kid growing up.
My brother wasn't best friends with this young man. The young man's lifestyle of "work through the week and drink the check on the weekend" wasn't quite where my brother is at in his life. He has three kids and a wife. They have jobs and bills and whatnot. Bless him. He's grown up and is trying to be responsible. Still, he was friends with him and the loss has hit him hard.
This isn't where the trail of loss ends for my brother. Right before high school graduation, I think maybe 3 or 4 kids (out of a class of about 160-180) died from a variety of accidents. He has also lost friends in Iraq and Afghanistan-- one of which was a very best friend. He and his friends work hard to keep Nate's memory alive with poker runs and having a stretch of the highway (that runs along the back of my parent's property) dedicated in his name.
It just seems that my poor brother is talking about one more person who died. I feel sorry for him. It makes me very sad for him.
Showing posts with label Dumpy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dumpy. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Friday, January 28, 2011
In, out, up and down.
My grandfather is in the hospital. He has been in there for about a week and a half with pneumonia. Of course, I didn't find delightful details of his inpatient stay until just last night and this afternoon.
He wasn't accepting visitors, so I haven't gone to see him. Grandpa is the kind of guy who can and will kick people out.
With that out of the way, Mom was telling me last night about, "When he coded, can you believe that they cracked his ribs?"
"He coded -- what?"
"Oh, yes. He coded. Didn't I tell you that? Well, I think that it is horrible that they broke two ribs when they were giving him CPR."
"Mom, that is a risk you take. It's common."
"Oh."
She calls me today to tell me that when I get a moment in the very near future, I really should go see Grandpa. I was talking about Hubs working and the time I could go and she says, "Well, remember that you can see him from 4-6 or from 7:30 - 9."
"He's in ICU?"
"Oh, yes. I didn't tell you? He's been there since Friday night in the middle of the night."
"Um, another detail that you neglected to mention."
A detail to know? Mom calls me every night and sometimes more than once.
I called my sister to see if she wanted me to come retrieve her from the bumpkin land that she lives in and she was otherwise obligated. I wasn't going there myself, so I called my brother Dumpy. (A childhood nickname.) I knew that he would go and I wanted to hook up with someone. If I was going to get kicked out, I didn't want to go myself.
We hooked up, went over and started to navigate the hospital.
I should add that we have two major hospitals in town. The one I know like the back of my hand. I can navigate that place with my eyes closed. The hospital that Grandpa is in is not so good on the navigationally challenged.
I'm navigationally challenged. Hubs is surprised I haven't gotten lost in the driveway.
Apparently, my brother suffers from the same challenge.
We came in from the parking deck, my brother hits the elevator button to go up and it hit me. "Um, why are we standing at this elevator to go up when this isn't even the hospital yet?"
He started laughing. "I was just testing you, of course." He was laughing because we hadn't even gotten to the hospital yet before the navigational deficit kicked in.
"We have to cross the bridge, which is right there, to be able to go to the hospital." He laughed again. This would be a good trip.
We need the third floor. Got on the elevator, it dropped us off on the third floor but the problem was, that was maternity. Grandpa's got issues, but nothing that can be solved by the maternity ward. We went back to the elevator and Dump noticed a sign that said "ICU 1." We went down to the first floor, started navigating and the signs changed. It wasn't just labeled ICU, but about three extra letters ahead of that. We finally ended up winding down many back halls and got to a room that just said ICU.
That wasn't what we needed, though. Grandpa's on the third floor. We've been to the third floor.
Dump called, Mom told him where to go and it turns out that the ICU is a stacked department only accessible by this one back hall down in the middle of nowhere. You have to go down to go up. We got to go to the third floor only to find out that Grandpa had been taken to have a CAT scan done of his lungs just minutes before. We had 15 minutes before visiting hours were over. Drat.
The nurse came out at about 6:15 PM to let us know that he was out and had a dinner tray. We could go back anytime. When we did get back there, the doctor had given clearance to the family to visit as long and whenever they wanted. Apparently, Grandpa does better when family is around.
What's the scoop on Grandpa? He's mostly cognitively intact. Yes, he was trying to talk on the remote control on the TV, but he asked me about Hubs, K-, told me about how he loved my Christmas letter, the photo and we had long conversation about New York City. He ate everything he had in front of him. He was fumbly and fidgety. The had him tied down in a don't-get-up vest. His pulse oxygen kept bouncing, as well as his heart rate. His blood pressure seemed reasonable. They drained fluid from his lungs yesterday and gave him a sedative in order to perform the procedure. It was after that that he went cognitively south. They said that the bouncing oxygen to his brain hasn't helped. They are giving him breathing treatments and suctioning his airway at that time to prevent him from gurgling. He continues to develop fluid on his lungs, but the lungs themselves x-ray clear, so that's why they did the scan. Given that I was given the one foot in call, I dropped what I was doing and went. I'm glad that I did. Grandpa, not one to typically do this at all, kept hugging me and telling me that he loved me. I remember getting hugs as a kid, but I don't ever remember him telling me that he loved me.
My mom called to tell me that she had consulted a medical friend of hers. The friend told my mother that my grandfathers condition is less than fantastic and that the likelihood of his coming out of this is very small. She said that he allowed the pneumonia to go on far too long, gave her horrible doomsday type stuff . . . I reminded my mom that her friend is a worse case scenario kind of person. Poppy, my mom's dad, was always dying as I was growing up (seriously) and was not supposed to come out of the hospital more times than I can count. I even had the staff call the priest to give last rites. (Grandpa snapped out of it and died 4 months later.) Still, I told my mom that according to what I saw tonight, I'm not saying that Grandpa is dying today or tomorrow. I said that I could be wrong, but since I just saw death with my grandmother almost two months ago, I'm thinking that he looks way alive to me. I'll take it.
If you wouldn't mind belting out a prayer, that would be great.
Smiles in my day:
- Renee not thinking that Dump and I could navigate the hospital together. It was a little sketchy, but we made it happen. I also found out that my brother walks as obnoxiously fast as I do.
- Reader's Digest. As poor as we were as kids, we always got the Reader's Digest. For my birthday, my mom ordered the Reader's Digest for me. We don't quite know why there was such a delay, but it just started arriving this month. I miss it and its small book form. I miss the informative articles and short bits of trivial information. It's a nice memory from my childhood.
- Being told by the 100 Book Challenge coordinator that I must be a one man band since the work that I'm doing on 100 BC was being done by 5 separate individuals last year. It made me smile!
- Calling Hubs about Grandpa today, scheduling with the neighbors for them to keep K- until Hubs got home and he was able to leave work early because of the situation. It's nice to work at a place that is family friendly, friends that are happy to bail you out and a spouse who isn't afraid to ask to leave because his wife was called into the hospital.
Have a wonderful weekend!
He wasn't accepting visitors, so I haven't gone to see him. Grandpa is the kind of guy who can and will kick people out.
With that out of the way, Mom was telling me last night about, "When he coded, can you believe that they cracked his ribs?"
"He coded -- what?"
"Oh, yes. He coded. Didn't I tell you that? Well, I think that it is horrible that they broke two ribs when they were giving him CPR."
"Mom, that is a risk you take. It's common."
"Oh."
She calls me today to tell me that when I get a moment in the very near future, I really should go see Grandpa. I was talking about Hubs working and the time I could go and she says, "Well, remember that you can see him from 4-6 or from 7:30 - 9."
"He's in ICU?"
"Oh, yes. I didn't tell you? He's been there since Friday night in the middle of the night."
"Um, another detail that you neglected to mention."
A detail to know? Mom calls me every night and sometimes more than once.
I called my sister to see if she wanted me to come retrieve her from the bumpkin land that she lives in and she was otherwise obligated. I wasn't going there myself, so I called my brother Dumpy. (A childhood nickname.) I knew that he would go and I wanted to hook up with someone. If I was going to get kicked out, I didn't want to go myself.
We hooked up, went over and started to navigate the hospital.
I should add that we have two major hospitals in town. The one I know like the back of my hand. I can navigate that place with my eyes closed. The hospital that Grandpa is in is not so good on the navigationally challenged.
I'm navigationally challenged. Hubs is surprised I haven't gotten lost in the driveway.
Apparently, my brother suffers from the same challenge.
We came in from the parking deck, my brother hits the elevator button to go up and it hit me. "Um, why are we standing at this elevator to go up when this isn't even the hospital yet?"
He started laughing. "I was just testing you, of course." He was laughing because we hadn't even gotten to the hospital yet before the navigational deficit kicked in.
"We have to cross the bridge, which is right there, to be able to go to the hospital." He laughed again. This would be a good trip.
We need the third floor. Got on the elevator, it dropped us off on the third floor but the problem was, that was maternity. Grandpa's got issues, but nothing that can be solved by the maternity ward. We went back to the elevator and Dump noticed a sign that said "ICU 1." We went down to the first floor, started navigating and the signs changed. It wasn't just labeled ICU, but about three extra letters ahead of that. We finally ended up winding down many back halls and got to a room that just said ICU.
That wasn't what we needed, though. Grandpa's on the third floor. We've been to the third floor.
Dump called, Mom told him where to go and it turns out that the ICU is a stacked department only accessible by this one back hall down in the middle of nowhere. You have to go down to go up. We got to go to the third floor only to find out that Grandpa had been taken to have a CAT scan done of his lungs just minutes before. We had 15 minutes before visiting hours were over. Drat.
The nurse came out at about 6:15 PM to let us know that he was out and had a dinner tray. We could go back anytime. When we did get back there, the doctor had given clearance to the family to visit as long and whenever they wanted. Apparently, Grandpa does better when family is around.
What's the scoop on Grandpa? He's mostly cognitively intact. Yes, he was trying to talk on the remote control on the TV, but he asked me about Hubs, K-, told me about how he loved my Christmas letter, the photo and we had long conversation about New York City. He ate everything he had in front of him. He was fumbly and fidgety. The had him tied down in a don't-get-up vest. His pulse oxygen kept bouncing, as well as his heart rate. His blood pressure seemed reasonable. They drained fluid from his lungs yesterday and gave him a sedative in order to perform the procedure. It was after that that he went cognitively south. They said that the bouncing oxygen to his brain hasn't helped. They are giving him breathing treatments and suctioning his airway at that time to prevent him from gurgling. He continues to develop fluid on his lungs, but the lungs themselves x-ray clear, so that's why they did the scan. Given that I was given the one foot in call, I dropped what I was doing and went. I'm glad that I did. Grandpa, not one to typically do this at all, kept hugging me and telling me that he loved me. I remember getting hugs as a kid, but I don't ever remember him telling me that he loved me.
My mom called to tell me that she had consulted a medical friend of hers. The friend told my mother that my grandfathers condition is less than fantastic and that the likelihood of his coming out of this is very small. She said that he allowed the pneumonia to go on far too long, gave her horrible doomsday type stuff . . . I reminded my mom that her friend is a worse case scenario kind of person. Poppy, my mom's dad, was always dying as I was growing up (seriously) and was not supposed to come out of the hospital more times than I can count. I even had the staff call the priest to give last rites. (Grandpa snapped out of it and died 4 months later.) Still, I told my mom that according to what I saw tonight, I'm not saying that Grandpa is dying today or tomorrow. I said that I could be wrong, but since I just saw death with my grandmother almost two months ago, I'm thinking that he looks way alive to me. I'll take it.
If you wouldn't mind belting out a prayer, that would be great.
Smiles in my day:
- Renee not thinking that Dump and I could navigate the hospital together. It was a little sketchy, but we made it happen. I also found out that my brother walks as obnoxiously fast as I do.
- Reader's Digest. As poor as we were as kids, we always got the Reader's Digest. For my birthday, my mom ordered the Reader's Digest for me. We don't quite know why there was such a delay, but it just started arriving this month. I miss it and its small book form. I miss the informative articles and short bits of trivial information. It's a nice memory from my childhood.
- Being told by the 100 Book Challenge coordinator that I must be a one man band since the work that I'm doing on 100 BC was being done by 5 separate individuals last year. It made me smile!
- Calling Hubs about Grandpa today, scheduling with the neighbors for them to keep K- until Hubs got home and he was able to leave work early because of the situation. It's nice to work at a place that is family friendly, friends that are happy to bail you out and a spouse who isn't afraid to ask to leave because his wife was called into the hospital.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tales from the Trenches: Curbs Bite Part 2
Remember when I smacked that curb last week? If you don't, you can read about it here. I'll give you the short story. Curbs bite when you smack them. When you smack them just the right way, it will leave a gash in your tire that will leak air very fast. Then, because we bought a car with Sport stamped to the side, we got the pleasure of waiting a few days to get our spare back because they don't have that size in stock. Oh, and even better news? It was $133.00! (That was with a discount since my brother works at a Goodyear Tire garage.) Yes, it was the most expensive trip to the thrift I've taken. Hubs asked me to ask my brother for a BOGO sale on the tire. He said that with the way that I've been going through tires, he believes that I need a spare for my spare.
Good news? I didn't wreck the rim. That is super fantastic news since my brother ran the price and COST only would have been $435.00. I would have had a flippin' heart attack.
Extraneous information that you don't want to know? My tire pressure light remained on after having had my most loving husband change the tire in the 11 degree heat. We worried that there was some ice-jammed sensor or damaged sensor for that matter. The problem? There is a tire pressure sensor on the back door, where the spare hangs, and it was detecting a flat spare. Good to know.
Good news? I didn't wreck the rim. That is super fantastic news since my brother ran the price and COST only would have been $435.00. I would have had a flippin' heart attack.
Extraneous information that you don't want to know? My tire pressure light remained on after having had my most loving husband change the tire in the 11 degree heat. We worried that there was some ice-jammed sensor or damaged sensor for that matter. The problem? There is a tire pressure sensor on the back door, where the spare hangs, and it was detecting a flat spare. Good to know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)