Updates...

I wanted to drop in to give you a quick update on my grandfather. Thank you to everyone who reached out to me with your kind words and to those of you who emailed me later to see how his health has progressed.

Due to my grandfather's age, they were not able to remove the large tumor that they found. He had cancer before-- back in the 80s-- and they used radiation pills at the time. Unfortunately, they did a number on his insides and are causing issues now, more than 20 years later, which is not helping his situation. When he was released from the hospital, he was moved to a physical rehabilitation facility. Because of his long hospital stay (about 50 days) with little movement, he had lost nearly 40 pounds and was having trouble walking more than a few steps. After a week, he was moved to a nursing home. I spoke to my grandmother numerous times, not only about how he was doing, but also about how she was coping. The stories she relayed to me nearly broke my heart. (Honestly, I'm trying not to get all teary-eyed right now!)

The day they moved him to the nursing home, he didn't really understand that he was going there for good. He had it in his head that he was being moved to another physical therapy place because this home does actually perform physical therapy, as well. (His Alzheimer's didn't help, either.) When Grandma came back the next day, it was obvious that he had realized what was happening. My grandfather is a very proud man and has always said that he would rather die than go to a home. He doesn't want to live without Grandma. Because of this, Grandma had tried as best as she could to not have to put him in a home. When I visited with them in December while attending my other grandmother's funeral, she broke down in tears at the thought of having to let him down and not being able to take care of him anymore. Over the next four months, he fell several times and would wonder 20 minutes later why his shoulder/leg/hip was hurting. A couple of times, Grandma had to call someone to help her pick him up. The last time he fell before going into the hospital, he was in the shower and was embarrassed that someone had to help him. Once he went into the hospital, Grandma knew that he wouldn't be able to come home again.

The day after he was admitted into the nursing home, Grandma sat with him at dinner. He pleaded with her to let him come home. He tried to convince her that she could do everything that the nurses were doing there and that he didn't need to be there. She had to tell him that she wanted him to come home more than anything, but that she just couldn't physically take care of him anymore. I can't imagine how hard, after 65 years of marriage, it would be to have that conversation. To avoid completely breaking down, she turned to leave. As she walked away, she could hear him pleading to go home. It breaks my heart just thinking about it.

After talking to her last week, I decided that I needed to book a trip to see them both. I was able to find something for three weeks from now and think it will lift their spirits to have someone else around. I also put together a little care package for Grandpa for Father's Day and dropped it in the mail. I hope that it will put a smile on his face to see the pictures and the card I included. I'm so afraid that he will go downhill quickly now that he's in a home, so it's important to me that I make the trip to see him now just in case.

In other news... last Tuesday, one of our dogs was attacked by our neighbor's dog (who probably weighs more than I do!). I was inside and missed the entire incident, but J was there to witness what happened. Our neighbor's dog is very aggressive to other animals-- so much so that her owner keeps her on a short lease right next to him. Unfortunately, his dog broke the leash to go after our dog right in front of our unit. The attack was short-lived, as she was pulled off of Chase (our 9 year-old German shorthair) by her owner rather quickly... but not until after she had punctured his leg in three places. He received a week's worth of meds from the vet. The meds ran out yesterday, and he was still not wanting to walk. I took him back this morning to find out that he has an infection in the bone and will now be on some heavy-duty meds for the next three weeks. It killed me that I had to carry him to the car this morning in order to take him to the vet. He is such a lively dog, and it has been crazy to see him just lay there for the past week. The vet is hopeful that the infection will clear up, but she's also being cautious. So... I ask that you keep our beloved dog in your thoughts while he's trying to heal over the next three weeks. Our dogs are such a huge part of our lives, and we just can't imagine ourselves without either one of them. (We also have a 10 year-old one-eyed lab/beagle mix named Jill.)

Lastly, a blogger friend is having quite a day today, so I wanted to send her some love. If you want to wish her a good day too, stop by and say hi to Cyndi of Southern Daze. Every once in a while, we all need a little "hope all is well".

Thanks for everything, friends!