Last Wednesday night my grandmother fell out of bed, possibly caused by a stroke, and was stuck on the floor, unable to move, until Friday at 5 pm. 41 hours without food or water, screaming herself hoarse for help.
She lives in an apartment complex for senior citizens and she’s really active. When we call her and can’t get in touch with her, it’s usually because she’s out with her friends doing something. She’s not the type of old lady you can just drop in on. Her social calendar is booked, and you’d best make an appointment if you want any time with her. So when my family members called her and she didn’t answer, they figured she was out with the gals.
Luckily her neighbor noticed that she hadn’t seen or heard my grandmother go in or out for a couple of days, so she used a spare key to get into my grandmother’s apartment, saw her laying there and called 911.
We saw her in the hospital Saturday morning and she was awake, but kind of out of it. She kept talking about how the manager of the apartment complex was forcing her to stay in the trash room while they repainted her apartment, and when she tried to go back in to her apartment she got in a fight with the manager. When I asked her on Saturday when this had happened she said, “Oh, this was just yesterday!”
Then she started talking about how three little girls had come to her door collecting money for the fire department, and she asked the girls to hand her her purse so she could give them some money, but instead the girls just took the money out of her purse. Apparently they took about $126 dollars. Again I asked my grandmother when this happened and she said, “This morning!”
I’m pretty sure that dehydration and malnourishment, combined with my grandmother being diabetic and not getting her insulin, as well as possibly having a stroke, can lead to hallucinations like these. I guess the question is whether she’ll ever be able to distinguish between what actually happened and what happened in her mind.
While she was telling us about everything a nurse can in to administer a test to make sure she wasn’t still having a stoke (I think) and the nurse started asking simple questions.
Nurse: Where are you?
Grandmother: In bed.
(we laugh)
Nurse: Okay. You’re right. But where is the bed?
Grandmother: … … … In my room.
Nurse: Look around. Is this your room?
Grandmother: … (long pause, looking around) … … No, it’s not my normal room.
Nurse: Where are you?
Grandmother: … … … In the hospital.
Nurse: Good. What month is it?
Grandmother: … … … (looking around, thinking, closing eyes) … October.
Nurse: Good. What year is it?
Grandmother: (closes eyes, rubs temples, looks around, thinks)… … … oh six.
Nurse: Good. Who is the president?
Grandmother: That damn Bush!
Which proves that she’s in there somewhere, my regular grandmother who is constantly cracking wise, the only question is if we’ll ever get to see her again soon.
