The past couple days have been a total blurring whirly mess. My grandma that raised me (well I say raised like she doesnt continue to do that on a daily basis) is a strong willed tough ol broad that doesnt really ever go to the doctor and never stops helping other people who need her. She's so busy taking care of other people she doesnt take good care of herself. She decided to go to the doctor last week and he decided she needed a cardiac cath but she didnt want to tell anyone so that left my poor little grandpa to have to take the fall and leak the news to us but this didnt happen until the night before. She showed up at 9:00 am that morning with her little pink lipstick on just smiling away like nothing, like we were going out to eat or going shopping. She was eerily calm but my grandpa sobbed and sniffled all morning. I felt like my head may burst it was too much like 2 months ago with my father in law. After we sat there for what seemed like days the surgeon finally came out to tell us that she had to have open heart surgery. I felt like someone had knocked the air out of me. My poor little grandpa looked like hed been shot and he sobbed quietly while the surgeon continued to explain things to us. He told us that she could have had a stent in two arteries but there was one that he couldnt place a stent in because it had a sharp bend in it and was now very very small. I was now scared for her and for myself because I have that same sharp artery and was told when I was in 5th grade when I had a chest xray one day this artery would have to be repaired. A few minutes later she came back upstairs groggy but still wearing her pink lipstick we told her what would have to happen and she was okay with it but she still wanted to go home before surgery because she had tickets to a concert the next night and she wanted to go. We told her they wouldnt let her go home because they knew she wouldnt come back. The next day we found out her surgery would be at 8 the next morning. We were all anxious and it seemed like just minutes from that time to 4 am when we all piled into the car to head to the hospital to visit with her before surgery. She again was eerily calm, grandpa was still crying, and my sister and I were unable to look at her or grandpa without crying. Suddenly it was time to take her to surgery we all kissed and hugged and then made our way to the waiting room where my aunt ate compulsively, my sister slept, my mom compulsively called people from her cell, and I was nausous for hours until finally they told us the doctor was ready to talk to us. I literally felt fight or flight kick in I couldnt sit still I was sweating and my heart was thumping. It must have been 20 minutes before he finally showed up and he was smiling so I knew it was ok. We were allowed to visit for 30 minutes every four hours. The first visit she had a ventilator tube down her throat and she was not very alert. I knew she was going to be on a vent and I knew it was going to make me sick. I saw my mom on the vent when she had cancer and I passed out. I went in there and the same thing was starting to happen everything went white and I barely made it to a chair but I kept it together and managed not to crack my head open on the ICU floor. We went back to waiting room and waited 4 hours until we could see her again the next time we went in she was alert but still had the tube she was begging us to take it out, and she was gagging and throwing up I couldnt bare to see it. I could feel the tears start forming and I felt so sick and sweaty I didnt think I would be able make it to the chair to sit down but I did. I cried the entire four hours until we could go in again. The next visit she had the tube out. I felt relieved. When we finally made it home I felt like I had run a marathon. I was asleep before I actually layed down. The next morning she was sitting up in a chair in ICU talking and carrying on like she always does and a few hours later she was put in a regular room. She even sat and watched a football game yelling and fighting with the tv. She's doing really well now and I feel like the exhaustion stage of stress has set in. I just want to sleep curled up a ball.
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