RSS Feeds
When tragedy hits your family
Last Friday, tragedy struck one of the closest people in my life, my maternal grandmother Violet Kozel, as she fell victim to a major stroke.
I couldn't have done anything to have prevented what happened to her, but I feel guilty because I haven't been able to afford to visit her in Detroit in over five years.
She's always been there for me going back to my infancy, but now, her once irascible voice has gone silent. The stroke has afflicted her with a condition that deprives her of the ability to speak and has left her paralyzed. Now what really tears me up inside is the knowledge she will have to be placed in a nursing home.
My grandmother always has been fiercely independent, and at 86 she was still driving. But her stubborn independence also cost her because she refused to wear the life alert around her neck.
As a result, it took three hours for her to be found by a neighbor in her bathroom -- three hours where she could have received emergency-medical attention. But she didn't.
I told my paternal grandmother that she had better learn from this and wear hers too.
I'm hoping to be able to go see my maternal grandmother in a few weeks, and I have been praying for her like a madman because she has always been there for me. Now its my turn to be there for her.
Posted by
John Rossomando
Managing editor of The Phoenix
I couldn't have done anything to have prevented what happened to her, but I feel guilty because I haven't been able to afford to visit her in Detroit in over five years.
She's always been there for me going back to my infancy, but now, her once irascible voice has gone silent. The stroke has afflicted her with a condition that deprives her of the ability to speak and has left her paralyzed. Now what really tears me up inside is the knowledge she will have to be placed in a nursing home.
My grandmother always has been fiercely independent, and at 86 she was still driving. But her stubborn independence also cost her because she refused to wear the life alert around her neck.
As a result, it took three hours for her to be found by a neighbor in her bathroom -- three hours where she could have received emergency-medical attention. But she didn't.
I told my paternal grandmother that she had better learn from this and wear hers too.
I'm hoping to be able to go see my maternal grandmother in a few weeks, and I have been praying for her like a madman because she has always been there for me. Now its my turn to be there for her.
Posted by
John Rossomando
Managing editor of The Phoenix
posted by The Phoenix Files at
2:36 PM
1 Comments:
Don't just pray -- spend some time surfing the Net on rehabilitation for stroke victims.
If you are passive, your grandmother is going to end up in a nursing home without rehab. Even if she is in a coma, there is much that cam be done to restore function, but at her age, it's not going to be done unless the family (ie., you) gets their act together (ie, becomes a united front) and pushes, pushes, pushes both the doctors and the insurance company to be sure that rehabilition is done.
It's not cheap (which is why insurance companies like to deny claims) and it's not fast (which is why some doctors may not "bother" because of your grandmother's age, but there are possibilities out there, so find those reputable website and articles and prepare to have spend the equivilant of a part-time job making sure your grandmother gets the care she needs.
Post a Comment
<< Home