Tables Turned

On my way home from meeting Ruffa and Mike, I got a text message from my younger sister telling me that Mommy (our grandmother) looked like she suffered a heart attack. I then called her phone but she didn't answer; so I just walked hurriedly home, anxious.

I saw my grandmother, awake but unresponsive, she was so weak that she can't even speak. A few minutes later the Paramedics came and gave her the needed medical attention. She didn't have a heart attack, she 

got hypoglycemic and her BP shot up.

My mom and dad opening the gates for the EMTs

I was really sleep deprived that day, we had a similar incident happen at 4am; she then went to OSMAK for a check up and was sent home. That evening her symptoms escalated to the point that she just mumbled her words and was unable to move. Luckily the Emergency Response team of Lifeline were fast and came at our house just less than 30 minutes after us calling.

We then arrived at the Makati Medical Center Emergency Room at 11 PM and waited to be transferred to a room. It was really a stressful day; after years of working in a hospital and being the one taking care of the patients and dealing with relatives, the tables are now turned. I was now the relative to be dealed with. I was being asked countless times what happened to my lola, sleep-deprived as I am, I answered them as accurately as I can. 

I knew exactly how to get a clean catch urine sample and troubleshoot an I.V. line but I still had to call the nurse not just because they asked us to but because this time I was "the relative". I knew what they were going through from the Admitting Section through the Medical Staff, so I tried not to be a "toxic relative" , calmed my nerves and entrusted my lola to their care.

took a photo from where I was sitting, my lola' s in her bed

My lola in her bed at Makati Medical Center

This was a really nerve racking day, everyone was anxious, emotions were high, bodies and minds and stressed and there was even a point where I really wanted to cry. As a granddaughter and as a nurse, I was tested.

I know this is too much information for me to post here in my blog; but writing this would make me feel comfort; an outlet for my feelings, a weakness that I'm hiding from my family to show them that I'm strong and so that they'll be strong for Mommy too. 

I hope everything goes well and that my lola could come home and become her old active self. I hope our family could get through this and that God could give us the strength so that everything would be OK.