Grandma's in the hospital

Yesterday I got a phone call from Grandpa asking me to come help him wake Grandma up. I was supposed to pick her up for a 1:00 p.m. doctor's appointment. It was around 11 a.m. & he wasn't able to rouse her. I had taken Grandpa to his doctor's appointment the day before and it had taken much longer than usual as we sat in an exam room while the doctor chatted with drug reps! Afterward I dropped Grandpa off at home and picked Grandma up for a trip to the grocery store. It took at least a couple of hours in Safeway as Grandma hadn't been to the store in a while and she loves to go up and down each and every aisle to explore her options. Since I had sacrificed over half my day that previous day, when I got Grandpa's phone call I must admit I was annoyed. I was planning on using that extra hour or so to get some things done around the house.

But it was important to get Grandma up as this was an appointment to see the PA at her psychiatrist's office (Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health). In December she'd rescheduled so many appointments at the last minute that they had threatened to drop her as a patient if she tried to reschedule again at the last minute. So I headed over to Grandma & Grandpa's! When I arrived Grandpa took me in to Grandma's bedroom. Grandma was laying on her side and it looked like blood was coming out of her mouth! I immediately called 911 and stayed on the phone answering questions until the ambulance and fire truck arrived. We were concerned that Grandma had tried to commit suicide (as she had made attempts in the past). Later we found that this was not the case, but it was horrifying at the time. Grandpa had found a metal nail file that Grandma was holding and I wondered if she'd tried to jam it down her throat and that's where the 'blood' had come from. The paramedics also found marks on her neck. There was also a concern about whether she'd tried to overdose on her medication as she'd tried that in the past. We accounted for all of her medication, but Dad met us in the emergency room at Yakima Regional and when he learned that they were still concerned about that possibility I called Grandpa who checked his medisets and none of his medication was gone either.

Later we learned that Grandma had aspirated, so most likely she was already holding the file and she either tried to use the file to clear her throat or she just couldn't let go of the file. It was a very, very long day in the emergency room. Grandma had been somewhat responsive at home and remained a little responsive at the hospital. After many tests and lots of waiting they found that she had aspirated into her right lung. She was intubated and finally taken to a room in the ICU.