New Years in the Hospital

I feel bad about posting this, because all of the other blogs I’m reading have all these happy, optimistic New Years posts about year-end recaps and resolutions and all that fun stuff. Sadly, this will not be one of those posts.

My Grandfather is in the hospital and he’s not doing so great.

My Dad texted me on Friday to let me know that Grandpa was (currently) ok, but that I should make plans to visit him soon. Grandpa has melanoma and it recently spread to his lymph nodes. He also has diabetes, partial kidney failure and several heart attacks under his belt. I suppose it’s fair to say that he’s not exactly the picture of good health. He got really sick over Christmas, he had no energy and he completely lost his appetite. When my Grandmother brought him to the hospital, his potassium levels were so high that they were shocked he hadn’t had a heart attack. His abdomen was filling with fluid and they had to drain 4 liters of it.

The doctors have him stabilized now, but they’re still not sure where all that fluid is coming from. The good news, if you can call it that, is that they don’t think it’s from his cancer. And the good news pretty much stops there. He’s still really weak and it looks like he’s going to be in the hospital indefinitely.

My sisters and I felt that it was important to see Grandpa this weekend. Things are still very much up in the air, but a sick guy in the hospital could always use visitors. Allison flew in from California and Christina drove down from Vermont. I had spent all of the Christmas holiday wishing desperately that I could spend it with them. Be careful what you wish for, folks. It was nice to see my sisters, but not under these circumstances.

We picked up Allison at the airport on Saturday Morning, went out for breakfast and then drove down to Hartford. We spent all afternoon visiting with Grandpa in the hospital and then spent the night with my Grandmother so that she wouldn’t have to be alone on New Year’s Eve. Sunday we got up bright and early and spent all day at the hospital. We got back home late last night and then my sisters left in the wee small hours of this morning. If you look up whirlwind visit in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure that they’ve reprinted a copy of this weekend’s itinerary.

It’s pretty stressful to spend New Years weekend in the hospital. First there’s that whole “My Grandpa is in the hospital and nobody knows what’s going to happen next” aspect. That’s bad enough as it is. To make matters worse, pretty much everything was closed for the holiday weekend, so we had to really scrounge around for food and amenities. Hospitals are not exactly the happiest places on earth, and they’re especially so on a holiday. Everyone who’s there for treatment is hospitalized because they’re really sick.

Despite things being sad and scary, there were some good aspects to the weekend. My Uncle and Cousins snuck in a bottle of champagne on Saturday night and we were able to toast Grandpa in style. It felt a little bit like being back in college. We were all huddled in an institutional room, drinking booze out of plastic cups and trying to hide what we were doing from the folks in charge. And we were probably just as obvious about what we were doing as we were back in college.

I can’t say enough about how wonderful the staff at Hartford Hospital was. I’m sure they weren’t exactly thrilled to be working on New Years Eve, but they were all so friendly and helpful. I don’t think we had a single bad interaction with the staff. Even the orderly who took Grandpa down for his ultrasound was amazing, joking with my Grandmother about going to get a sexy nightgown at Victoria’s Secret and dragging a cot into his hospital room. I’m sure it didn’t hurt that my Grandpa is still a charmer. He was joking with his nurses and aides and teasing us all weekend long.

New Years Eve was super low key, but we had a nice pasta dinner and watched Singing in the Rain. My Grandmother, in true Roth style, took a little nap in her easy chair, rallied just before midnight and then promptly ordered us to bust out the champagne. She also informed us that Dick Clark looks like he’s been freeze dried, which is both hilarious and accurate.

I think that we were all asleep by 12:07.

I’m not sure what 2012 will hold for our family, but I hope that it’s good things. Grandpa is in good spirits and he’s not in any pain. And for that, I am profoundly grateful. Much love to you all, and a very happy New Year.