Today is my grandma K's 93rd birthday. (Happy Birthday G-ma!) She lived alone until my younger sister, J, recently upended her life and moved four states away to extend the amount of time she could stay in the house she's lived in for ~60 years. Since my sister now works during the day, she still spends much of her time alone. She has fallen a few times in the last few weeks, but thankfully she has a service where she can call to have someone come to help her when she is down.
Yesterday, she fell again, and this time broke her kneecap (she broke the other one last summer, which kept us from her 70th college reunion). My mother had planned to travel down in a few weeks, but is now on her way (it's a 600 mile trip) to see her. She is in rehab until they decide whether she needs to have surgery, as she did last year. If so, she may return to WI w/my mom to have surgery, and we are not sure if she will return home.
My grandma G, who is nearly 88, is also not doing well. She has also lived alone for many years. She suffers from dementia and this winter was moved to assisted living for her comfort and safety. She only agreed to stay for the winter and my father traveled recently to move her back home, though we all had hesitations about this given her swift decline. Now she has just been diagnosed with a 90% blocked carotid artery (which means a stroke was likely imminent) and this can not be helping her brain, since it has not been getting enough oxygen. She is going to the dr. this week to seek treatment and will not be moving home in the near future.
They are two of the strongest women I know. My G-ma K is still so sharp and has spent nearly all of her years serving others (as a wife, mother, teacher, school board member, volunteer for myriad organizations). She just wants to live at home, though she would have the benefit of many qualified caregivers in WI. My mom, who is recently retired, is an RN, as is my step-dad. My sister (who is on maternity leave) is a speech pathologist and my BIL is a respiratory therapist training to be an RN. My G-ma G has had a tough life, grew up on a farm, got married very young instead of getting an education, and then had four children with my (now deceased) G-pa G before they were divorced just after my parents married. She never really made a life for herself outside of her role as wife and mother.
I can only hope for them that they agree to move north w/my parents and are able to live out their remaining years surrounded by the people who love them most.
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