Special time with my Aunt Liz

My mother had two sisters. My Aunt Ginny is a very special, kind hearted, gentle, generous christian woman. For a lot of my adult life she has lived in Chicago and Indiana. I remember her wedding to Uncle Allan. It was beautiful. I remember when she gave birth to David. I got to hold him a lot. She had three other children also, which meant I had four wonderful cousins.

My Aunt Liz was and is special too. She lived in a small village close to St Paul and Stillwater. When I was young we went to Aunt Liz and Uncle Vic's house quite often. My Aunt Liz was funny, understanding, unselfish, busy, fun, excepting and always up for any challenge. She loved to travel and still does. She had a boy, Wayne and a girl, Pat. We had lots of fun growing up together. Wayne was killed in an accident as a young adult. I have many, many memories of trips taken with her. Some of them were to go see my Aunt Ginny and family. We have made many trips to Branson, MO and to Pennsylvania. She is now almost 86 years old and has slowed down a little bit, but still loves to travel as long as someone else does the driving.

My cousin, Pat and her husband Pudge left for their place in Mesa, Arizona in October. Aunt Liz planned on flying down on January 16th and stay until at least April 1st. Pat and Pudge flew home for the holidays. Aunt Liz found out she had to have some surgery on Jan. 5th, so Pat stayed on to be here for that. I had told her to let me know if she needed me for anything.

The surgery went well, but they also found cancer on a kidney that will have to be removed. They asked if it could be done in Arizona and they said it could be. One thing I forgot to mention is that Aunt Liz has Diabetes. So after the surgery her blood sugar was all over the place.

So Pat and I talked and decided that I would come up and stay with her until she left for her flight to Arizona on Jan. 16th. So Pat left for the airport and her flight on Jan. 9th. This is my story of the two weeks that followed.

Sunday, Jan. 9th, 2011
I got to Aunt Liz's around 1:30 pm. Mary Beth and Pat were there. Pat shared some information with me as far as phone #'s, hospital, etc. Mary Beth and Pat left about 2 pm and Aunt Liz decided to go take a nap. Her blood sugar at this time was 58. I asked her what normal was and she said about 120. I looked thru a bunch of magazines and got myself a little organized.

She napped until 4:30 pm and when she got up her blood sugar was 55. She drank a small glass of orange juice and sort of dosed off and on in her glider rocker until about 6 pm.

She wasn't real hungry, but managed to eat a small bowl of soup and a couple of crackers. She took her blood sugar at this time and it was 90. I thought this was a good sign. I do have to admit that I didn't know a whole lot about Diabetes. I wish now that I would have gone on line and learned more.

She continued to dose off and on in her chair until about 9:30 pm. She then said she was going to get ready for bed. I could hear her and I stayed up until the end of the news. I made up a bed for me on the couch and had just turned off the light. I heard her in the hallway and she said she was just turning down the heat.

The next thing I heard was "Janet, I need help, I just fell". Her legs had given out from underneath her going from her bathroom to her bed. She had hit her head on the door frame and there was already a bump. I tried to help her get up and couldn't. She said I should call her neighbor, Mark to come and help. He came over with his son right away & they managed to get her into her bed. Her breathing was very shallow and very rapid. We took her blood sugar again and it was 54. I didn't feel very good about the breathing and my going to bed. Aunt Liz said maybe we should go to the ER. I got dressed, and called Mark to tell him we were going. The Paramedics came right away. I followed them to St John's Hospital.

I was able to stay with her in the ER. They told her she needed to eat more protein, not just drink juice. They brought her a tray of food. It was hard for her to eat it as she was feeling weak and tired. The put an IV in her arm. They also told her she would be staying overnight and possible longer. She dosed off and on whenever they weren't talking to her. At 2:30 am she told me to go back to her house, as she was just waiting for a room.

The next challenge I faced was the pad to open the garage door. These pads don't seem to like me very much. I have had trouble with the one on our garage from time to time. So here it was, 3 o'clock in the morning, cold out and I tried at least four times without the garage door opening. I decided to reach into my purse and use the end of a pencil and finally it worked. Not sure what I would have done if it hadn't worked.

Monday, Jan. 10th - I woke up around 7:30 am. I made coffee, took a shower and called my cousin Pat and talked to Mark, Mary Beth, Jerry, Donna and more. I left to go to the hospital, and on the way I went to the Post Office to get the mail.

When I got to the hospital, she was eating a small breakfast. They said her Oxygen level was 95 and that was very good. Her blood sugar was now 170. The had her using a Nebulizer three times a day, and they want her to sit up in a chair more. Physical therapy came in the afternoon and she walked down the hall and back with a walker. About 4:30 pm her blood sugar was 331. They shut off the IV and gave her 5 units of Insulin. She was still very weak and tired. They brought her dinner of Turkey on Wheat sandwich, Carrot and Celery sticks, Pineapple chunks, Tea and milk. She still didn't have much of an appetite, but ate as much as she could. I left the hospital around 6:30 pm, went back to Aunt Liz's and had soup and toast. Had more phone calls to make, as buy now everyone wanted to know how she was doing. I went to bed around 9:30 pm in Aunt Liz's bed. Slept like a rock.

Tue, Jan 11th - Talked to Pat, Barb Holback, Mary Beth, Donna, Mark and two friends from my chorus, and my daughter Lynn and son Keith. It had snowed about 3 inches overnight and the neighbor Mark was already snow blowing his driveway, Denny's and Aunt Liz's. He also had cleaned off my car.

When I got to the hospital, there was a really good improvement. She had walked further down the hall and back, she was sitting in the chair to eat her lunch. Her blood sugar in the am was 133. They told her she had Pneumonia in one of her lungs. Her blood pressure was 154/65.

My cousin, Diane came to visit around 2:30 that afternoon. She brought a beautiful floral bouquet of Tulips. Mary Beth came around 3:30 and my sister Donna came around 5:15. Before she had dinner her blood sugar was 208.

Diane, Donna and I went to Olive Garden for dinner and then I went back to Aunt Liz's. I made some phone calls and went to bed.

Wed. Jan 12th - Talked to Lynn, Keith and Kari. Aunt Liz had a shower and she said it felt very good. Blood sugar was 204. She ate a good lunch and is now walking twice a day further each day with the walker. They also had her walk without the Oxygen. They told her she could possibly go home on Thursday afternoon. The Physical Therapy people had her doing some leg and arm exercises. Kim and Trevor came this afternoon. Blood sugar levels were 113 morning, 207 before lunch, 209 before dinner.

We had more snow on Thursday morning. Once again Mark shoveled us out. Got to the hospital, Aunt Liz was finishing her lunch. The nurse came in and said she could leave as soon as we got her dressed. So it all went very fast and we were in the Van to take her home. We went thru the drive thru at her credit union, and the drive thru at Walgreens and home. She went to her bed for a nap. Diane came with Beef Stew, rolls and homemade canned peaches for dinner. I went back to Walgreens for her prescriptions.

In the meantime, it was decided that she needed someone to accompany her on the flight to Arizona. So that lucky person was me. Mary Beth came out on Friday afternoon to stay overnight with her so I could drive home to get some "less wintery" clothes. On Sunday, 16th, Kari and Jamie came to take us to the airport.

And the rest of that week was wonderful. Pat and Pudge have a great place right on a golf course. I learned how to drive the golf card "Minni" and Aunt Liz and I went to see about 45 minutes of Pat's tap dancing class. Denny came on tuesday night and fixed us dinner. It was delicious. I spent some time with one of my classmates, Sonja. We went to school together and also the same church. She took me to tortia flats, we had lunch and saw some spectacular sights in the Superstition Mountains.

I also went shopping with two of Pat's friend's, Gloria and Shannon. I found some really neat things. Then on Friday, I got to spend some time with some more of my school/church friends. Had a nice lunch and lots of talking.

On sat., Pat and I went to an Orphanage where they have a garage type sale and a boutique. After going back to check on Aunt Liz, have lunch, we went to a giant swap meet. Then it was time for me to get back and pack to fly home. It was such a great, great week for me.

My sister and I are going back there in March to visit and go to Pat's Tap dancing recital. It has certainly made winter a lot shorter for me.

I Love You, Aunt Liz!