Not exactly a mad dash, but...

I think I mentioned that my grandmother got a diagnosis last week at the ER that seemed to be spot on. The medication they gave her seemed to have been clearing up the problem, but her doctor was getting more tests done this week to determine what was actually wrong. Well, I just got a call from my dad... who had gotten a call from his sister who had gotten a call from my grandmother's next door neighbor (and thank heavens we'd set up a relationship with them that they would think to call one of us) to say that they'd called an ambulance for my grandmother and she'd been rushed to the hospital earlier today and, apparently, she is suffering from a perforated ulcer. She's supposed to be in emergency surgery at this very minute. Any thoughts and prayers you could spare would be greatly appreciated... especially since this has likely been a problem for awhile and, as I mentioned before, my grandmother never went to see anyone about it. Thank heavens the neighbors came over to take her to an appointment for an abdominal ultrasound this morning and, when they found her in extreme pain and unable to get out of bed, they took the next step of calling an ambulance.

Now we're just waiting for word about the surgery... I hate feeling so cut off from what's going on. None of my aunts and uncles can get up to Idaho Falls until tomorrow, but my aunt is keeping in touch with the hospital and the neighbor and is pretty good about spreading the word to the rest of us. I'm assuming they'll keep my grandmother in the hospital for at least a few days, and I've got another aunt who is going to be heading up there tomorrow morning, so a family member will be on hand soon.

This weekend is also the 5K in Tri-Cities, WA that my mom and I have been really excited about doing together. We've got reservations at a hotel for Friday and Saturday nights... and at this point, I'm still planning on spending the weekend there with my mom, unless the news from Idaho changes things. However, I'm also now planning on just heading out from there and driving to Idaho Falls, so I can help my grandmother next week as she recovers (once again, unless I hear otherwise). It'll be a good jumping off point, since it puts me about four hours closer to Idaho Falls (it should only be about a nine hour drive from there). And really, of all my aunts and uncles and cousins, I'm the one the best position to be able to take off for a week at such short notice.

Update on my grandmother

Thank you, everyone, for your good thoughts and kind words today... I finally got word that my grandmother has come through her surgery okay, although I'm still a little sketchy on the details (I'm getting this info third hand, so I'm at the mercy of what the people before me think to ask).

And it turns out some of the news we had earlier today wasn't exactly accurate... which is what you get when you're playing a giant game of Telephone for real, with a person fairly early in the chain being an 80-something year old man (aka Mr. Neighbor) who got a bit confused about the details. It turns out my grandmother got out of bed just fine this morning and Mrs. Neighbor took her in for her doctor-ordered tests where they found something.... at which point she was immediately admitted to the hospital and they did the surgery. So, it was still serious, but not nearly as dire as we were all led to believe (apparently Mr. Neighbor was absolutely convinced she'd been transported to the hospital by ambulance... even though his wife drove her there *facepalm*).

There's going to be a family conference call tomorrow with my dad, his siblings and the doctor, after which we should have more info on when she'll be able to come home. But at this point, it looks like I'm going to Idaho Falls for a week to assist in her recovery. What a nerve-wracking day. And I'm still not going to rest easy until I hear a bit more about what the doctor has to say (since it will only be secondhand info at that point, and not third or fourth).