My Grandma is a wonderful woman. She has always been a HUGE part of my life, and has always given me nothing but love. She would do anything for me, and now that she is older, and needs more help I want to return the favor. See, my Grandma is 88 years old and her body is failing her. It breaks my heart to see because her mind is as sharp as a tack, but since her body isn’t cooperating anymore, we were forced to make some decisions about her care. When I got to the hospital to see her she told me “Jenny…Don’t ever get old”. I said “Grandma…teach me how and I won’t”

My Grandma and Grandpa had a great love. They were each others best friend, and when my Grandpa died 4 years ago, we were pretty sure  my Grandma would die of a broken heart soon after. But to our surprise that wasn’t the case. Her mind may have wanted to go with him, but her body had other plans. She has Padgets Disease. It pretty much is a very bad case of Osteoporosis, and her bones just hurt her and are frail. She has been living with my mom on and off over the past few years, and until now has always been able to live independently at home for a length of time. But this time around her body just wouldn’t work with her anymore, and she had to go into the hospital.  As many of you may know it’s very hard to live away from family, and it gets even harder when they need your help. So with this news I decided to go with my mom to take care of things with my Grandma.

I may get nervous when it comes to train schedules, but when it comes to getting things done I succeed. I am very outspoken, and I make sure things get taken care of correctly…so that was my job on this journey. I was there to keep my mom sane, and to help her make decisions about my Grandmother’s care. I have heard of hospitals just pushing the elderly aside, and I DID NOT want this to be the case with my grandma. The good news is that I didn’t have to fight with anyone…not one person! All decisions were executed exactly how we wanted them. So on the logistical end it was a huge success.

The emotional end was a bit more difficult. We decided that it would be best to move my Grandma to PA so that she could be close to my mom and most of the rest of the family (except me..sad). The hospital recommended 20 days in a Rehab facility/nursing home because she was having trouble walking. At first I was hesitant because I didn’t feel that she BELONGED in a nursing home yet. Just 2 weeks ago she was living alone! But after much thought we decided this was the best option for now. While she was going through therapy, we would find her an assisted living home close to my parents.

It broke my heart to leave her in that nursing home. She looked so little, and so scared. But I knew it was best for her health. She has 24 hour care, and people to take care of her like my mom couldn’t. I can only imagine how scary it is to be her right now…taken out of the home that you raised your family in, taken to an unfamiliar place and seeing all the sick elderly around you. I just hope she can see the bright side…1: That she is close to her family now. 2: That it isn’t forever. 3: That there are other women in there that are scared too and maybe want a friend.

So to honor my Grandma’s wishes I have decided to not get old….anyone else want to join me?