Friday, February 17, 2006

Just When....

I’m now into my second day of positive thinking and already events are conspiring to test my limits. Last night I received a phone call from my mam and as soon as she spoke I could tell something was wrong. It transpires that on Wednesday night my Grandma had a fall and damaged her shoulder and was currently on the Emergency Care ward at North Tyneside General. The most recent diagnosis was that she had suffered a minor stroke and was experiencing weakness down her left side. They weren’t allowing any visitors last night in an attempt to give her some rest and do some further tests. Surely a contradiction?

My parents’ relationship with my Gran has been strained to say the least over the past year or so. In truth my dad and she have never got on and they shared what can best be described as a mutual loathing. Last year my Gran took it upon herself to sour the relationship with my mam to the point where they barely speak now and bizarrely if it wasn’t for my dad encouraging my mam to keep in touch the rift may have become permanent. In short my Gran can be a nasty piece of work when she wants to be and then wonders why people start to give her a wide berth.

I have been torn in this dispute because despite my Gran always being the epitome of loving politeness to Gill and I the way she acted towards my mam last year was inexcusable. I have limited my visits to special occasions such as her birthday and Christmas etc. and to be honest I’ve found it difficult to be civil at times. However she is still family and at times like this forgiveness needs to be exercised in order to ensure she gets the best standard of care we can secure for her. I guess we’ll be given a better indication of prognosis once the test results are available later today. In the mean time my mam worries herself silly and I hope my Gran is aware of and appreciates the forgiveness she is being shown, I guess that, with luck, time will tell.

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