What a day it's been! It started off so well, then it turned terrible in the space of a few hours! I slept really well last night and woke up feeling relaxed - I think it was the feel-good factor from yesterday's therapy session and my niece's visit from yesterday evening.
However, just before mid-day, things turned sour. My mum and step dad received a phone call from my grandmother's next door neighbour, saying they'd noticed my grandmother hadn't opened her blinds, which was very out of character for her. My grandmother is in her mid-90s and has Alzheimers, so we feared the worst. My mum and step-dad drove round her house to check on her, while I carried on with my work. I couldn't concentrate very well as this was on my mind. About an hour later, my step dad called me to say that my grandmother had had a fall and was suspected to have a broken hip, and she had been taken to hospital in an ambulance. I was sad but also a bit relieved, because I was half-afraid they were going to find her dead!
My step-dad came back home but my mum stayed at my grandmother's house for several hours, tidying up and making sure the dog had been walked and fed.
My grandmother had been found lying down on the lounge floor, but we think she probably actually fell over in the kitchen, as one of the cupboard doors under the sink was broken off, and there were dog biscuits scattered over the kitchen floor. We think she might have tripped over the dog and then crawled through to the lounge to get away from the hard kitchen floor. She was conscious when my mum and step dad found her, and thankfully she wasn't crying out in pain, but due to her Alzheimers she wasn't able to say exactly what had caused her to fall over and when it happened. It's possible she could have been lying there all night (my mum and my aunt take it in turns to visit her each day, and she was fine when my mum left yesterday evening).
I found the evening more upsetting, as my mum was discussing what was said with the hospital staff. The doctor had to ask my mum and aunt for permission for my grandmother to have an operation to fix her hip, and (more upsettingly, they said there's a risk that something could go wrong during the operation, so they asked for permission to resuscitate her if that happens. We were all quite upset and shocked to be asked that, as we thought it would be a given that everything possible should be done to save someone's life. My mum and aunt are adamant that my grandmother should be resuscitated if necessary and that the hospital staff should do all they can to save her. However, my uncle (my aunt's husband) seemed more sceptical, saying that you need to think about what her quality of life could be like after the operation - for example she could end up in a wheelchair or her Alzheimers could get worse. We were rather shocked and upset by my uncle saying that. My oldest sister said that she's aware of another woman in her mid-90s who had an emergency hip operation after a fall, and she was fine afterwards. So that gives me hope.