For those of you that aren’t aware, my grandfather suffered a stroke in the Summer of 2008. He was actually moving furniture to take it to a family in need when the dolly got caught on the side of the curb and through him backwards into a brick wall. Initially they thought he simply had a head laceration, but unfortunately he had been placed on Plavix, a blood thinner, secondary to his recent cardiac stent placement. I remember distinctively receiving a call from Mom and Catherine explaining what had happened and asking why they had not yet done a CT to check for a bleed. Unfortunately, that is exactly what ended up happening. He had a bleed in his brain that caused him to have hemiparesis and severe difficulty swallowing.
I remember this time vividly. I had just finished first year of medical school and came home for an extended period of time. I shared experiences with both of them that can never be replaced, nor forgotten. I remember the conversation with Grandmother when she said, “He’s ready to go.” There seemed to be a great deal of suffering at first, Grandfather was sent home on hospice and things weren’t looking good. It was a very rough time for the family, but amazingly God brought us through this and proved his faithfulness.
I am currently rotating at a Rehabilitation hospital here in Lexington, KY and felt compelled to write this in honor of his improvement, determination and amazing recovery. I walk into patients’ rooms and it serves as a constant reminder of everything that could have been. It was sheer determination, family support and my GRANDMOTHER that made this a story of survival and recovery. Now I know that Grandmother will argue that he still has a long way to go, and while I agree there is room for improvement I look back to where he has come from. I compare with patients at the hospital that aren’t advocating for improvement, that don’t want to do anything for themselves and are simply miserable to deal with.
This is to honor my Grandfather, his hard work and continued spirits. I know it must be hard at times. Life has drastically changed for both my Grandmother and Grandfather. My Grandmother has certainly been the absolute best example of unconditional love. She is a model that I can only strive to compare to one day. This post is in honor of Wilma Wallace as well. She is a pillar of strength and determination. Always tries to find the best in each day and continues to have her sweet and determined spirit.
When I think about what could have been, should have been and probably would have been… I stop and thank God for the opportunity to learn and appreciate the true meaning of family and love. Up until this time I was blindly naive in thinking that nothing would ever happen to my family members. I wanted to be immune to the natural course of life and the traumatic events that we face.
I seem to be rambling on. I’m hoping that this made a bit of sense. I’m in Knoxville waiting on my next interview dinner to start. We have a lot of exciting times coming up in the next few months. I have new pictures of my growing belly, but haven’t uploaded them to the computer. Hopefully will be able to update at the end of the week/ weekend.
