As it were…

What a long day. Yesterday afternoon we left Saginaw for my in-laws, about a 3 hour drive. Today my wife let me sleep in, because we knew I was going to drive a lot. My Dad called about 9 am this morning and was practically in tears. He had to drive home (aout 2 hours) to do some stuff, but before he left we gave my Mom a teddy bear he’d won at a bake raffle in the hospital. He asked her if she wanted him to leave it, and she said “yes”! After not knowing if she was really in there, and being told she wouldn’t ever talk again, this is great news.

We had a joint birthday party for the girls this morning with loads of family from Cate’s side, and then we headed for Saginaw again. We’d told the girls what was going on, and that this trip might be the last time they saw Grandma. Molly took it kind of hard, and cried some, but said she wanted to see Grandma, and Grandpa to give him cuddles so he’d know everything would be ok. Sophi didn’t seem that affected, and said she’d rather not see Grandma, because hospital things are scary.

We got to the hospital about 6pm, and my Dad was also just getting there. Cate and the girls stayed in the waiting room while my Dad and I went in to see Mom. As soon as we walked in, my Dad said “Hi Annie!” and she opened her eyes, looked at him and said “hi”. He asked her if she knew who he was, and she nodded a little, but when he asked her to name him she fell asleep.

We went back and got both girls and took them down there. Sophi had decided it would be ok. The nurses had said they preferred kids 10 and over only, but it wasn’t a hard rule. I suspect it was to keep the brats out. We went right in and no-one said anything. I picked Molly up to where my Mom could see her and said “Hi Mom, look who I brought”. She opened her eyes and focussed on Molly right away. She got kind of a half smile, enough to let me know she was happy. Then she fell asleep again. Both girls did fine with it, and Molly said she was really glad she went.

We did a couple more little visits in the next 30 minutes, but my last was the best. Cate and I took the girls down to say goodbye, but my Mom was mostly asleep, and didn’t really notice. I stayed when Cate took the girls out though, and held her hand and talked to her a little. She cleared her throat, which woke her up and I told her she did a good job, and she said something. I couldn’t make it out, so I asked her to repeat it, and she did. I still couldn’t make it out though, and said “Oh yeah” and she said “Yep”.

Then I said ‘Hi Mom” and she turned and looked at me and said “Hi Mom” and I had this fear that she wasn’t really in there, her mind was just repeating stuff. But then I said “I love you” and she said “I love you too”, and it was obviously a real response. That was really cool.

So things look like they’re going much better. My Dad guesses she has another couple weeks in there, but he told me that insurance is covering everything, so they can relax and do whatever they need to.

Thanks so much for all the comments of support via posts here, email, and IM notes. I really appreciate it.