From Bad to Worse

Kathy, please PLEASE take care of yourself... I'm so saddened to read what
you're having to deal with right now, but don't do anything that will
compromise your health. I'll be thinking about you and yours...

--
Tink

www.blackswampglassworks.com
New auctions up, including Victorian Holly
http://snurl.com/2pun

I'm so sorry to hear the news about your grandmother, and also the news that
you will be under way too much stretch again.

Take as good care as you can. (((((((((((Kathy)))))))))))))))

Tina


"Kathy N-V" wrote in message
. giganews.com...
As you guys know, I'm in the midst of a breathing episode, and am not
feeling
well in the least. Bob and DD have been taking very good care of me, and
I
think I'm getting better, albeit very slowly. I haven't left the house
except for doctor's appointments for a couple of weeks now, and I'm not
even
stir-crazy (which means I must be sick).

Tonight the phone rang and my usually unemotional, stoic mother was
hysterically crying. My grandmother (her mother) has had a heart attack,
lung and kidney failure and is in an artificial coma while the heart lung
machine does whatever it's supposed to do. Oma is 84, has had countless
heart attacks before, and things do not look good. Even worse, my
grandfather, who is 90, is being kept from Oma because they're afraid
he'll
die if he sees her in her current state. (I don't agree with this
decision,
but I'm not there)

Once we know which way things are going to go, we'll be headed to Germany.
Bob is going with me, because I cannot even comprehend caring for myself;
and
of course, there's my mother to worry about. If Oma is going to recover,
we
need to be there, because she was asking for us. If not, we have to be
there
too. My aunts and uncles are scattered all over Germany and the world,
and
the docs have told my Uncle Max to "get the family over here."

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I'll be calling the doctor to find
out
exactly what I need to boost me up for this exhausting trip. Our
passports
expired two months ago, so once our plane tickets arrive, we'll be at the
federal government office, getting new ones expedited. Mom wants to fly
the
cheapest way possible, so we have to coordinate her flight and ours. I'm
not
well enough for all those damn connections and plane changes, so Bob and I
will be flying our normal BOS to FRA flight and renting a car once we get
there. (nine hour flight, with a five hour drive at the tail end of it.
In
winter, and it's been snowing there already)

DD is a wreck. She wants to go, too; although I think it's the wrong
thing
for her. I'm trying to comfort her, assist my mother, and deal with my
own
feelings. Most kids aren't lucky enough to know their great-grandparents,
but she has a real, close relationship with hers. Now of course, she's
getting to have to deal with the hard part.

I want Oma to survive this, as long as she isn't suffering. If things are
as
bad as they seem on the surface, I hope she goes peacefully and soon. I'm
owrried about Opa, too -- they've been married nearly 70 years, and I
don't
think that he'll last long without Oma.

The toughest part is the not knowing. The time change is such that I
can't
exactly call my cousin in the middle of the night to answer all my
questions.
I have the alarm set for 4 am, so I can call there in the morning, and
then
we can set some kind of schedule from there. Physically, there's no way I
can go twice, so I am going to have to plan this trip's timing pretty
carefully.

I'd appreciate any strengthening vibes you could send. I'm pretty
resigned
to the fact that whatever is going to happen with Oma is already in place;
if
it's her time, there's nothing we can do. I'll just need to tap all my
resources to be strong enough to do what I need to do in the weeks to
come.

Thanks for reading this far,

Kathy N-V