Grandma's Hospital Visit: November 2020

Grandma is 81 and has dementia, diabetes, and lots of other health challenges. It has been a tough year with COVID and her advancing illnesses. Grandma never left the house in 2020, except by ambulance to the hospital (twice).

In November, she had very high blood sugar and was sleeping all day long, right through to evening. I got her to hospital with the help of two paramedics and about 40 minutes of convincing!

While there, on November 13 and 14, Grandma's cognitive condition unexpectedly improved to pre-dementia levels. It was a miracle, and a precious gift to be with my mom again. I got to witness her emotions, the tone of her voice and facial expressions, her energy, thoughts and priorities, and generally have my mom back for a fleeting time.

Sadly, within 48 hours, her memory problem began to return. Since she has been home, my mom is right back to pre-hospital condition. A weight has been added, to know that Grandma can feel so much better (but not know how to get back there!). I learned that she CAN still remember the long ago past, the recent past, and the short term. Of course I have documented, talked to her doctors, etc. but there is no one answer for what cause such a marked improvement and none of them know how to recreate the effect. And I think it is fair to say it may not be possible to sustain long term, but I even if we got 25% of that improvement, it would be huge.

This is a memory I want to preserve, albeit bittersweet. We are working on some health improvements including the recent introduction of insulin to better manage her blood sugar.

Miss you mom, and hope to see you return again soon! 💖