My Family is Medically Challenged Right Now

I guess I should attach this to the "Three Theory" post but heck, I'll let it have its own spot. By the way...how is everyone doing? I know, I go so long without posting and you all get sad. I know because I get phone calls saying "is there a new post yet?" or "don't you have anything to 'bitchngripe' about right now?" Ah, its good to feel needed :-)

So....on with it. A couple months ago I got a call from my mother stating that my grandfather (her dad) was taken to the hospital with chest pains and that after an angiogram was told he had blockages and would need an angioplasty [p.s. my mom's angiogram from the below post came back fine, yeah!]. Unfortunately the hospital he was at was, um, how do you say.....back in the woods and they are lucky to have the electricity running to boil water. Therefore he was waiting for an ambulance service to take him to the larger hospital. That was day one. Day two...stilll waiting....Day three...Ta da finally to the "real" hospital! Oh, but there is more. Turns out that he wasn't just admitted due to chest pains, he had actually suffered a heart attack that even the po-dunk hospital was able to see, my dumb uncle just forgot to tell my mom that part. Yeah, okay. So Grandpa gets his procedure and spends about a week in the hospital chasing nurses and being forced to quit smoking. Know what else I found out? No one was with him or visited him the WHOLE week!! That side of my family has their priorities a bit messed up, dontcha think?

Now, I mentioned this was in a group of three...so luck number two is....my older sister! She ended up having her appendix removed the week before her college graduation. Now my sister is 28 so obviously she is no longer on my parent's insurance, however I think we were all under the assumption that she was on some kind of insurance. In fact I happen to have gone to the same college system that she was at and know that they provide student insurance that is pretty cheap, provided you sign up for it, which...she did not. Anyone want to guess the bill for an emergency room admittance, emergency appendectomy and one day hospital stay? Drum roll.......just over $10,000!!! Yikes! Did I mention that because of school she has only been working a part time job that makes just over minimum wage? So.....I am selling these yummy chocolate bars to raise money for my sister's hospital bill....how many would you like to buy? heehee...just kidding.

Lastly, my grandmother was taken to the hospital this week due to pain and disorientation. A little background on this one....my grandmother is blind, diabetic, has high blood pressure and has been on dialysis for over a year. She lives with my worthless cousin, her ex-con husband and their 4 kids. Wait, it should be the other way around, they live with my grandmother and mooch off her social security and treat her like garbage. We have had a family squabble over this situation for years but my grandmother said it wouldn't be right to kick those poor kids out...whatever, they are going to grow up to be their parents if you allow this crap to go on....whoa....getting off track, jumping off the soap box. So, they take her to the hospital and start a battery of tests and Dr. Dougie Howser tells my mom that he is diagnosing my grandmother with diabetes...no shit Sherlock! Guess what she is blind too! Try reading the freaking chart and drug list before you decide to make "profound" statements. So then my aunt shows up and informs my mom that my grandmother was also disgnosed with Alzheimer's a few months ago...thanks for the phone call on that one aunt-of-the-year. So they send my grandmother home after doing....nothing. The next day the ambulance was there again to take her in as her legs were in so much pain she was screaming. So now the doctor's have decided that she has enough stuff wrong with her that she needs to go to a nursing home as she need round-the-clock care (I agree). So until we can set that up and since her blood sugar is all over the place, wouldn't you think that they would admit her? Nope...the insurance company somehow decided it was cheaper to send her home with a 24-hour-a-day nurse. Now my cousin is bitching about where the nurse is going to sleep and who is expected to feed her. Some people are so screwed up....

Well, there is my family's medical dramas for now. If anything it just makes me want to work harder on being healthy so, gym here I come!