the missing piece
My grandma just called us. My aunt Cookie had another stroke today. No details yet. My cousin is attempting to fly down to San Antonio tonight, but with the weather, that’s going to be difficult since there are already a lot of cancelled flights. She is supposed to call my grandma when she gets more details on how Cookie is doing, then grandma will call us again.
Keep my aunt in your thoughts/prayers, please.
Mom called grandma again at the end of last week, and got more details from her. Apparently — Cookie’s stroke happened back in October, and she forgot to tell us! And none of the cousins called us to tell us either. I also forgot to mention in the last post that, when my mom called her father at the end of October for his birthday, she found out that her mother had had a very minor stroke. Very very minor, but again — no one bothered to tell us. Nana said she didn’t tell mom about her stroke because “she didn’t want to worry her since it was nothing” and we’re so far away. And sure, it might not have been anything to worry about – but it would just be nice if people actually told us these things!
This weekend, mom and I went to an International Christmas Bazaar at a local church. They had tons of items that were hand-crafted in various third world countries, and all the money they earned from the sales went back to the artisians. They also had various charities there that so you could donate. Mom and I bought a flock of chicks for a family in need via the Heifer Project International. The Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya was also represented at the Bazaar, and we donated to them as well. Mom paid for immunizations, and I purchased a round of antiretroviral treatments for a person with AIDS.
It looks like I’m going to get a new computer. I know that I could just replace the old dying hard drive – but I’m a little worried about transfering Windows over from one drive to another, especially since the bad sectors contain parts of the operating system. I’m also afraid I’d screw it up and end up with two unusuable drives. Getting a new computer might be a little more expensive than just a new hard drive, but it would be easier than trasnfering, plus I know that the system would be up-to-date. For this month at least. 😉 Right now I’m debating between a HP Pavilion a1630n Minitower and a Dell Dimension E521 desktop that I customized myself. There is about a $200 difference in the two (although, the price of the Dell does have warranty added on, and I’d have to buy that seperately for the HP, so the price difference isn’t really that much) and I’m somewhat torn between them.
Originally, mom and I were supposed to go to dinner with my Grandma this weekend to celebrate their birthdays. Mom called her to figure out plans, only to find out Grandma is going to San Antonio for the weekend instead. Hmm, before I go any further, I think a little genealogy lesson is in order. Parts of my family are a little weird, so identifying the people involved here will help this make more sense.
Family Members:
Grandma: My dad’s mom.
Cookie: My aunt / dad’s older sister.
Jonesy: Cookie’s ex-husband. (Marriage #2)
Ken: Cookie’s husband. (Marriage #3)
Jeffrey: Cookie’s grandson.
Misc Info:
Cookie and Jonesy are still very close. After they got divorced, they obviously lived apart for a while. But then Cookie moved back in with Jonesy and lived with him for a few years until she met Ken. Jonesy moved down to San Antonio to be close to her after Cookie moved down there when she married Ken. Ken is 2 years older than my Grandma, and he has Alzheimer’s. Cookie & Ken have been married for @ 3-5 years, I’m not sure exactly.
Details:
Okay. This is what I know so far, from what Grandma told my mom this morning. Cookie & Ken were at their house when Ken fell and broke his hip. Cookie ran into the kitchen (I assume to call for help?), and she slipped and fell. She hit her head when she fell, and the injury caused her to have a stroke. The two of them live alone, and Ken couldn’t move/get up with the broken hip, and Cookie was passed out. They were both laying there on the floor for at least a DAY. My cousin Jeffrey went over to visit, and found them on the floor and he called for help. Both Cookie & Ken are now in the hospital, obviously.
The doc’s don’t know yet if there will be any mobility issues for Cookie due to the stroke. She hasn’t started therapy yet, and they’ll get a better idea of any physical issues after she’s began that. Apparently she’s talking okay, so there hopefully won’t be many long-term effects. She got pretty lucky, especially considering the delay in getting medical attention after her stroke.
Cookie is an alcoholic. Neither she nor Ken will admit it, but Grandma is fairly certain that the two of them were drinking prior to their accidents. Cookie told Grandma she has a vague memory of pushing Ken, and that’s what caused his fall, but she can’t remember for sure.
As if all that isn’t bad enough, apparently my uncle Jonesy is now in hospice care. I think mom said the problem was his heart; but regardless, they don’t think he has much longer to live.
I don’t know yet if we’re going down this weekend to visit or not. I think if we do, it will be more because of Jonesy than anyone else. That sounds bad, I know, but that’s not how I mean it. With Cookie being alright, there’s less of a need to rush down to visit than if the stroke had done some bad damage. We can let her recover some before going to visit, so she doesn’t have to deal with even more people milling about in her hospital room. And honestly, mom and I have never met Ken; so I don’t feel any family-responsibility to go visit him. Cookie and Jonesy married when I was a young kid, so he’s who I remember being my uncle for most of my life; so there’s greater familial care/duty there.