"It's a typical situation ..."

Cooler weather today. And windy.

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Yesterday, Grandma F was asleep, getting her breathing treatment when I arrived. As soon as the treatment was over, I turned the machine off, and slipped the mask off her face. She woke up, and I noticed she didn't have her teeth in. I asked her about them, and she had no idea they were out. She said she had no memory of anyone taking them out. I found them in the bathroom, soaking in some cleaner. I'm thinking the hospice CNA did it after lunch. Grandma was covered up so neatly and looked so nice, I have to think Tonya did that too.

The cough was frequent, and the rattling in her chest was louder yesterday too. She didn't have anywhere near the energy she had on Sunday. She asked for some cold water, and I had to watch carefully ... thinking she was about to doze off and spill the cup she was holding.

My worrying nature has kicked in, wondering who they will move into her room soon. Jimmy tells me to think positive, maybe it will be someone nice for Grandma to talk to. Just call me Negative Nelly, I think it'll be someone who's half-crazy and goes through Grandma's things and leaves a TV on full blast all day. (sigh)

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I enjoyed last night's support session very much. The guest speaker was a woman who had RNY gastric bypass almost 2 years ago. I can't remember her exact weight loss, but it was over 200 pounds. She's almost 50 years old, and is the principal at one of the larger elementary schools in Greenville. She spoke, and answered questions for over an hour. She looked beautiful. I could hardly wrap my head around the fact that she was the same person as in her "before" picture. She hadn't had any plastic surgery yet ... she said she wanted to have her arms done so that she would feel comfortable in sleeveless tops and dresses. Her tummy looked so flat ... either her exercise routine worked wonders or she has found the perfect undergarments!

After she spoke, the psycholgist Dr. Russell talked for about 45 minutes on the topic of stress. This was my first contact with him, and I found him to be a soft-spoken and kind man. I liked him immediately.

There were about 30 people there --- men and women -- all at different stages of waiting for surgery. One girl, who was about my age, said she was nearing the end of the 6-month supervised diet that her insurance company required. She said she'd been coming to the pre-surgery sessions so long, that all the people she started with have now gone on to the post-surgery sessions. She asked what kind of insurance I had, and when I told her, she said, "Oh, you'll go through with no problem. Everybody that has that one gets a surgery date pretty quick!" I was happy to hear that again, but I told her that I was trying hard not to get my hopes up, in case there is a delay.

But after last night, my hopes are climbing pretty fast. I want this!