disconnected

I stayed busy last night at work and it was time to go home before I knew it. Nobody went bad and I think everything got done. Then one nurse called in sick and one nurse just flat didn't show up. It turns out she switched with someone who then got confused and thought she wasn't working. This facility is so small that we don't often have backup. Calls were made, someone would be there in a few hours. In the mean time, one nurse was left with eleven patients, so we all pitched in and gave an extra hour to get him started out. Only after I left for home did I realize that j. needed the car so he could go to work.

A quick check of my correspondence before going to bed revealed an email from Little Sister. She doesn't have enough college funding, so won't be able to start nursing school this fall as she had planned. Becoming a nurse would not only help Little Sister with a fulfilling career goal, but help fund her small family so Brother-in-Law could get out of the rut he's been in for 15-20 years managing a practically dead-end pizza business. Must find a way for Little Sister to go to college.

Little Sister also reveals that Granny is in the hospital again after breaking her pelvis. She is 88 years old and this is one in a series of hip and collarbone. Granny doesn't want to leave the farm where she has lived for 65-70 years to go to a nursing home where she will have help. She fires the home care aides that the family finds and has been increasingly difficult for even family to help care for.

Granny raised five children on the farm, taught upper level high school math, earned her master's degree and basically supported the family. Pappy never made a living from the farm and supplemented his income as a bus driver. I thought three times before saying anything to Granny to make sure it wouldn't sound too stupid. She probably still accomplishes more on an average day than I do.

Granny is a devout Christian and it is hard to see her suffer. She believes that when she dies, she will go to a better place, and she doesn't understand why God is leaving her on earth to suffer. Pappy died almost forty years ago and she has been alone for a long time. I say the odd prayer that if God is up there, He will spare Granny from her suffering.

Rose