Updates

Stayed at the hospital till around 10.30pm last night. They kept grandma in the A&E observation room for hours. An ECG was done and it showed a heart attack so they've put her in the high dependency cardiac ward, the next wing from dad's ward. We've been tossing lame jokes about putting them both in the same room to save visiting time.

I saw her just before I left for the night. She looked tired but stable, her vital signs looked encouraging. I know it sounds weird but she looked so cute and cuddly - like the late British Queen Mum. She was very afraid of hospitals and never liked to be in one and so initially, she seemed scared and apprehensive to find herself now in hospital. We reassured her that she was okay, nothing was going to happen, no one was wheeling her into any operating theatre for any surgery. She asked for her maid and fretted about not having company so my aunt will being the maid over this morning.

I looked at her and could not believe that this soft cuddly looking woman was the angry, fearsome, mean dragon lady of the old days, who terrorised her maids no end. She'd mellowed over the past year and she'd had a long life, some parts of it very hard. I told her to just rest and go to sleep for the night and that I'd come back and see her today. I think that's just what she needs - a good long rest, not fearing, not angsting, not brooding, not thinking too much, just giving herself up to rest and to God and to be at peace with herself and with everyone around her.

I saw dad earlier in the evening before I hung around the A&E waiting room. Dad looked loads better. Better enough to snipe and grouch. Sure sign of recovery. He got a bit irritated when we went on about his leg. I'd noticed his ankle swelling up and mum agreed. We both didn't like the look of his stitches/wound, there seemed to be a reddish area radiating out from the site that seemed indicative of infection. Mum told the doctor earlier that she thought his wound might be infected and the doctor agreed. So dad is now on antibiotics. They are already giving Lasiks to lessen the amount of fluids in his lungs, which according to x-rays, look almost fluid-free. But this latest development about swelling in his ankles is unsettling. Will check with the doctor again later.