Hospital

First, another quick update:
- I am still at my parents. They are out shopping at the moment, given that there was no food in the house as they had been on holiday.
- My sister is on her way back. I spoke to her about 20mins ago and she said she was in Grantham and expected to arrive home at about 3pm (I answered the phone as Mum and Dad were out - "Hello?" I answered, "Hello?" she said. "Hello!" I said a little more cheerfully recognising who it was. "Oh," she said, "Sorry, I wasn't sure if it was you or not." "Yes, it is me!" I exclaimed, "I couldn't tell if it was you or Monkfish" she said. "It IS Monkfish!!" I said! (Ok, real names were being used ;) ) Strangely enough, Mrs M also mis-took me for my Dad on the phone yesterday too. Apparently, we sound alike ;)
- Visiting time at the hospital begins at 3, so I said I expect Mum and Dad will want to go ASAP, but I'll wait here for her to get home.
- She phoned a short while later to say that there has been a big accident on the A1, so it may take a fair bit longer. Will have to wait and see what happens.

Right, that's the brief update I think :)

Now. Here's another easy bit, before I start on a hard bit. I seem to have a lot I want to blog:
- Hospitals and very ill people (I want to get onto that now)
- London Bombings (Summary: Piss poor attempt, incompetent bombers, stop making such a fuss)
- Lily Allen (Summary: She didn't annoy me too much, until I heard the version of Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God" that she has done. I've heard this three times on the radio now [Radio 1, I guess it may have been a Live Lounge thing] that makes me swear a lot at her every time, and fills me with a desire to RIP OFF MY OWN EARS! *cough* Aaanyway... The summary will do, cross one thing off my "To Do" list)
- Wednesday and Thursday, which I really want to talk about, as I had a great time.
- Load sharing.

Right. I need to actually think about what I'm saying now, so I'm going to have to slow down a bit ;)

I want to talk about hospitals and ill people and dead people and all manners of other such cheery things. Or not, as the case may be. Well. "Want" may not be quite the right word, but I feel that I sort of would like to do so.

...Actually, my parents just got back, I shall return to this post later ;) Sorry ;)

** Continued, 17:07
Well, my poor sister has now pissed over all my recent grumblings about motorways. She was just north of Peterborough when I spoke to her a short while ago - her ETA is now 6:30pm.

I phoned Mrs M to see how she was doing, to discover that she had just made it home to her parents when I phoned. She said that from where her and my sister went their separate ways, it took her about 1.5 hours to make it to the next junction, where she then slipped off in a different direction. My sister, unfortunately, remained mostly stuck in it, despite her attempts to go a different route.

My parents have just seen my Nan and been kicked out as soon as visiting hour was over. Mum thought that when she tried speaking to her today, she appeared to show a bit more of a reaction to yesterday - perhaps one of actual recognition.

I found some of that quite difficult yesterday.

It was my first time for being with someone who was in a state like that.

Most of the time I tried to just sit next to her, in view if she opened her eyes, sometimes with my hand on her hand or her arm, depending upon which seemed to agitate her least at that time.
Most of the time she seemed to be in a kind of disturbed sleep. Hospital blankets up to just above her waist, a hospital gown above that. Some slight foam around her mouth. Most of the time, her eyes were closed. Sometimes, there seemed to be a slight tear in them.

When she opened her eyes, she tended to look almost in my direction. Almost. More often than not, she looked somewhere past me.

** Continued, 18:02.

At the times she did look roughly in my direction, I'd try to catch her eye and lean in a bit.

"It's me, Nanny, [Monkfish], your grandson. Mum and Dad - [Monkfish's Mum] and [Monkfish's Dad] - your daughter is on her way down. [Mum's Cousin] has gone for a cup of tea."

There were times that she would seem agitated.

"It's ok, just relax, you're in hospital. It's me, Monkfish. Mum and Dad are coming, they'll be here soon."

She went through a period of trying to do something to her face. I couldn't tell whether she had an itch, or whether it was something else. After a few goes, I wondered if she felt irritated by the oxygen tube in her nose. Apparently she had been bothered by the oxygen mask that she had on earlier (before I got there).
This called for an intense leap of imagination for me to make it up to...

"You're in hospital, Nanny. You've got a tube in your nose, it's ok."

Her attempts at doing something with her face were about finalised with some movement of her hand near to (but not against) her face. I wondered if she thought she was putting on makeup.

Some of the times that I spoke to her, she would show a definite awareness that she knew someone was speaking to her. She appeared to try to look at me a couple of times, to try to concentrate on what I was saying. I do not have the faintest idea whether she recognised me. Once or twice she managed to make a noise, perhaps half a sylabelle in length.

Other times, she just seemed more agitated by the fact that there were people around her. I imagine that if I had no idea where I was, or who was around me, or what they were doing, that I would feel pretty agitated too.

Later she seemed more bothered about being in bed. She kept trying to push the blankets off of herself. Sometimes she tried to push herself forwards. With her right-side paralyzed, she never made it very far.

My parents just got back from the first visiting hour a short while ago and are about to grab some food very quickly before heading back for the next (they are very strict with their times). I waited here in case my sister arrived home (that was before she had phoned in with the update).

My Mum said she thought she seemed to recognise her more, but Dad said that she didn't open her eyes at all.

And my sister has just arrived home (18:25).