Grant, Grandma, resting and working

For the second Sunday in a row, Grand passed out during the church service Sunday morning. This time, Grant was seated next to Nate who was going to preach that morning. Grant was able to sit down before he passed out because he felt the episode coming on. He was immediately evaluated by the doctor assigned to the Medical Center on the premises and once again they were not able to identify any abnormality. Pulse, blood pressure, temperature, capillary refill, all normal. His blood sugar was normal as well. We talked at length with Cori after they were back home, and I made a couple suggestions but there was so little to go on. Based on an abundance of caution, Nate took Grant to a local hospital and had him evaluated but nothing showed up as out of bounds in any of the tests they ran. Vital signs, EKG and blood work were all perfectly normal. So, after Cori conferred with a nurse in their missionary network, they decided to have him evaluated by a pediatric neurologist as soon as that appointment can be made.

The local doctors all point to dehydration as the root cause. His mommy finds that hard to believe because Grant always has a bottle of water with him and is constantly refilling it as he constantly empties it. He has no indication of being dehydrated but the issue remains. We are not sure if there is a blood issue or an underlying neurologic issue, or if he has a bad habit of locking his knees while he is standing – which can lead to a vasovagal episode as seen the past two Sunday mornings. For now, we pray and wait on the results of further testing while suggesting to Grant that he relax a bit more when upright.  His parents are more than a bit concerned, and rightly so.

Grandma does not seem to be improving health wise. While Grandpa is up and going fairly well and Norman is back to work, Grandma does not do any more than is absolutely necessary in making any effort to get out of bed – even to use the bathroom. She has no fever but is suffering from hives which is showing up on various areas of her body. She is weak feeling but that is not uncommon for her. Even at peak physical condition for Grandma she was very weak in her legs and did not move about much. So, she has confined herself to the bed and seems resolved to not seek any remedy to gain her strength back. She also seems to be more confused because of the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s. That part of Grandpa’s current state is most problematic for Grandpa.

Mama will not be able to return to help and they understand that. This was our one shot at nursing Grandma back to health. On the flip side, they will not be able to return to Texas so we could better care for them. Their decision to move has put them in a particularly precarious situation. It has effectively isolated them from our help. That is truly sad. We will just have to wait and see what the outcome is for this current recovery and if Grandma decides to fight her way through this to some semblance of health. She is certainly capable of doing so if she will decide to do so. I can understand from her perspective that Heaven looks pretty good right now.

Mama, who got home Saturday evening, and I spent the weekend mostly on yard work. Mama spent a lot of time resting through Saturday night and Sunday. I flew Mama home a day early because she was starting to feel badly, and I did not want to run the risk of her being denied access to her flight home if we waited too long. I had my bag packed and was planning on driving to get her and bring her home if she got too sick to fly. But we were spared that 36 hours on the road. We did not go to church Sunday because of Mama’s time spent with her sick parents in Florida. Right now, we have about eleven of our church family members out with COVID. All are recovering, but it has alarmed our pastor.  Yesterday, we went to Sam’s for a pantry stocking run and then got busy catching up on the mowing, trimming and weed eating. I tended to the bees once again. For the first time I was able to identify the queen bee in one of the hives.

All three beehives are doing well. There is honey in a lot of cells of comb, but the bees are not capping off the honey they have stored so far. That means that either the cells of comb are not yet full or that the honey in those cells is too wet to cap. I am continuing to monitor the progress in the hopes of eventually harvesting some honey.

Sadly, it will not be nearly as much as I had originally hoped for.