Grandma & A Murderer on the Loose

My family and I went to Atlanta last Thursday because my grandma was scheduled to have hip replacement there. It was a scary thought, thinking that my 77 yr old grandma was going under the knife for such a large operation, but I knew everything would be fine.

Last Monday, grandma had driven up to Raleigh from Fayetteville to catch her flight. She had just found out that we were going down to Atlanta to be there behind her during her surgery. Her comment was, "The only thing you're going to be behind is my hearse..." in a joking matter of course. What a way to think! Of course I told her that wouldn't be the case! She was limping really bad and her pain on a scale from 1 to 10 was a 10, the worst.

The trip down wasn't too bad except that I lost one of my good earrings. I loved those things. I have never had anything fall out of my ear before so I got upset. We looked for it on the way home, but haven't found it (it might still be in the car, who knows?).

Anyways, we got to the hotel and found out that someone had stayed over in our room. Thus, we had no room. On the weekend. The same weekend as the SEC tournament (NCAAB). Luckily, they had a few rooms left, but the guy messed up and gave us a room for 2 instead of 4. We went up to the room to discover that fact and then went right back down to fix the problem. Finally, they just upgraded us. Yea for mistakes!

We ate with grandma and my aunt at my aunts house. It was some good eatin'. I love being from the South. The next morning we got up to a hot Continental Breakfast and found out that a major shooting had occurred in Atlanta. Yes, Mr. Nichols was on the loose after killing 3 people. Of course this kindof of thing would happen just when we happen to come to town. Nerves rose, but we decided not to live in fear. What kindof life would that be?

We met grandma at the hospital at about 12:30pm and sat with her until they took her back to pre-op preparation. Dad went back there and annointed her with oil and prayed with her. A little while later, we were all called back to give her kisses and pray as a family right before they rolled her in.

Piedmont Hospital was a pretty awesome hospital. They gave us updates every so often during her surgery. It was a relief to know everything was going well. We all hung out in waiting area playing cards all afternoon. Rummy was the game of choice, and we were pretty much rummied-out by the end of the 4 hours.

We got word that she was out of surgery, everything was successful, and that all we had to do to see her was to wait for her to get out of recovery. When we first saw her in her room, it was amazing. I have never seen someone look so good right out of surgery. It was a wonderful answer to so many people's prayers!

We left the hospital at about 9pm, caught a late dinner, and then headed back to our hotel for a Nichol's update. That, however, took longer than expected as we got lost, drove south instead of north and drove right through downtown, where the shootings had taken place and where they found the Honda a few hours later that he had highjacked by pistol-whipping the driver. Scary? Yes. Cool? No. We did make it back to the hotel ok.

The next morning, we found out that Mr. Nichols had taken a train to a mall not but 10 minutes away from our area, killed someone at a home they were building, and then kidnapped and held a woman hostage. All of this was within the Buckhead area, the very area we were staying in. Thank goodness they had caught him. It did unnerve me though.

Grandma looked great Saturday! She even got up and walked a few times. We spent some time with her and then took a break in the afternoon. We ate lunch at a bison place, where I, yes I, ate real buffalo meat. It was in a chile, but I also tried some of Dad's buffalo meatloaf. Interesting. Slightly drier than beef, but not bad.

We came back around dinner and spent a few more hours and then left her to sleep. We came back for the last time early Sunday where we watched grandma walk 120ft! Granted she only has to walk 90ft by the time she leaves the hospital, it was amazing! Hopefully, she'll be released in the next couple of days. We also watched the occupational therapist show her how to dress, etc. Some genious came up with these awesome tools for people who can't bend their hip past 90 degrees until healed.

We visited a Church of Christ that was bigger than ours in North Atlanta and then headed home. All in all, it was a good trip. We fulfilled our purpose for being there for grandma. I did learn that I couldn't do much longer than 7 and a half hours in a family car ride. Especially in a small Ford Focus Wagon. Amen.

Did I mention the staggering number of Kentucky fans at the hotel? Old people decked out college crazies paraphernalia such as blue wigs and lays are scary. Yes, it's true.

Overall, I am looking forwards to grandma being able to walk without pain! Continued prayers for my grandma's recovery would be greatly appreciated.