HOLDING MY BREATH

Those of you that have followed my blog have heard me talking about my Aunt Mary.  She was or is my Mother's only sibling.  And she is the last of that generation in my family.  She was 89 on her birthday last September.  She is mostly blind with only limited vision but in really good health for her age.  She only takes 1 bloodpressure pill a day and an arthitis pill once a week.  Pretty good for 89 in this day of MD's prescribing med for any ol' reason. 

This picture was taken when Don and I got married June of 2009.  She has had 2 birthdays since then but still looks the same.  She goes once a week to get her hair done and every 2 weeks to get her nails done.  My aunt has been a good Christian her entire life and faithful worker in her church. 
This past Friday, Christmas Eve, she was in her kitchen and fell and broke her leg at the hip.  They pinned it Sunday morning and today she was transfered to a rehab facility to get back on her feet.  So far she is doing pretty good with only a couple of periods of confusion.  She hit her head and had to have several stitches on her face, so we are holding our breath that the injury won't cause any later problems.  I guess we are really concerned about that because her mother did almost exactly the same thing and never knew she was in this world again til she died.  When Grandmother got hurt and had all the Alzheimer like symptoms I wasn't satisfied with the MD's just blowing it off as dementia or regular Alzheimer's.  I was with my Grandmother when she fell.  We were getting in the car to go Christmas shopping and she lost her balance getting in the car.  The surgeon said the leg broke and then she fell because of the type of break it was.  My Grandmother was talking to me when she fell and she had never had any signs of any kind of dementia.  I kept hunting ( I worked in a critical care unit at the time) thru the medical magazines and books and asking questions until I found an article a doctor had written about "traumatic onset Alzheimers" .  It is real and it is caused by a head injury.  Needless to say, we are scared to death of history repeating itself.  Please join us in prayer for my aunt and for my cousin, Sheryl.  Being the only child with only her mother left, she has the immediate responsibility for taking care of Aunt Mary.  Right now those two need all our prayers and support.  
May the Blessing of Our Lord be with each of you in this New Year.
Love,
Mary