This is a diary based on my mothers own experiences of watching her grandfather die |
Chest Pains August 1st 1989, This morning I was awoken by a loud shuffling noise. I was half-asleep; despite this I got out of bed and went to investigate what the shuffling was. I looked around the landing and all seemed fine until I noticed that grandpa’s bedroom door was half open. I opened the door and there was grandpa sprawled out across the floor. I bent down beside and asked him if he was okay. He tried his best to speak to me but his speech was slurred. I heard him mumble the word “pain” to me and then hit it me. He must have had a heart attack. I wasn’t very good at judging whether he did have a heart attack or not but he did have some of the symptoms such as chest pains, slurred speech and he was clutching his left arm. I got dressed and immediately dialled 999. There was no point in ringing mum and dad as they would more than likely be out of signal; it would be very unlikely for them to have signal at this time of the day out in Egypt. Mum and dad had gone on vacation; mum had been so stressed and run down since grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s so I suggested that dad should take her away for a week while I looked after grandpa. The ambulance arrived in a matter of minutes. Somehow I had managed to get grandpa up off the floor and onto the bed, I wanted to try and make him as comfortable as possible. We arrived at the hospital within twenty minutes and there to greet me outside was my great uncle. Ever since my grandmother died he had been there for grandpa, on hand and foot and I was relieved that he was here with me in the hospital. We were taken into A and E in a matter of seconds. The look on grandpa’s face as we travelled through the corridors really disturbed me. He looked lost; his eyes wandered endlessly around the corridor. He could hear mine and Bryn’s voice but he was in a world of his own. I hated seeing him suffer like this… Wish my grandmother was here, I used to love the way she use to comfort me when I felt down , but I knew she wouldn’t be coming back so I had to stay strong for grandpa.... |