Today, I was grateful for miracles.
I’m not a religious person, nor do I have any faith in any ‘higher powers’ who people seem to believe just grant wishes like genies in a bottle. I’m also not a fan of cliché, but heck, I swear a little miracle came to our family today.
My grandfather, Col, was rushed to hospital early Saturday morning, being treated for a heart attack. This led to a huge stroke, which led to bleeding on the brain. By the time he reached neurosurgery in Townsville, he wasn’t responding and seemed to have lost his speech. A couple of hours later and he had a shunt in his skull to drain the excess fluid and things were looking grim. Family began to fly in from around the country and we packed our bags to drive down on Sunday morning. We were all steeling ourselves for a goodbye.
We got to the hospital at around 11, and sat in the waiting room for endless hours. By the time we were allowed in to see him, he had regained some movement in his right side. When he squeezed my hand in his, I more or less burst into tears.
Halfway through the day, the doctors spoke to all the assembled family (minus the younger cousins). They said that they’d been anticipating a much worse discussion, thought we’d have had some awful decisions to make, but instead the news was good. He was able to breathe on his own (although he was still connected to the ventilator just in case) and the right side of his body was responding; he could squeeze his fingers and wriggle his toes as commanded. It was so much more than we’d hoped for. When we paid him a visit to say goodnight, he was rubbing my fingers and holding and squeezing my hand in response to my voice.
It is one of the most moving things that have ever happened to me.
We’ve all been warned that it will be a long road ahead – a lot of rehabilitation – and he’s by no means out of the woods yet. But I know I speak for all of us when we say that we are just glad that he is still with us. We’re being realistic- there is still a lot of potential for complications – but we’re hopeful. Today has given us hope, and it truly was a little miracle that he began to respond again, and so quickly. He’s stubborn, we joke. He’s a fighter, and all our love and thoughts are with him. We’re all willing everything to turn out for the best.
When I first heard the news, the situation was looking bad. The first thing I thought of, after the shock, was to try to remember the last time I’d seen him. He was at our house, gutting fish in the carport. I was preoccupied with an overdue assignment, so I didn’t pay much attention. I don’t even know if I waved. I don’t remember the last words we spoke to one another. Suddenly, all of those things seemed so incredibly important.
There’s a lesson in it for all of us, I suppose; don’t take the people you love for granted. It’s a simple lesson, and cliché, but one that we all tend to forget. Tell people you love them. Spend time with them. Never forget, or let them forget, how very much they mean to you.
Tonight, I’m grateful for miracles and family. I hope this reminds you to be grateful for them, too.
Lise xx
