MY MAW-MAW

Oh my, I don't know where to begin. This time last week I was praying to Jesus to heal my Maw-Maw, give her strength, get her through yet another sickness that has landed her in the hospital.

Here's how it started, Maw-Maw had been sick off and on Thanksgiving week, she went to the ER Friday night, only to have them send her back to the nursing home that evening. Then Sunday morning, I got a call from Mom, they've taken Maw-Maw back to the hospital, no need to come up there, she'll call when we know something. Get a call that evening, she has an infection in her colon, which is what is making her so sick, going to keep her and give her IV antibiotics. I am not going to see her Monday, she'll probably be to tired for visitors. I'll go Tuesday.

Monday morning get a call from my Mom around 7:30, everyone's at work, the hospital called had to take Maw-Maw to the ICU, she's having a little trouble breathing, Mom didn't think it was a big deal, ask me to head up to the hospital for the 9:00 visit, check on her and tell her Mom and Dad would be up as soon as they got off work. OK, here's where it starts going down hill, so I get there and go into the ICU, which I really hate, Grandmother died there, I hate the way it smells, the sounds just the way it feels, but I am there........alone. For those who know me, I don't handle things like this very well. SO I get there and go into the double doors, everythings fine, right, well, I ask the nurse where Betty June Nicholson's room is she points to 287, where there are a couple of nurses and a doctor working on someone, she tells me to step in the hall and they'll let me know when I can see her, as I walk by I see what I believe is a breathing machine hooked to Maw-Maw, not good, I get scared. I stand in the hall at the door way, every time the door opens I see more nurses and the doctor still doing something. At one point the maintenance
guy had walked by a couple of times, guess he could see I was worried, What's your grandmother's name, he ask, I told him and he told me he was going to pray for her. The one of the nurses tell me to sit in the waiting room and that the doctor wants to talk to me. OH CRAP! So I sit and wait, then she comes and gets me, takes me to Maw-Maw bed, she doesn't look good at all, she is on a breathing machine, the doctor tells me that she is critically ill, the infection in her colon has caused her kidneys to stop working, they also think she had a slight heart attack, low blood pressure, high blood cells, he's not sure she going to make it. I get upset, I gotta call Mom, they've got to get up here quickly!!! As I sit and wait on them, I called Nick, Alex and Karen then I am alone in the waiting room, my mind is going in slow motion. What's going on I am not ready to lose her, I'm not working my second job any more, I told her the last time I saw her I would start coming by more often, she was excited about that and so was I. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!!!!

The rest of the day, the whole family came to the hospital, it's hard to just sit and wait! Around 5:00 a doctor came out and told us he didn't think she would last much longer, ugh! The rest of the night, we would all take turns going to her bed, I told her what a wonderful Maw-Maw she was and that I loved her very much, Trevar and I were the last grandchildren to leave, it was close to midnight, the only ones left were Mom, Dad and my dad's sister. I was going to go home, take my contacts out, sleep for a couple of hours and head back up there, but she left us at 2:00am on Tuesday, December 2, 2008. When Dad called and told me I cried, then I started thinking.................when I went through my divorce 2 years ago, me and Maw-Maw would have some wonderful talks, she helped me through an awful time in my life. She told me how when she was 35 years old, her husband, Granddaddy Nick, her one and only true love had died and she had never dated or re-married, all I could think about was, after 45 years of waiting, they were together again!! It gave me peace!!

The days that followed were hard, we cleaned out her room, so many people came to the door, in tears they are going to miss her too!! We had the visitation, again, she was such a wonderful woman and she had touched so many lives, then the funeral!!

All of this happened between last Monday and Thursday, so it's not over!! I always loved going by there to see her, she was SO funny!! Boy did she have some stories, she never complained, no matter how sick she was. Like I said I know she's in heaven with Granddaddy Nick and I know she can run around and not hurt any more, but man I am going to miss her to much!!!!

Pray for our family, Christmas wont be the same without her, but Jesus now has two of the sweetest angels, Maw-Maw (Betty June Nicholson) and Grandmommy (Irene Tressillian) And I miss them both!!!