Just Because You Know Something ... Doesn't Mean ... You KNOW It

Just Because You Know Something ... Doesn't Mean ... You KNOW It
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter

'No Salt' ... Mrs. Dash

The Number '3' ... has happened once again in my life.  Three ... 3 ... when things happen for a 3rd time in my life ... I listen, I pay attention ... I know it's time to open my eyes.

In fact, I feel the impact all the way through my body ... yes, the number 3 ... is that important in my life.  You can ignore your significant numbers all you want to ... I learned not to.

Things are going to happen ... I'm either going to take a stand, fight ... or make a significant change in my life.  Something is going to happen ... one way or other ... when the number 3 happens in my life.

If I ignore it ... my ass will be sorry for doing so.  Simple as that.  Life is life ... it's just the way it is. Reality.  Nothing more ... nothing less.  It's time for a life-altering change ... life will never be the same again ... time to move on ... in with the new ... out with the old.

I've been made aware of things I knew ... thought I knew so well ... only to see them in a new life. You know the moment when something makes such an impression on you ... that you are shocked into ... awareness.

All of a sudden ... you see things in a new light ... your ass wakes up ... what you thought you knew ... you found out you didn't know a damn thing when compared to what you just became aware of.  You know ... that sort of thing.

Since January ... our life has been turned upside down.  Skip has come close to death ... 3 times.  I've been there all along ... observing, listening ... feeling all those emotions that comes with the fear that ... my loved one could ... just die.  Just die, go away forever ... in my case ... leaving me all alone without anyone to love me as he does.

Until the 3rd time Skip was admitted back to the hospital last week ... did these eyes of mine ... open. This is the 3rd time since January ... he has been gravely ill.

January ... he was admitted for stroke.  His heart rate kept dropping very low.  He had a pacemaker put in.  This was the first time he was hospitalized.

March ... the second time he was hospitalized ... Skip couldn't breathe ... shortness of breath.  He had congestive heart failure ... he almost drowned in his own fluids.  They did a heart catherization ... put 2 stents in.

When they pulled the sheath out of his thigh/artery ... Skip began bleeding really bad.  He went through quite an ordeal when the nurses began applying pressure for the next 20 minutes ... then put an appliance on him to keep holding pressure.

He was sent home where he progressively went downhill.  He never got better in the two days he was home ... he fell twice.  He was deathly sick.  He couldn't walk, couldn't sit up at all. I called 911 ... they got him to the hospital.

Skip had fluid buildup back around his heart ... congestive heart failure again.  He was coughing ... he also, had pneumonia.  Not only that ... his right kidney shut down.

They found out that he had a huge kidney stone that he could never pass even if his kidney was okay. They put a stent up in his ureter tube from his kidney to his bladder to hold it open, heal.  They won't take the stone out until his ureter heals up.  For now, he can pass urine until then.  The tube they put up in him is called a uretheral stent.

Skip bled badly after the ureteral stent.  The following morning when I got to the hospital ... Skip was in total distress.  He was holding a bloody sheet to him ... blood was on the floor ... all over the commode in his bathroom.  His bed sheets were bloody.  Can you imagine my horror when I walked in his hospital room?

I did become a little ugly ... though I tried to speak softly.  I was angry ... his room ... all the blood 'everywhere.  I began taking sheets off his bed, asked the N/A to please help get the blood off the bathroom floor, commode.  I told her that was the first time I ever saw his room like that ... we got the room cleaned up.

I can't imagine how family who has never worked in a hospital would react to what I saw when I entered that room.  They shouldn't see that, not only that ... it shouldn't have been like that.  That was the one, only time ... there was a gap in taking care of him.

The nurse came in, and I talked with her.  She gave Skip medicine for the pain ... he began to calm down.  It broke my Heart ... I really was mad ... I was trying to be so nice at the same time.  I know no matter how nice I tried to be as angry as I was ... they saw the ugliness I was feeling because they let my loved one suffer.  It was the first, only time ... during all his times at the hospital I ever saw that happen.  It did not happen again.

Now ... I'll tell you about why my eyes are opened after all these years of my living on this earth.  I have watched Skip going through all of this .... I have almost died myself in 2004 ... I went into congestive heart failure ...  they were ready to put me on the ventilator ... I came to.  My eyes never opened 'then' to ... what finally hit home during this last hospital stay for Skip.

When I listened to the cardiologist, urologist ... nurses ... watched Skip ... it hit home.  Diet plays a major role in one's life ... it's hard for people to connect living good with eating good.  Eating good is eating good foods that are salty, sweet ... spicy .... anything to make it taste better ... we love it ... we eat it in excess.

I'm just as guilty as the next person ... so, was Skip.  We love good food.  Skip loves his sweets ... I love salty, spicy food.  Our hearts can't take all that ... especially after congestive heart failure.  Not only that ... I learned that 'fried foods' can help contribute to problems in the kidneys.

Don't ask me how it happened ... when it happened ... which doctor, nurse ... did it.  It was a combination of all ... and during this past week watching, listening ... the next thing I knew is that I began to eat very little food ... and no salt whatsoever.  No sweets.  I woke up ... I heard for the first time ... became aware of how diet affects one's life ... living, dying.  Yes, I already knew ... but, I really didn't 'know' until now.

When Skip came home from the hospital ... we both began talking at the same time about ... diet. You know how it is when you and someone goes through a shocking, scary time ... when all is settled, you both begin to immediately discuss it.  This is what we did.  We decided ... from now on ... healthy eating.  Now we know why 'old people' ... begin to eat healthy at a late age!

It's because we think we know everything until one day ... we find out that just because we knew something ... didn't mean we really knew it. Just because you know something ... doesn't mean you KNOW it.



Note by this Author:

Photo/true story owned/written by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter.