You can make a difference

About seven or eight months ago, a man was at my grandparents neighbors house washing cars. My grandpa, like he is prone to do, started talking to the man and found out he was living out of his car and was going around the neighborhood washing cars for money. He was charging $5 a car. So he washed my grandparents car and then came around to my parents house and washed theirs, mine and my brothers. We paid him $20 for a wash and wax. Not a bad deal right. We asked him to come around again in a month or so and he could do it again. And he did. My family talked to him (he would spend a couple hours on each car so there was plenty of time to chat) and we found out that he had an alcohol problem (no surprise there) and that he had been living out of his car for awhile now. He said that his mother was alive and that he could go there, but he didn't want to burden her with his drinking. He said that he had been raised Christian, but had gotten away from it. My grandpa spent alot of time talking to him and witnessing to him. When he left the second time we sent him away with some sandwiches, and a bag of groceries. He said that he would be back in about a month. He never came back for 6 months. Last week he showed up at my grandparents house. He was clean and well dressed. He said that he had been to rehab and was now living in a sober living house. He said that he had 5 months sobriety. He is now working at Anaheim stadium. He said that after spending time with our family and seeing how close we all were and how kind we all were to him he decided that he wanted that, that he wanted to change his life. He gave all the credit to God saying that he knew he wouldn't have made it thru rehab without Him. But that he was coming around now to thank us for our kindness to him. No one in my family thought we were doing anything special. No one thought we really would have made a difference. We just treated him like we would have treated anyone else, and I guess that's what made the difference. He said that most people looked down on him and we never did that. My dad and grandpa spent alot of time just chatting with him while he was washing the cars and boat, and he said that most people didnt do that. So while we thought we weren't doing anything special, to him it was. So you see, you never know when you'll touch a life, when you'll make a difference.

Happy Mother's Day

I made this for my mom for mother's day....

This really sucks...

So my grandma is back in the hospital. Now she has a blood clot in her leg. Last Friday morning I noticed that her right leg was a different color, a little mottled, and more swollen than her left leg. It was still that way Friday afternoon so we took her to the ER and they did an ultrasound and found the clot. It's in the same leg that had the central IV line for the dialysis so we think it's related to that. Its also related to the fact that after they took it out, they didn't get her out of bed for three days. When you don't move around the blood pools and clots. (Read the previous post to see all our complaints about her hospital care) We think this clot is directly related to the lousy care she got during her previous stay. We're writing a letter and going to complain, but no matter what happens to the nurses as far as punishment goes, nothing is going to make up for the fact that she is back in the hospital, and this is another set back on her road to recovery. Not to mention that it totally could have killed her. It just sucks that she is the one suffering for their lousy work ethic, and nothing that they do now will change that.