My Grandmother was a Cat

There was a joke in my family that my Grandmother had nine lives. This past Friday, October 17^th, was the anniversary of when she broke her neck. My cousin Nina found her and my Grandmother told her to call 911. She had to wear a neck brace for a long time. That happened before I was born.

My Grandmother also happened to have hurt her back once when he worked in a Nursing home. That was when she was a young woman. I never really heard a full story for this occurrence. I doubt my mom really knows the full story.

She also started having awful nose bleeds for some reason. I remember my mother holding a bucket under her nose to catch all of the blood. She went to a nose and head doctor and had surgery. My mother was so thankful since she lost so much blood during the nose bleeds.

Another time my Grandma fell and “split her head open” which meant she needed stitches for the wound on her head. This wasn’t something too terrible. After all, anyone can fall and hit their head. However, it was a sign of something else which later would almost claim her life.

One reason she fell was that her leg gave out underneath her. Soon after we found out that she had a clot in her leg the size of a quarter. If it wasn’t found the time it was, it could have burst and she could have bled out internally. After the surgery, she was fine but the doctor said her arteries and veins were so hard to work on because they were stiff.

This of course was because of years of smoking. After that it seemed that my Grandmother never really got her health back. She frequently had pneumonia and she got very easily winded from walking too much.

Later we discovered that she had cancer in her lung. She was in her mid-70s when she got the news. It was devastating for all of us and none of us imagined she’d find a way out of that one. The cancer finally got the best of her and she passed away soon after the diagnosis.

With everything my Grandmother went through she was always positive and her mind was always sharp. I hope to be half as positive and lucky at cheating death.