09 Aug 2019, 5:59 am
My grandmother had a fall and ended up in hospital. Because she wasn't able to look after herself any longer (She was in her right mind and everything was ok except that she had the fall...Oh, and she had cateracts... More on that later).
Now she had been in there for ages. I think prehaps for most of the year? She had caught six diseases while there which hospital staff were not allowed to tell her or us what they were. She was starving, as a private company was contracted to provide the food, which they did. But the nurses who were supposed to help feed patients... There were cut backs... One single nurse to cover four wards... That is 80 patients. It wasn't working. My grandmothers eyes would follow shadows of people she saw, so it looked like she could see them, but they would put the food down for her, which she didn't know was there, and an hour later the private company had to take the plate regardless of what had been eaten and dissapear.
It took a few monyhs to realize this as my grandmother was a quiet person who had been brought up never to complain. It was often really difficult when she had previously spent time living with us as she would sit there upset and stoney faced mad about something and would never tell us what it was. (Why it didn't work for her to live up here, and she found living up here she missed passers by and things going on in the street. Here is isllated).
Anyway, we had to go in twice a day, pay a small fortune out in hospital parking fees, and go in during visiting hour to feed her.
Now during this time she was getting depressed and deteriating, so my Mum, trying to cheer her up asked her what she could do to cheer her up.
"I want to see my dog" she said. We told her we could not bring her dog in the hospital, but we would get my brother with his new digital camera to take a photo. She was happy about the idea. My brother had a printer working. Now that little dog! There was a amall delay between pressing the button and the camera taking the shot. My brother spent half an hour trying to get a good photograph. Every time the dog turned its head or blinked! Grrr!
Eventually my brother had no choice. He decided to use his computer and do some trickery... the best photograph the dog was looking towards the camera but had blinked so her eyes were shut. My brother spent time working on it... Eventually he showed us the results. Well. It was the dog alright, but how did he do the eyes? You know when you look at a photo and something does not look right and you can't fathom out what it is? 
"How did you make the eyes?" We asked. "I had to use human eyes" he said...
Well, it was all we had. And besides. My grandmother had cataracts. It will have to do!
So with this photograph we went to the hospital to try to cheer my grandmother up... Umm. She noticed. How did she notice? She didn't say anything but we could tell... She noticed!
Well, it made her a little more upset. What had we done to her dog? In the end there was nothing for it. We would HAVE to show her the dog.
Have you ever tried to sneak a dog into a hospital? 
That is what we had to do. The dog? It was a miniature Yorkshire Terrier, but it was fat. My grandmother overfed all her pets she ever had. She also over fed her children (My Mum and Aunty) because my grandmother used to be teased for being too thin as a child.
Well, the dog behaved. He was sneaked in under my Mums coat. We had to hide its tail on occasions or he would wriggle... Somehow we did it. My grandmoyher got to see her dog for a few minutes and we quickly made out exit to put the dog back in the car. We felt like we were trying to break into and escape from prison! Haha! We made it... Phew!
My grandmother passed away in 2008. The dog passed away a few years later.
