go, go Gran!

I have not written a lot about my Gran but I could probably fill my blog for weeks with my awe and expressions of love for her. She's that amazing. But today what has struck me is that she is downright giddy.
She's 91. She still lives alone in New Orleans. She doesn't drive anymore but that only changed last spring. On a fluke trip to McDonald's (seriously, the second time she's been to a McDonald's in her whole life!), she slipped and broke her hip. But she didn't think it was broken at first so she drove herself home. Yep. That's my Gran. A little time on the bed and she'd be fine.
Well, it was more like some days in a hospital bed followed by surgery to fix the hip and then about 3 months in Lambeth House for rehab...and she was fine. Still in need of assistance at home but everything seemed to be heading back to normal. Until...in late summer she had an excruciating pain in her hip. My mom and I happened to be in New Orleans anyway to visit her so we took her to the doctor who informed her that the pins that had been used to set the hip had worked their way through to the other side and were rubbing against the bone. Ah - an explanation for the pain. Gran walked out of the office and when I saw her in the waiting room this was her line: "Well, I bet I'm the only person you know who can really say she has a screw loose." Cracking jokes even when she was in a lot of pain. And refusing to have surgery done the following Tuesday because it was her day to go to the beauty parlor. Seriously!
Turns out the Hurricane Gustav got in the way of any surgery anyway and she had to evacuate to Laurel, MS (her hometown and where her sister, nephew and his wife - who are wonderful to Gran, still live). Nearly a month after she was first told that she'd need to have surgery again, she had a hip replacement. Apparently the recovery from this is much easier since the docs want you to be up and moving on that hip ASAP. (When the hip is just "mended" you basically have to learn to walk again without putting full weight on your leg for a long time."
So...after surgery and INTENSE rehab (3 times a day and in a special part of the hospital with very limited visiting hours), Gran got to go home again. And now, well, she was the model student and it's paying off.
She's moving from her walker to her cane little by little. She did 4 laps around the dining room table with her cane two weeks ago and has started walking with the cane outside with her physical therapist. (This is no small feat given the bumpy conditions of the New Orleans sidewalks!!!) Her next goal is to cross St. Charles Avenue so that she can go to church. When she told her preacher this he said, "Well, Sister, you know that people come to church all the time using their walkers." Gran's reply, "Not me." Ah, vanity and pride kick in yet again. But heck, if those two things get you to where Gran is now then maybe they aren't so bad!!!
But I think it takes more than those two things...and my reflections are something I need to remember in my life and especially in my IM training. I think it takes:
1 - the desire to keep going (at 91, why not throw in the towel? Because something inside Gran must be saying that she's not finished living this life yet...even when the odds are against her.)
2 - the willingness to change your ways (okay, so not all of your ways, but I do think you have to be flexible and open to change)
3 - we need other people in this world and we need the grace to accept help from others (Gran is so independent that the thought of having sitters with her like she does has got to be really tough. But she's learning to be graceful and patient about it)
4 - there's no such thing as too many friends...and friendship spans decades and age groups (Gran has friends of all ages...and I think that keeps her going!)
5 - when it's all said and done, love and faith and family and friends matter...and if you have your health, too, you're doubly blessed but if you have only your health without those other things, I'm not sure any of it matters very much.