Confessions of a Grandma

Michael Edward Hebert of Jericho, VT and Venice, FL died at 7:30 Sunday evening, August 18, 2013, in Fletcher Allen Health Care following a succession of illnesses.  He was 69. Mike was born in Hartford, CT on September 9, 1943 to Wilfred Emil and Felicia Hebert, the first of their five children.  He grew up in Newington, CT and was an avid hunter and fisherman as a youth.  He also started his work career, sharing a paper route with his brother Bill.  He worked for a landscaping business and a dress factory, maintaining sewing machines, and then started full time employment at Hamilton Standard in Windsor Locks, CT.  He worked there from December, 1961 until February, 1969, inclusive of four years of naval service. Mike graduated from A.I.Prince Technical School in Hartford.  After service in the U.S. Navy (September, 1962 through August, 1966), he attended Ward Technical Institute in Hartford where he had been awarded a full tuition scholarship.  ...

Mike Hebert September 9, 1943 - August 18, 2013 This was not a part of the plan.

Mike was feeling much better on Saturday.  I was so encouraged.  I left the hospital early to meet up with my daughter and the kids and we all had some play time. Sunday morning, he seemed even stronger. . . Then around 1:30, he got a pain which grew worse.  His stomach started to bloat.  The nurse called in the doctor who ordered X-rays.  There is a blockage in his small intestine and the stomach pump was reinserted. My hope that this is just a small blip that will be easily resolved.  He has been through so very much in the past three weeks.

Mike is making progress.  He is no longer in the ICU.  He has been eating regular food for a couple of days.  Tubes for oxygen, kidney draining, bladder draining, and stomach pumping are all gone. He still has an IV drip for some of his medications.  There is still some lingering infection and his heart rate never drops below 100.  He is weak, but he is doing physical therapy each day. He looks like himself again...and he is getting a teeny bit cranky about having to be in the hospital so now I can believe he is going to be okay. I have had a lot of support--my family, my friends, our neighbors, my blogging community, my library cohorts, and all my various writing pals have rallied around. My dear friend Ginnie loaded me up with delicious comfort food.  My son took me out for a sandwich supper and a walk around funky downtown Burlington. Another friend is having me over tomorrow for a lunch and a tour of her garden.  The librarian brought me a ...

Whew.  What a time.  Mike is still in the ICU.  I will not say that he is entirely out of the woods, but he does seem to be on the right path. He has been able to get up and walk about 25 feet.  He has been able to sit up in a chair for a couple of hours at a time.  His breathing is okay and they took him off supplemental oxygen yesterday.  His kidneys are slowly improving and are doing their job.  They have managed to relieve some of his joint pain with prednisone so that he can get up without compromising his chest healing process.  He still has some belly bloating and infection,  but he is not in pain from that and they are now seeing signs of return to function there. I am amazed every day at how hard he is working to get well.  I would not have really predicted that he would be so compliant with all the nursing routines in particular.  As long as he is always told exactly what they are doing and why , he is putting up with ...