I have been very blessed to live here close to my Grandma Joy Murdock. My kids have been able to get to know her and love her as well. She is a spunky little thing and always cracking jokes. She has such a bubbly personality and is so fun to be around. She loves her family and is always asking about all of them. On July 18th I got a phone call from my cousin Mindy saying that grandma was not feeling well and needed help. So I ran in to see what was going on. When I got there the staff at her assisted living facility thought she was dealing with indigestion. I agreed after being there for not very long that that is what it looked like. She was SO UNCOMFORTABLE though and after my cousin Elena and her husband arrived and gave her a priesthood blessing, Elena and I were able to talk her into going to the hospital to get checked out. The ambulance came and got her and loaded her up and I followed.
I was able to sneak in with her once she got there. Elena and her husband weren't as lucky and ended up in the waiting room. Because her oxygen was low and her chest was bothering her they immediately did an EKG of her heart. They had to roll her on her back to do the EKG and because of previous back surgery she REALLY doesn't do well on her back. It was so hard to watch her be in pain as they did the testing. The test seriously only takes a minute, but they couldn't get her to hold still. The doctor saw the fuzzy results of the first test and declared a heart attack and told them to test again. The second test wasn't much better, but he once again declared heart attack and ordered a third test. By this time they decided to sit her up so he wasn't laying on her back to do the test and were able to get a good clear reading on the third test....which he declared again HEART ATTACK. They were able to get morphine in her quickly and it didn't take long for her to become comfortable and back to her normal self.
This is her smiling picture so I could send it to her kids so they would know she was okay. She is such a strong, beautiful lady. When we first got there she motioned for me so I came to her bed and she whispered, "Natalie, I'm Naked!" I said, "grandma, no you're not. You have a mu-mu on." "No, Natalie.....I'm Naaaakkkkeeeeddd!" I reassured her again she had clothes on. Then she whisphered, "Under this I'm Naked!" I said, "Well grandma, Under my clothes I'm naked too. In fact, everyone in this room is naked if that's what we are gaging it off of." :) Hahaha. Oh, I love her and her funny little personality!
A few other funny things she said at the hospital that I want to remember was just after the guy had come into take a chest x-ray he came back in looking for a marker he had misplaced. He was looking all around her and lifting up her blankets here and there as he was searching and after he couldn't find it and walked out of the room she said, "I'd be fine if these fella's would stop looking at my fanny!" I died laughing. I said, "grandma, he is just looking for his marker." She responded with, "Well it's not in my bum!" bahahahaha!
She also kept saying, "I had a heart attack, I can't believe I had a heart attack! How could this happen?!?!" I finally said, "Well, grandma, you aren't 25 anymore!" She snickered and covered her cute little mouth with her hand as she did and then said, "I know.........I'm 26!" hahahaha. Oh I love this lady!
That night after we got her checked into a room and comfortable I sat on her bed and held her hand and she said, "oh, what would I do without my Natalie?"
Two days later my sweet grandma passed away. She was doing well and they were planning to send her home and then suddenly she was gone. It was time to go home to grandpa. I am going to miss this sweet lady. She means the world to me and I am a better person because of her example and love.
My mom and dad are currently serving a mission and so they were not able to be here when grandma passed away. They were able to run home for 3 days to help plan the funeral and clean out her apartment. It was good to see them even under such sad circumstances.
My little Laiklie became best friends with grandma the year that grandma had to have back surgery. Laiklie wasn't in school yet and so we went with grandma to all of her doctors appointments. Laiklie and grandma became pretty tight. I knew that this would be so hard for Laiklie and after the viewing she asked me several times if she would get to see grandma again the next day before the funeral so she could say good-bye. I caught this tender moment of her telling her great-grandma and sweet friend good-bye. She cried and cried. Such a heartbreaking thing to lose those we love. We are SO BLESSED to know that families can be together forever. We like to think that grandma can now come to Laiklie's dance/piano recitals. :)
One more final good-bye from Laiklie
I am so thankful to be a descendant of Joy Murdock and I'm more thankful to have known and loved her.
