Well it's been a few days since I last blogged. It's been a really tough 10 days. On Thursday the 21st my Grampa B went to the emergency room because he was feeling so weak he couldn't get out of bed. He had just recently finished chemo treatments for cancer in his brain, lungs & back...he'd felt weak the whole time, but it had gotten to a point he felt was urgent. So after running some tests they figured out that he had pneumonia. Steve & I went and saw him that night in the ER, and we went back to visit him on Saturday in his room on the oncology unit. He was obviously very weak, but overall he didn't seem too bad, especially after he got a roommate who was in the process of passing away. I came away that day thinking Grampa didn't look too bad compared to that guy!
Unfortunately, for reasons I guess we'll never know, he got progressively worse by that evening, to the point that we never got to speak to him again. He had so much trouble breathing they put an oxygen mask on him, and he was only semi-conscious. We spent pretty much the entire day at the hospital with him on Sunday...he was able to occasionally indicate yes or no to certain questions by nodding (I think), but for the most part he lay there asleep.
Monday morning, my mom called to let me know that the doctor found out the top of Grampa's right lung had collapsed, and suggested taking him off the oxygen. Everybody came to the hospital who could, and once we were all there they took him off the oxygen. My Gramma, mom & 2 uncles stayed in the room with Grampa while the rest of us waited next door. It didn't take more than 20 minutes before he passed away.
Since then we've had a lot of good family time together...and isn't it sad that it takes someone dying for that to happen? But I'm glad we could all be together to help Gramma get through these past few days. We've been able to laugh a lot together at how prepared Grampa was for his own death...he left Gramma very specific instructions on how to do everything. He even picked out his own pallbearers & typed up a sheet with bullet points of what to include in his obituary. He created his own slide show of pictures to show at the visitation and burned it onto a CD, along with burning a CD of the version of Amazing Grace he wanted us to play at the end of his funeral service. He was an amazing man.
There was so much going on this week that it was hard to get our runs in, but we've managed to somehow stay on schedule. We ran what we should have run on Monday on Wednesday...then switched our Wednesday run to today...etc etc so that by the week after next we'll be back to running on the days we're supposed to, without having skipped any. I know Grampa would want me to keep up with it, because he was a man who did what he said he was going to do. And he was so happy to see me looking so healthy & trim, as he just said a week ago in the hospital.
I'm so behind with my school work right now, and have so many things that I have to get done...it's easy to get overwhelmed. And I was feeling very overwhelmed before we ran today...it's amazing how much better I feel after getting that exercise. Running is good therapy, and it makes me feel better body & soul. Not to mention how much I need it after all the crap I ate this past week!! It's amazing all the food people bring when a loved one has passed away. And I don't think any of it really fit the parameters of the Belly Fat Cure, lol.
I LOVE YOU, GRAMPA!!
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