Stacy and I visited Grandpa and Grandma today.
My Grandfather is unfortunately on hospice care as he has a large tumor on his colon, as well as one on his liver. He’s only just started to experience the pain from that, so he’s not on heavy drugs yet, and isn’t too loopy yet.
He seemed ok during our visit. He was a bit frustrated as he was shivering for no reason during his dinner, which made it difficult to hold his food, but his cornball sense of humor did show through a bit. He looks a bit rough, but still not bad enough that I’m forced to deal with what’s really going to happen to him in the next few months.

Afterwards, we visited Grandma Jean. She’s been fighting diabetes for 10 years, and a slow blood cancer for the last 4. And recently, she’s developed some calcification within her spinal canal, giving her severe back pain. Given she was on the last day of a week of chemo, she looked ok. We did talk about medical challenges for an hour or so, as that’s a large part of her life at this point, but she was happy for the visit, as was my grandpa.

I’ve been preparing for what’s happening for awhile, or at least I tell myself that, but I still don’t think it’s going to sink in for awhile. I’ve not been close to them for a number of years, but they were a large part of my life during my childhood. They rescued different members of my family numerous times, financially, medically and personally. They helped pay for some large medical expenses I had a few years ago, and helped me deal with financial difficulties due to the dot-crash and joblessness, and my personal inability to manage my money.

It’ll be tough to get through the near future, but one must push ahead. What will be will be.