When I think of my grandparents, I think of a closed circle. They are everything I would have ever wanted for myself in a relationship – they not only love one another – they like each other. They eloped when my grandfather was 22, my grandmother 17. They have been married for 71 years.
They raised 3 children, had 5 granddaughters, 1 grandson, 5 great grandsons, and 1 great granddaughter. This is their legacy. This is what there their circle has grown to encompass.
My grandfather just turned 94. He did so in a hospital bed on the oncology floor at the hospital I work for. He was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer. He had been in a lot of pain and his gallbladder was failing but they didn’t want to do surgery as at his age with his heart condition, the doctors were not certain he could withstand the surgery. The pain was overwhelming and he ended up in the ER twice, the last time, they did the bone scan. It is in his spine, shoulder, ribs, neck.
He is being eaten alive. He and my grandmother are being eaten alive because she experiences what he does. I cannot even think of what I am losing because it is so overwhelming dwarfed by what she is losing.
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