The Circle of Life

A lot of you don't know this, but my grandfather passed away last Tuesday morning (August 26). He did just find out he had cancer, but he didn't have a chance to start any treatment. My grandmother said he died in his sleep. The day before, he was up and moving around more than normal. He went to bed a little later than usual. My grandmother checked on him a couple of times before she went to bed, and everything was fine. In the morning, however, he was cold. He went peacefully.

My company gives 3 bereavement days. John and I went to Sacramento on Wednesday of last week to go see my grandmother. My grandmother is doing well. She is talking about getting a part-time job now that she really doesn't have anyone to take care of. She is in good health. She will miss him, I'm sure, but I don't see any signs of depression.

My grandmother believes he died of heart or kidney failure. She is supposed to find out for sure sometime this week. He didn't want any services, so he is being cremated. My grandmother will be keeping his ashes until she finds a place he would have liked to spread them.

My mother was released from the Napa Mental Institution on the same day we learned of his death. My grandmother was trying to make them keep her (knowing she would do something to get herself put back in there), but they couldn't keep her. She is now living with someone she met in the institution at a sort of "assistant home."

He is in a better place now, free of all his health issues. He died at the age of 73. John and I will be getting married on what would have been his 75th birthday.

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That week was a made a little more emotional due to a call we received from John's mom at 10pm on the Friday BEFORE my grandfather passed away. John's dad went into the ER complaining of chest pain. He was admitted on Friday night, but was back to his normal self on Saturday. The hospital kept him until Sunday evening because they wanted to try and find out what was causing the chest pain. They never found anything.

John was upset and worried (of course). He said he wasn't so much worried that his dad wasn't going to make it, it was more that the incident brought up bad memories. Wayne's heart attack happened while he and his boys were on a LA trip a few years ago. That would be a scary ordeal. John's dad (for those of you who don't know) was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2001. His prognosis was very grim. They gave him a year (at most) to live. Seven years later, you can't even tell he's sick. He does have his heart issues. The severity of his cancer is still high enough to have all his doctors completely flabberghasted as to why he is still living. Miracles do happen ... every day Wayne is with us is another miracle.