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Oct. 22nd, 2006 01:45 pmMy great-granddaddy died this morning. :o(
He would have been 99 in December. Exactly three Sundays ago my mother, my grandmother, my aunt J, and I drove up to Baltimore, MD to visit him where he lives with one of my grandmother's sisters, great-aunt P. Everyone suspected he was nearing the end which is why Grandma really wanted to see him, as she had not been able to visit with him in several years (long story, not either of their faults). He had one leg amputated a month or so ago, which must have depressed him because he stopped eating shortly after and had to be fed intravenously. Also his weight dropped from 145 pounds to 105 pounds.
When the four of us, plus several family members already in MD visited, he seemed happy to see us. He had two strokes in the past and after the second one, he could no longer talk (which helped lead to his leg needing amputation, which is also a long story which might gross people out). He had been sleepy when we first arrived but was soon wide-eyed and alert. He raised a hand to us a few times, moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something, and cracked a few smiles.
Another one of Grandma's sisters, great-aunt G has visited him the most out of the family and had been e-mailing my mother updates, which she then forwarded to the rest of us or passed by mouth. A couple of weeks ago, he went back into the hospital for "a minor complication" and was released and was doing well. Yesterday, he was holding his stump a lot and tried to pull his bed sheet over his head, which my great-aunts interpreted as him saying goodbye. Great-Aunt P spent the night sitting up with him until he finally passed around 5 am.
Hopefully I will make it to the funeral but I don't know when it will be yet. I talked to Grandma on the phone earlier and she seemed to be in good spirits. Her attitude toward death has always been more "They had a good life, I was happy to be part of their life, and now they are safe with God" although she is understanding of people who cry their heads off or are overcome with grief. Well, where ever Great-Granddaddy is, I hope he is running around on both legs and talking up a storm.
He would have been 99 in December. Exactly three Sundays ago my mother, my grandmother, my aunt J, and I drove up to Baltimore, MD to visit him where he lives with one of my grandmother's sisters, great-aunt P. Everyone suspected he was nearing the end which is why Grandma really wanted to see him, as she had not been able to visit with him in several years (long story, not either of their faults). He had one leg amputated a month or so ago, which must have depressed him because he stopped eating shortly after and had to be fed intravenously. Also his weight dropped from 145 pounds to 105 pounds.
When the four of us, plus several family members already in MD visited, he seemed happy to see us. He had two strokes in the past and after the second one, he could no longer talk (which helped lead to his leg needing amputation, which is also a long story which might gross people out). He had been sleepy when we first arrived but was soon wide-eyed and alert. He raised a hand to us a few times, moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something, and cracked a few smiles.
Another one of Grandma's sisters, great-aunt G has visited him the most out of the family and had been e-mailing my mother updates, which she then forwarded to the rest of us or passed by mouth. A couple of weeks ago, he went back into the hospital for "a minor complication" and was released and was doing well. Yesterday, he was holding his stump a lot and tried to pull his bed sheet over his head, which my great-aunts interpreted as him saying goodbye. Great-Aunt P spent the night sitting up with him until he finally passed around 5 am.
Hopefully I will make it to the funeral but I don't know when it will be yet. I talked to Grandma on the phone earlier and she seemed to be in good spirits. Her attitude toward death has always been more "They had a good life, I was happy to be part of their life, and now they are safe with God" although she is understanding of people who cry their heads off or are overcome with grief. Well, where ever Great-Granddaddy is, I hope he is running around on both legs and talking up a storm.
