My Grandma passed away tonight. October 10, 2023 at 10:22pm. She was 79.
I can’t imagine what I’m supposed to feel. I’ve experienced loss before. I’ve experienced grief before. And yet I can’t seem to place it. I definitely feel sad. My eyes are welling with tears as I sit here and write this. I should feel sadder. It’s kind of odd how light I feel. We had been expecting this for some time now. It was two days ago that we all decided it was best to discontinue her treatments and offer her comfort in the form of a slow IV drip of didaudid. My Grandma had been in the ICU for a few weeks after her kidneys-then liver-began to fail. She had a blood infection, a UTI, and terrible bedsores from not being able to walk these past few years. She had declined rapidly and things haven’t looked good for quite some time.
It feels wrong to say that I find comfort in knowing that it was coming. That we had all, my Grandmother included, chosen to walk down this path together. She hadn’t been able to utter more than a word or two at once for nearly a month. A name, a ‘yes,’ or a ‘no.’ ‘I love you, too’ was a big hit among fans.
I can tell I’m going to be okay. Cracking jokes is a good sign, I think. I’m going to be okay.
The morning we made all made the decision, my Grandma had expressed that she didn’t want to go on like this. “I don’t want to do this anymore,” I think were her exact words. We knew it was for the best-know it was for the best, but it still hurts. And it will for while. I’m preparing for the holiday season to be particularly tough this year. She was the last of my 4 grandparents. The holidays will be weird, but that’s alright. They were never really normal to begin with. The cool, crisp air of fall has finally settled in. I think it’s going to be a long winter.