At 2:00 on Monday morning, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. There was a pit in my stomach and I couldn't figure out why. After tossing and turning for a while, the phone rang at 3:00. Thinking it was a wrong number, I hit the silence button so it wouldn't wake up Eddie. I listened to the voicemail and the woman said there was an emergency at Croasdaile, where my grandparents live (it's an assisted living community). I called back immediately, but it was busy since she was trying to call me. I was shaking pretty badly at this point. Eddie was up and pacing beside me.
When I got in touch with the woman, she told me I needed to get there immediately--my grandfather had passed away. I was out the door 3 minutes later.
This is my mom's dad. I did a post a while back about my family tree and how it grows together (Grandpa is married to my dad's mom). ANYWAY-- unfortunately, my mom and dad were out of the country when this happened.
On my way to the hospital, I called my aunt first and told her and then I took a deep breath to call my mom and tell her the new that her father had passed away. Gulp. My dad has an international plan on his cell phone in case of emergencies, like this one (when he answered, he thought I was up with Cal and bored in the middle of the night and felt like calling him...uhhhh, not so much).
I got to grandma's and there were 2 police officers, 2 security officers, and one nurse and grandma sitting in the corner by herself. The door to the bedroom was closed. Grandpa was still in there.
He had gotten up in the night to go to the bathroom and fell to the ground on his way back. Grandma tried to get him up, but couldn't so she called security. They called me. It is policy for a doctor to sign the death certificate before contacting the funeral home to remove the body. The doctor that was on call was not responding. We were not able to contact the funeral home until several hours after I got there. It made for a very emotional morning.
My Granpa was 92 (almost 93) and was an extraordinary man. He was always happy and laughed at everything. He was a solid rock in our family.
My parents tried as hard as they could to get a flight back here, but the soonest one they could get was Wednesday. Plans had to be made before then, and it was up to me to make them. It has been a crazy few days. I feel like all I have been doing is "figuring stuff out": who is staying with grandma? what am i going to do with cal when i go to the funeral home? will i be there in time to give grandma lunch? can her friend get her to her room while i go to the clinic to get her meds? can i find a sitter to keep cal while i keep grandma?..... it goes on and on and it is exhausting. Grandma can't be left alone, and I thought I could handle Cal and grandma at the same time and I couldn't. It was too much. Grandma is too needy and Cal is too...wild. My aunt has been really helpful, but she had to go back to work today. She spent the night there Monday and Tuesday and we have been tag-teaming to help out as much as possible.
Grandpa's passing was a blessing. Or at least that's what we keep telling ourselves. He lived a great life and we are thrilled that he didn't suffer at all. He brought a smile to all that were in contact with him. I ADORE this man and I am going to miss him so much. I hope he knows how much be meant to all of us...and that we will never ever forget him.
