The Whole Story: Part Five Taking Opportunities as They're Given



Just because my world was revolving around brain surgery doesn't mean it was the same for everyone else. Wednesday, April 19th, was my new pre-op. It went much like the previous one, but after it we got news that my Grandpa was being put on hospice care. I was not feeling great and I was quite overwhelmed by all that was going on in my life so a long drive up north seemed like one thing too many, and besides, they said he had six weeks so I thought I could wait till after the surgery. However, my husband is the opposite of a procrastinator! I think his brain operates on, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing now!” So, Thursday we went up to Anacortes to see Grandpa and say goodbye.  That was hard. It was extra important to my husband because he said Grandpa was the closest to a father figure that he had in his life. I didn’t want to go, deep in my heart. I didn’t want to see him like that, weak, on machines, my grandma trying to coax life back into him, spoon feeding him coffee. He told us both, “I love you” multiple times. It was hard, but I’m glad I went because despite them telling us he had six weeks, he passed away that Saturday night. I'm so glad that each of his grandkids were able to see him that week, my brother even driving all the way across the state to do so.

    That Monday I had brain surgery, a story for another blog post. I was in the hospital until Friday. The next week our family held my grandfather's graveside service. Because it was such a long drive we needed to have friends come in to sit with me so my family could attend the service. It was sad not being able to be there to say goodbye together, but I'm glad my husband and all my children were able to go. Without our friends' very generous help that couldn't have happened at all. I'm very grateful I was able to attend the memorial hosted later in the summer.

Here's The Thing: We don't get to pick life's timings. Sometimes we even need to go against our gut and do the thing we don't want to do. I didn't want to visit my grandfather that Thursday, but I'll be forever grateful I did.

The Whole Story:

Part One - The Call That Changes Your Life
Part Two - When "Wait and See" Wouldn't Sound so Bad
Part Three - Reflecting on My (Almost) Presurgery Week
Part Four - Living in the unknown
Part Five - Taking Opportunities as They're Given
Part Six - The Big Event
Part Seven - How Many of you are There?
Part Eight - Beginning the Journey of Recovery
Part Nine - The Unimaginable
Part Ten - I guess that's better?
Part Eleven - A Day in the ICU
Part Twelve - Long Haul ICU
Part Thirteen - Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Part Fourteen - A Soft Discharge
Part Fifteen - The End of the Chapter

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