Friday, June 03, 2005

The Older I Get

The older I get, the harder it is to watch my grandparents get old and sick. My Nana (pronounced "Nonny"-we never changed the spelling, though we changed the way we say her name) battled with colon cancer in 1999, but is in remission. After her chemo and radiation , she developed other problems--weakened tissue in other areas, among other things, which have caused her to be unhealthy. The main problem along side of everything else is that she has what my family believes is Alzheimer's (this is what WE have diagnosed her as having--this is a whole other story). Anywho, last year Nana did a stint in the hospital for about a month with her gallbladder and yesterday, she got a horrible bladder infection, which landed her in the hospital again. She gets violently ill. Now, I am not one to get very sad when elderly get sick, or even when they die. Our number will be called soon as well. What I hate is seeing her and barely recognizing her. Where is the lady who took me all weekend and played Crazy Eights until her head hurt. Where is the young woman who took me on long walks up on the canal by her house? All of my childhood memories, except for a few are at my grandparents house. So nostalgic. Then, you see her laid up in a hospital bed, helpless, unaware and frightened. It is an inevitable picture. I still don't like it. And my granddaddy...bless his heart. Watching his lovely bride, helpless. He would do anything to ease the pain. I love them both a great, great deal. I appreciate them...I appreciate their love for each other. I'll keep a post on how she is doing, though she is in the hospital still.

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