A Fond Farewell to Grandpa Udall

Today at about 3:00 p.m. my Grandpa Udall got to go be with my Grandma! Hooray Grandpa!
So for those of you who need to be caught up, let me do so now. Grandpa contracted pneumonia about 10 days ago. He was in the Safford Hospital for a time and then they air-evaced him here to TMC. He was on a ventilator (big, uncomfortable tube down the throat) the whole time he was here. They would periodically do tests by shutting down the ventilator to see if he could breathe on his own. All the times they tried, he could not. I was there for one of the tests and it was really hard to watch him struggle for breathe and be so uncomfortable. Also because of the tube, he could not speak or communicate his needs. So I held his hand and sang, "Love at Home" and tried by best to calm his anxiety. Before I left that day I told him I loved him, and he nodded at me. In my mind that is my goodbye because it was the last time I saw him conscious. Monday they decided to put in a trach because he was on the ventilator for too long. After they put it in, we got a call that evening that he had a punctured lung. Although I don't know all the details of this, the air that escaped his lungs filled his tissues making his face and body puff up like a balloon. When I went to see him with my mom I could hardly recocnize him. Today it became apparent that his respiratory condition was worsening rapidly. Several of my aunts and uncles and cousins and I gathered around his bed. We sang to him and spoke to him thanking him for being a wonderful father and grandfather. He passed away very peacefully, I was holding his hand. And I wept. I don't really know what's worse, losing a grandparent unexpectedly or preparing to lose a grandparent with a terminal illness. It feels so strange that he and grandma are now both gone, but at least they are together. So here's to my wonderful Grandpa. I love you.