Getting ready to say goodbye...

As many of you know my dad is not doing well at all. In October of 2006 he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. In preparation for surgery to remove the tumor in his esophagus one of his doctors tried to puff out his esophagus to enable him to drink/swallow better. It was during this procedure that the doctor punctured his esophagus and this started a snowball of horrific events. He had a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side, 2 heart attacks and pretty much "you name it he had it". These events have landed my dad in 3 different nursing homes.

At one point he was making significant progress and there was hope that he'd be able to make a recovery. However several setbacks occurred (Thank you, insurance company) and he's still in a nursing home.

A few weeks ago we learned his cancer returned and is now in his stomach area, his lymph nodes and his lungs. The man can not catch a break.

We've seen him several times in the course of the last 3 weeks and he's not doing well at all. He's now under Hospice care and they're doing what they can to make him comfortable. They describe themselves as the *icing on the cake* and they've been great at trying to make things as easy as possible.

The other day we got a call that he took a turn for the worse and that he probably won't make it much longer. He requested that he meet Vanya so Kathy, Tim, Vanya and a special translator came up from Indiana last night to visit. Today I learned from one of the Hospice chaplains that he was very excited about Vanya and that's all he talked about!

I was at my dad's house today paying some bills and Aaron and I had a coversation. I've been very simple in telling him what's going on. I never want to say, "Grandpa is sick" because even thoug he is Aaron will freak out next time he's sick and will think he will die.

Our conversation went like this:
A: "Mommy, grandpa's not feeling good is he?"
L: "Nope, he's not. Do you know what's going on?"
A: "Grandpa's probably going to die, isn't he?"
L: "Well buddy, yes. We don't know for sure when"

After a brief pause Aaron said,
"I think he's going to be happy to see Nana up in Heaven, won't he?"
I said, "Most definitely".

He's a pretty amazing 5 year old. He just knows.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of my dad and Aaron.