Limbo

*Clarification below.

Some of the neighbours came over for games last night. We ended up playing dominoes, which I had never played before. Dudes, the games is so much fun. Despite our best intentions of keeping it an early night, we stayed up ‘til 1 am. The game is addictive. Also, I’d be remiss if I did not tell you that I won – actually, I KICKED ASS!

Cakes punished me for my foolishness by waking up at 5:30. After much pleading, she went back down for another hour but then she was up and ready to give ‘er. Now it’s nap-time for both of us; we’re both exhausted and cranky.

All the socializing of late has been a good distraction from some sadness going on in my family. My maternal grandparents have been in a nursing home for some time now, and have not been well for a long time. A few weeks ago my Grandfather came down with pneumonia. He’s become steadily worse and has been in the hospital for the past 10 days. He has a living will and my mother discussed everything with him again a few weeks ago, at which time he reaffirmed he wouldn’t want any extraordinary measures taken. Now, he will never be able to eat or drink on his own again. The doctors asked him if he wanted a feeding tube and he said yes. The problem is, he is still considered able to make these decisions – even though he doesn’t fully understand the ramifications. He thinks the feeding tube will make him better.

So, it’s been a pretty hard situation. I hate how my grandfather is spending his last days. Worse is the effect it’s having on my mother and grandmother. Now it could go on for months. I feel pretty helpless – we go to visit, but they’re two hours away and it’s not easy to go often. Cakes doesn’t do well in the car, let alone the hospital. She is pretty good at the nursing home – they let her run the halls and she loves entertaining the lonely folks in the lobby. But we can only visit for about half and hour at a time, so it’s tough.

I wish there were more we could do.

* We did go visit last week and will again soon. I could go more often by myself, but it cheers them all up so much when I bring Cakes.