Roller Coaster...

It's been a roller coaster the last two days. My grandpa is not doing well. This is my Grandpa Roy, my mom's dad.

Grandpa Roy has always been like Roy Rogers to me, like the Lone Ranger, like the tough guy that nothing can take down. He's been strong for many years. He was spry and still able to just about anything he wanted. Suddenly, in the last six months he has started going downhill. He wasn't getting proper nutrition, he wasn't quite with it mentally. My mom and her siblings were working to get him into a nursing home for better care, but my grandpa was strong-willed and still wanted his independence. He was fighting it.

Yesterday, his health got the better of him. On Sunday night he had a stroke and fell. He was outside for awhile...somehow he got himself inside. I'm still unclear on those details. When my aunt went to get him for his doctor's appointment yesterday morning she found him sitting in his chair, unresponsive, his lips blue. He couldn't answer any questions she gave him. They rushed him to the hospital in the ambulance.

They discovered-after a day of ups and downs-that he had had a stroke, and also that he had fallen hard. Last night the prognosis looked grim.

Suddenly, this morning, everything changed. He was up, he was alert, he was walking and talking. We were thinking he was on his way to recovery. Then, just a few moments ago I got a call. He was in remission. The doctors had observed him and diagnosed him with a disease that basically means he is going to continue to have small strokes in the afternoons, which are his worst times. He will be getting worse and worse...they have given him until this Spring at best.

It's a tough pill to swallow. I know, I'm blessed. I have had the opportunity to have a good relationship with all three of my grandparents my entire life. Most people my age don't really have their grandparents around anymore. I have a lot of happy memories with my Grandpa. He is an amazing man. I'm sad to think of the world without him in it.

I am also sad for my mom. She lost her mom at a young age-younger than I am-to cancer, and now she has to see her dad go in a way that is tough as well. I can't imagine that. I wish so much that I could be there to give her a hug. I wish I could be there to give her a shoulder to cry on. Living far away is difficult in moments like these.

I love my Grandpa. I'm thankful for the many years we have enjoyed with him. I don't know when he will pass, it could be days, it could be months. Most of all, I am thankful that he knows the Lord. I love you, Grandpa Roy. Thanks for saying "I love you, Stacy" today on the phone...I'll cherish that always.