My Granddaddy has been fighting lung cancer for quite some time now. A year and a half ago, he had a stroke. During that stay in the hospital is when the doctors discovered he had a mass in his lung. A few months later, after he got his strength back from the stroke, they did a biopsy of the mass and determined it was cancer. There are 2 types of lung cancer, a small cell, fast growing kind and a large cell, slow growing kind. He had the latter of the two. He entered chemo and radiation treatments to beat the cancer. He was doing really well--always talking about when he was going to get better--his plans on being around for years to come. He, along with my dad, walked me down the aisle at our wedding in August. It was a good day.
At Thanksgiving, he wasn't feeling well at all. He was hardly eating and complaining that it was hard to breathe. He and my Grandmother joined my Aunt, her two girls, and my mom at our house for Thanksgiving dinner. The week after he entered the hospital due to his lungs being full of fluid. Apparently, the radiation created a hole in the outer lining of his lung and was collecting fluid. The doctors started to drain the lung daily and he was feeling much better. He stayed in the hospital for 49 days, finally being released from the hospital on January 21. He was feeling really good and so happy to be home!
On Sunday, February 1, my Granddaddy asked to go the Emergency Room because his stomach was hurting. They did a CT Scan and determined that his abdomen was filled with fluid. They sent him home that night and the next day he went back to get a cathadetar--turns out his kidneys were producing but his bladder wasn't releasing. As a family, he and my Grandmother decided it was time for him to enter Hospice care. He started oxygen on Tuesday. I drove to Alabama on Wednesday to visit him for a while. The rest of the family were to get there on Thursday and I wanted to spend time with him alone before everyone else got there. Also on Wednesday, a lawyer came over to the house and my Granddaddy made sure his will was correct, he signed a living will, and gave power of attorney to my Grandmother and my mom. He also gave my Grandmother a checklist of how many death certificates to order, who to contact for insurances, and things of that nature. A hospital bed was also delivered on Wednesday to make him more comfortable.
He woke up early on Thursday morning and asked for me, so I got up and sat by his bed talking to him. He was in a fair amount of pain, but the pain medicine was doing it's job for the most part. He was still able to sit up and talk to us. At about noon on Thursday, the pain was overwhelming for him. He was asked to go to the Emergency room again--but that would have done no good since he signed a DNR the day before. We called Hospice over to the house to come and help us. He rolled over on his side and I kept "burping" him like a baby. He said that that made him feel better--he was trying to get the pressure out of his body. His lungs were filling up with fluid so quickly. After about an hour of this intense pain and us trying to do anything we could to help him feel better, he slowly released and he peacefully passed away.
He told us the day before that he was ready for God and God was ready for him so I know he is Heaven watching over us. We will miss him terribly, but I am so happy that he is no longer in pain.
