The past week has been a complete whirlwind. I don't really know where to start, but I guess I'll start with an alarming e-mail I received from my mom concerning my grandpa last Thursday night. He had been to the ER several times in the past 6 weeks or so due to chest pain, but they had ran tests and discovered it was only angina, and he had not suffered a heart attack. But this past Thursday morning, while he was making his bed, he began to have severe chest pain and they rushed him to the hospital. He had indeed suffered a heart attack, which is just one of many he's had. I don't know how of how many he had, but it had been quite a few.
They said he was stable the next day and were talking about discharging him maybe on Monday or Wednesday. Even though they said he was okay for the moment, I still felt I needed to see him. I made plans to head down on Saturday after my Skills Test (for the Nursing Assistant thing). Once I arrived home after my test, I laid down and rested for a moment, as I had had a stressful morning. Then I received a heart-stopping call from my Dad. He told me that Grandpa had taken a turn for the worse and he only had a few hours left. As a panic set in, I rushed around the house to gather our things. Tim, Noel, Padme, and I rushed (and I mean rushed) to Roanoke as fast as we could.
When we arrived at Roanoke Memorial, we walked into his room to find a tired, but smiling Grandpa. Noel sat up on his bed and patted his knee. She insisted on sharing a chip with him. She even wiped his face. The doctor said that he had perked up since Dana had arrived, and seemed to be doing okay for the moment. Tim asked "How are you feeling?" and he replied with "fine!". Impossible! I was amazed at the strength that he possessed. Still having energy to smile, to laugh, to make jokes and tell stories. He had a deep love for his family and it was very evident in our visit with him last weekend.
His blood pressure was alarmingly low...impossibly low. Megan (his third granddaughter) who is an ER nurse, told me that she couldn't tell me how many times she had seen people with his same vital stats who have passed away within an hour. Impossible! Amazing. He was such a fighter, I believe because he had such a strong will to live. He loved life and he loved his family. He would do anything to extend his time on this earth with us.
We left that evening with renewed hope and returned the next day (Sunday). He was still very tired but pressed on and continued to tell stories and jokes. It is time with him I'll never forget. We had to leave on Sunday night to return home, but Dana stayed in town to spend more time with him. On Monday he apparently envisioned a woman standing over his bed that he could not remember, and our great Uncle CG who passed on a number of years ago. After hearing that our paternal grandmother saw her father before passing, and our ungle CG saw his
mother before passing, we were worried it would be soon.
They moved him from the Cardiology floor to the palliative care unit on Monday afternoon, and Grandpa was exhausted. Dana said that he slept most of the day and wasn't joking as much. On Monday night I tossed and turned, and had several dreams involving Grandpa going to heaven and being reuined with our Grandma.
On Tuesday morning I received the call from my mom informing me that Grandpa had passed on in his sleep.
It didn't finally settle in until we all gathered at the funeral home. I will never be able to share in his joy again, or hear any of his crazy stories. I will never share another holiday with him, as I have for nearly every Thanksgiving and Christmas since I was born. He was a very unique, kind, charming, and witty person with an abundance of knowledge and experience.
He was a WWII Veteran and also served in the Korean War. He flew in 35 successful bombing missions over Germany, and survived 2 crash landings in France. I remember he told me that in one of his crash landings, they landed right in a turnip field and had to survive off of turnips for 1 or 2 days until they could be rescued. He never ate another turnip again!
He was an excellent storyteller, always captivating his audience with enthusiasm and wit. With all of the stories he has told me over the years, I wonder how many stories he never told anyone? What other things had he experienced that just never made it to the forefront of conversation?
He lived 90 long years and had a life so
rich in excitement, danger, love, and family. He had 4 children, 9 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. I hope that with some storytelling of our own his memory will live on through them and will never die. His life was certainly one worth living, and he did live it to the fullest, completely blowing away all of the predictive models for a patient with his condition.
I love you, Grandpa.
Jasper Lee (Jack) Anderson April 17, 1920 - October 19, 2010
The cutest moment(s) of the night were unfortunately NOT caught on camera. Noel made a friend! A 3-year old boy playing on the "castle" at the same time took a liking to her. While climbing up, the little boy would wait for her at the top, and hold his hand out to help her up onto the platform.
