Life With My Soldier

The past couple days have been trying on our family. My aunts (my dad's sisters) came in from Montana and Nevada early Tuesday morning. They went over to the hospital at around 11 a.m. to see my grandpa (their dad). My mom and I went over about an hour later. He slept the whole time we were there, from noon until 2. We tried and tried, but he just wouldn't wake up. It was so sad to watch him, because he was twitching really bad while he was sleeping. My mom and I left, but my aunts stayed. They stayed there all day until about 10 that night. My mom and dad went back over there at about 6 and stayed till 9. He was up for a while during the evening with them there and they said he drank a little water and some Pepsi. They also got him to eat a little. The night nurse told them all that they didn't think he would walk out of the hospital he was so bad. He's severely dehydrated and putting him on an IV at this point would be like keeping him alive artificially. So, today my aunts got up and went over at about the same time. I jumped in the shower and my mom, dad and I were going to run over there. By the time I got out of the shower my aunts were back and packing up their stuff. They said the hospital released Grandpa and they were taking him back home to Kansas to the nursing home. They said that they told them at the hospital that he doesn't have long at all and they thought it would be better if he was around family and friends so they were releasing him. They didn't give it a time, but I know if he doesn't get some fluids in him it won't be too long. It is so sad how fast he has went downhill. Just last week he was running around the run (literally he was running, he loves to run) and now he can't even walk by himself. This guy has always been the strongest, most healthy, guy I have ever known. Just a couple years ago he got his physical and the Dr told him that he was in as good of shape as a 20 year old. Now, he's so bad that he can't feed himself? Where's the logic in that? What kind of end is that for a man who worked his butt off everyday until he was 75 years old? He's went from mostly independent to totally dependent in a matter of a couple of weeks?
He served in Korea, he worked on a ton of farms, he used to rodeo (he was still telling me those stories last week, saying he wanted to start doing it again, but they wouldn't let him because he was too old), he worked on oilrigs, in coal mines, in construction (up until he retired he was building roads), and this is what it boils down to? After writing that it helps me see that he's lived a full life and has had lots of fun in the process. In the past couple years he really started saying "I've had a lot of fun in my life" a lot. I know that God has His reasons, and that we don't always understand them. I'm just glad that Grandpa is in His hands, it's all up to Him now. There are two ironic things about this situation: 1. My sister is the exact same age as I was when my grandma passed away 7 years ago and 2. This is the second time that Eric's been gone when we've had a health issue in the family. The first time he was at PLDC and my dad got really sick with his liver. He was in liver failure and there was nothing the drs could do about it, and Eric couldn't come home then either. Now this one with Grandpa. He told me when I talked to him tonight to tell my family to stop it, lol. Maybe he shouldn't leave, lol. Man, I would love him to be here with me right now, that would be so nice to have the support he gives me. That's ok though, he'll be home in a couple months. God help our family pull through this, and if it's Grandpa's time let him go be at home with the love of his life, my Grandma Shirley.