Saturday, January 16, 2010

When I Get Where I'm Going

So much has happened in the short few weeks from my last entry. As I mentioned before, my Pawpaw wasn't doing too well at Christmas. He had recently found out he had liver cancer and was actually released from the hospital on Christmas. He seemed to be in very good spirits...eating, laughing, taking pictures...but you could tell he was weak and tired. On New Years Day I went back to Port Neches to visit family. By that time, Pawpaw was in a lot of pain and they had given him Vicodin and Oxycontin to control it. He was surely not himself. I went home the next day after spending as much time as possible with him. I got a phone call early last week at work from Chase. "Lisa! Your mom just called and said that you need to get home. They don't think Pawpaw is going to make it through the night"!! I drove home as fast as I could, waited for Stef to meet me at my house and we all 3 drove to the hospital in Beaumont. We stayed by his side as much as we could. By the pure size of our family, we inadvertently took over most of the 4th floor of St. E's - and made the family room (and later the conference room) our very own home! He had initially gone to the hospital for low blood pressure and later contracted pneumonia. We all talked to him as he struggled to breathe. It was so awful to see our strong, independent Pawpaw like that. We made sure he knew we were there, that we were praying for him and that we loved him so much. My Pawpaw had a unique relationship with his grandchildren. There are 17 of us...and 22 great grandchildren. He made each and every one of us feel special. We loved going to visit him and Mawmaw because they always made time for us. No words can describe how we all feel about our Pawpaw.

Chase had to be at work in the afternoon of Saturday, January 10. We left the hospital about 10:30am and I received a phone call from my dad at 1pm. My Pawpaw had passed away. We were a very lucky family. Most of us had never lost any of our immediate family members. This was the first time any of us had felt the pain of losing a loved one. Even now, I can't believe the next time I go home, he won't be here.

My Pawpaw was not a talkative man. He had his chair he would sit in and watch tv - we always knew where to find him. Even though he didn't put himself in the spot light, we always did. I will never forget saying "hey Pawpaw" and his response, everytime, "hey Mawmaw"! I miss him so much.

His funeral was this past Wednesday and it was beautiful. He had so many friends and family attend and although it was very sad for all of us, I can only imagine what my Mawmaw is feeling. They had spent 63 years together and suddenly he's gone. I pray for her everyday - that God will give her the strength to get through this time and to know that we are always here for her. And I know that Pawpaw is watching over her and we all have the best guardian angel protecting us.


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