[T-Will]

Jason, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. My grandparents on my dad's side are still alive, but are in their 90's, so I know they could go anytime so I try to cherish the time I do get to spend with them.

[T-Will]

Jason, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. My grandparents on my dad's side are still alive, but are in their 90's, so I know they could go anytime so I try to cherish the time I do get to spend with them.

[Steven Cedrone]

Jason,

Your family is in our prayers. So sorry for your loss...

Steve

[martin_ayton]

Jason, I'll add my prayers to all the others offered. I know you believe in Heaven, so your Grandfather is not just in your past: He's in your future too.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter

Was he keeping his illness a secret or was he completely unaware of his condition? If he never knew, that scares me and probably everyone else here.

Yes and no. He was jaundiced quite badly, so he must have known something was up, but he didn't go into the hospital on his own - a much younger neighbour of his took him into the hospital and while there they discovered he had kidney stones. When they went in to get the stones out, they discovered growths on his kidney that looked cancerous. They did a few more tests and thought he had cancer of the kidneys and liver, but they had to wait until the following week for the only Oncologist to get back from the long weekend vacation (there are never enough specialists!). He didn't tell his wife anything was wrong, and my parents didn't even know he was in the hospital until they randomly came up for a visit on the tail-end of their vacation. Five days later he passed away.

Be honest with your friends and family...they're the ones that care about you.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by asiaexpat

I am wondering if your experience of seeing death so closely has altered your thoughts about death?

It hasn't altered my thoughts about death, at least not in a way I can pinpoint yet, but it has certainly made death more "real" to me. I'm 32 years old and have been fortunate to have lived a life relatively un-touched by death. My other grandfather passed away a few years back (also from cancer), but other than that I've never lost a friend or family member, ever.

As a Christian I believe that death is just a stage of moving on, not a final stage.

[billyevil]

I haven't been to the site in a long time, and just read this thread. I'm very sorry you lost your grandfather. I live a life much like yours, at 33 I've been lucky. A few years back my brother got churg strauss syndrome and I thought I would lose him. He recovered, but ever since I've been very different. Something about really understanding how fragile it all is and how it can all go away in a single breath makes me so much more appreciative of the times I spend with those that I love. It's all just too short and too painful when we lose people. Again, I'm sorry.