Mortality

 

Dear Zach, I have to say these past two months, have been a whirlwind of immense stress for our family. Granddad had been suffering from what we thought was a pinched nerve, but after three ER visits, it was discovered he was in heart failure. The cardiologist said that surgery was not an option, given his age and that he would not survive it. We were told he could do nothing and perhaps survive for the next few weeks, or they would try putting stents in the arteries around his heart and that would buy him a few years. Needless to say he chose the latter, but we were all terrified given there was a chance he would not survive the procedure. While making his choice he claimed I don’t want to leave your mum. Now that your uncle Gregg lives in Portugal, it was on me to sort everything for Nana and granddad. Fortunately, he did survive the procedure, but is now on quite a few medications to maintain the status quo. He now has to weigh himself as well as take his blood pressure and pulse every morning so that I can report those numbers to his cardiologist for monitoring. So far so good but it has been quite the struggle and since we were slated to go and visit uncle Gregg as well as hop over to Germany for Oktoberfest, we weren’t sure we could go ahead with the travel plans. Nana and granddad insisted we go so we did. I was able to speak with them every day of our trip and they did really well. For now we just keep up the medication and  the diet and the heart monitoring to see what happens. It is times like these more than ever that I wish and pray that you would get in touch, at the very least with them. Granddad is 90 and Nana will be 90 come April. They don’t have a lot of time left and they ask about you every time I see or talk to them. Their hearts are broken and it would mean everything to see their youngest grandson just one more time. I hope you’re able to consider this, if not for me but for them. I love you Zachary so much as do they. Take care, love,

Mom

xox