Hell on Earth

Well to say that these past few weeks have been trying would be an understatement. Three weeks ago I went down to visit family and ended up helping my grandfather mulch his garden. He got tired more quickly than usual, but my grandmother told me that his diabetes had been acting up a lot more as of recently so I put it all down to a combination of that and simply the fact that he's getting older. When I talked to him on the phone on the following Monday he sounded absolutely exhausted, but said he'd had a hard, hot day. A week later I got a call from my grandmother asking me to come down for lunch on Sunday because my mom was going to be up there visiting. Her voice sounded a little strained on the phone, but since I hadn't heard anything, I figured she was just tired.

When I showed up for lunch, I was told that my grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer that Tuesday and he was rapidly deteriorating. This all happened less than a week after we had been happily working on his garden which is absolute favorite hobby. Yesterday I was informed that the cancer is terminal and inoperable. He is going to start chemo on Tuesday. If successful the doctors give him 6 months to 2 years. If it is not they give him 3 to 6 months.

It probably goes without saying that I am going to be even more scarce for a while than I have been. Most of my weekends are going to be spent helping out with maintenance on my grandparents' property. Maintaining the garden, mowing the lawn, and just generally doing whatever needs to be done to help out. This whole thing is taking a major toll on my grandmother as well. She's not sleeping and hardly eating herself, so she's going to need all the help she can get to get through it. This is doubly hard on me after having lost my grandmother on the other side of the family to cancer barely a year ago.

I just wanted to let you guys know why I'm not around much and why I might seem a little distracted if you do see me online.

Nykk