atotalblamblam: (l)
atotalblamblam ([personal profile] atotalblamblam) wrote2007-02-08 06:42 pm

Grandpa

My grandpa just found out he has cancer. It's looking like it's terminal. It's a tumor that's several inches in size in his lung. He's smoked since he was 11. He already has emphysema, which means that operating isn't an option, because he wouldn't have enough healthy lung tissue left. I don't know why I'm telling all this. It sounds so clinical. I just felt compelled to go and write on my lj.

Grandpa is so, so strong. He's the grizzly bear. Quiet, peaceful grizzly bear. I love him so much and he's had such a hard life and he never complains. He's just strong. His last name is Steele, he couldn't have a more fitting name. He has such icy, blue eyes. But he's scared. My grandparents raised me since I was very little. They fought so hard to become my legal guardians. Grandpa gives me a free bus pass every month. Grandpa is the only one is this house who is working right now. My two aunts and I are all trying to find jobs, Grandma has been retired for a decade. Grandpa retired a long time ago, but then started working again because they needed the money. He's in so much pain all the time, whenever I get up during the night he's always sitting out in the living room, awake.

I've never had anyone I was close to die before. Dogs that I loved, but never people. It's hard to know how to act, and I don't want to cry because I don't want the focus on me, and Grandpa himself is so strong. I don't know what's going to happen to everybody, especially Grandma. They've been married for 40 years now and they seem to just grow closer as time goes by.

What would it feel like to know that you're going to die?

[identity profile] rantingranger.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, and in reviewing some of your friends-only posts, I noticed that, like me, you tend to avoid driving. For a rural area, Humboldt County has decent bus systems; within Arcata, students ride free, and the county runs bus lines fairly regularly between College of the Redwoods (south of Eureka) and McKinleyville (north of Arcata). Many people choose to bike, but it sure feels good to step onto a warm bus when it rains for weeks on end!

[identity profile] atotalblamblam.livejournal.com 2007-03-02 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
I really appreciate all the info about Humboldt! It's good to hear about it from a student who actually goes there.