My Poppaw went home...

Lindsay (my sis), Derrick (her boyfriend), Jamie and I made plans a month ago to go to Gatlinburg for a long weekend.  We decided to leave Wednesday night (when Lindsay got off work) and drive half way to Chattanooga, then drive on to Gatlinburg Thursday morning.  Wednesday morning we got a call that my grandfather (who has Alzheimers and has recently been put in a nursing home) wasn't doing good and that he probably wouldn't make but a few more days or so.  We were left with the decision as to whether or not we should go on or not... we wouldn't get a refund on our chalet, so we would lose a good bit of money.  My mom and dad both told us that we should just go on because Poppaw could make it through the weekend.  MY concern was leaving Noah with Mom when she's dealing with her dad dying but again, she reassured me that it would be ok, that my dad would help out and for us to just go on to Gatlinburg.  Because my grandparents live in Birmingham, we don't see them as often as we'd like.  We wanted to go visit him before we headed out of town, so Lindsay, Derrick and Jamie took off work early and we drove to B'ham on Wednesday to visit him at the nursing home.  Literally, my mouth dropped when I opened the door to his room.  He's lost at least 50 lbs. in the past 4 months and is basically skin and bones.  He was almost unrecognizable, definitely didn't look like my Poppaw.  It was pitiful and broke my heart.  We sat there with him, my grandmother, and my aunt for awhile and got to say our goodbyes to him.  Hospice was called on Wednesday but didn't get there until after we left.  Thursday we made it to Gatlinburg but mom told me around 3pm that Hospice said that he probably only had 24-48 hours left.  Then we all got a call a little after 7pm that he passed away at 7:05pm.  I will miss him very much but after seeing him on Wednesday, I KNOW he's in a much better place.  Poppaw was a wonderful Christian man so I have no doubt that he's at home with our Lord!  Anyways, after talking with  my mom and dad, they told us that they had everything under control and for us not to come home until Sunday.  However, we decided to come home a day early, on Saturday and then drove to Birmingham to join my family on Sunday.  The visitation and funeral was Monday.  Because of this, we had to cancel Noah's first appointment for his physical therapy.  My dad, Lindsay, Derrick, and Jamie all went home Monday evening, but my mom decided to stay for the week to spend time with Nonnie and her brother and sister.  Everyone seems to be doing okay, Nonnie has her moments where she seems sad but for the most part I think she's doing good.  Mom goes back home on Saturday, Carol goes back to work next week... so I think it will be great to help keep Nonnie's mind off of Poppaw that Noah and I will be here with her until the end of January for his therapy.  I plan on getting her out of the house on the days that Noah doesn't have therapy.  I wish it was spring time because my Nonnie LOVES gardening and would have really enjoyed getting out and going to parks and such. But it's not, so I guess I'll have to find indoor things for us to do!