I agree with small mans. We lost my dad 5 years ago to congestive heart failure, and his last year was divided between the hospital, a nursing home, and a hospital bed in my living room. As hard as it was to see his daily struggle, I cherish every minute I had with him ( even the yucky stuff) and wouldn't trade any of it for any amount of money. ( I can just hear my dad saying "are you crazy? Take the money!" at that last sentence.)
But it gave all of us a chance to hear all of his stories (he was a wonderful storyteller about our family history) many times - all it took was "do you remember..." to get him rolling. And even though we were all coming to terms with reality there was a lot of laughter and the tears were shed in private. And when I look back, I get a lot of comfort from knowing that I did everything I could to keep him comfortable and happy that year.
I hope you will have many more years with your Nana, but that you will remember every day that there is nothing more important in life than your loved ones. It's so easy to forget that when we're so busy with work or school or hobbies. Big hugs to you, Nana, and Mom. |