Then again…maybe we didn’t miss them so much as just accepted what we were told.
We had no reason not to.
We didn’t expect Grams to keep secrets.
Curve the truth.
Ironically enough, it’s not like I wasn’t doing the same with the person I love.
She didn’t want her boys to worry.
I didn’t want my brother to hate me.
And now he does.
Although, I’m not entirely sure if it’s because I kept a secret or because I finally put myself,my choices,before his.
Jukes sucks in a deep breath from his open mouth prior to lightly humming a tune, a familiar action that puts a soft smile on my face.
Yes.
The guy even makes music in his sleep.
Our first night together?
He waspassed outcold,on key humming “Baby, I Need Your Loving”.
Our first sleepover at his place?
“Dream A Little Dream Of Me”.
Now?
“Hello, Goodbye”.
He literally, lives, breathes, and dreams music.
Music and hockey.
And coffee.
Something I could absolutely use a bit of right now.
Post carefully sliding off the couch in Grams’s hospital room, I adjust the dark, coffee bean themed throw blanket – that I gave him for road trips to remind him of home – that’s barely covering his chest and plant a gentle kiss in the middle of his forehead.
This is the longest he’s slept since we arrived yesterday.
I offered to let him go to Grams’s with Bronny and Dubs to get someactualrest in anactualbed for a few hours, but he refused.
He didn’t want to let her out of his sight, clearly worried that if he did, he would never see her again, despite the doctor explaining –more than once– that her death was highly unlikely to be that sudden.
Doctor Goodliffe, her pulmonologist, came by around lunch to discuss her diagnosis, what put her in the hospital, and what we could expect in the coming weeks with her now entering the end stage. While we would’ve all happily volunteered to give the apple with basic tasks such as getting dressed, helping her to the bathroom, making her something to eat – limited mobility already having begun – Grams pre-arranged for all those things with Yellow Heart Road, the hospice care company she contracted earlier in the year when her instincts told her to. Not only will there be around the clock care for those needs but the medical ones too.
Calming her temperament when confusion or delirium sets in.
Tending to her decrease in waste output – along with the discomfort that will cause.
Aiding her in receiving oxygen.
