I haven't posted anything in quite some time, but with the events of the last week, I really need to vent some place. Yesterday I had to face something I never expected to, and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. My grandfather, who we call Caca (my sister was trying to say Papa, and that's what stuck), died yesterday around 3:00pm of bone cancer. It was a very sudden death which we were not expecting.
He went on kidney dialysis about 8 months ago with no apparent reason for the kidney shutdown. He was doing great until probably 3 weeks ago when he started getting sharp pains in his back. He'd already broken a rib while coughing, so the doctors admitted him after a dialysis treatment.
After over a week in the hospital, an MRI showed cancerous tumors all over his spine, and they were affraid it had spread throughout his body, which is what had happened. It had metastasized to a state to where they couldn't do anything but give him chemo for the pain. Our options were to continue chemo and dialysis or go on Hospice and quit dialysis, which we were told meant death in a week or two.
His condition went down hill very fast. I saw him Monday afternoon, and he was walking with some help. Wednesday morning he couldn't walk, but could talk fine. Wednesday afternoon I stopped by and he could hardly talk. Thursday (yesterday), he was virtually non-responsive. My grandmother decided to take him off dialysis and have Hospice give him whatever they could to make him comfortable.
He passed away yesterday afternoon surrounded by family and friends. He was pieceful and free of pain, which is what we wanted. We each had our chance to go in one at a time and say our goodbyes, which was literally the most painful thing I've ever done. He was awake and could hear us, but he couldn't respond.
We had a closed casket viewing this evening and will have the funeral in Waco tomorrow morning (Saturday) at 11am. He's being buried in Cedar Bayou (Baytown, Texas) Monday at 2pm, so we're driving up there either Sunday night or Monday morning.
Caca left behind both of his parents, yes they're still alive and live a great life in Silsbee, Texas, two brothers, Robbie and Herbert, one sister, Kelly, one daughter, Donna (my mom), three grandkids, Robin, David, and me, and two great-grandkids, Hunter and Caroline.
Since I'm a web programmer by profession and hobby, the best tribute I can think of is a website dedicated to my grandfather. With the wealth of knowledge we've gained over the years, I'm sure it'll grow into an extensive geneological site on the Muckleroy family, which is why I registered muckleroyfamily.com (muckleroy.com, net, and org were taken). I know I won't sleep much tonight, so I'll start on it now. It can be reached at http://www.muckleroyfamily.com. If you're part of this family or know of any Muckleroys, have them visit here and put in their word. There's not much here yet, and I'll be moving it to its own server soon, but until then, here it is.
Loaded from old blog
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