Thursday, March 27, 2008

Goodbye Grandpa in Milan!

My grandfather, Virgil Leo McCollum,
passed away Good Friday at 3:30am.
He was surrounded by family in his final moments.

Chris and I took the kids home on Thursday to see him, as we found out they were expecting him to live only 2 weeks. We got there Thursday night at 7:30pm and he was crying out. I alerted the nurses and they and Chris thought he was having hiccups. They said that he wasnt able to be woken up for most of the day. We talked to him and told him how much we loved him. During the hour we were there he started breathing funny and was trying to cough, but was too weak to do so. I again alerted the nurses. They gave him some more pain meds, and said that he had been slowly progressing all day, but it was all normal. We left at 8:30. The family got a call from the Hospice at 10:30 saying that we needed to come up, as he wouldnt make it thru the night. Personally, I couldnt go, but most of the family went up. They held his hand, they told him it was ok. They told him how much they love him, and in his final moments they prayed.
Its so heartwarming to me that he was surrounded by so much love.

The visitation was Tuesday night, and the funeral was Wed. morning.
It was a very nice funeral and Military Honors at the cemetary.

I still can not believe he is gone, but I am truely greatful that he is in a better place and is no longer in any pain.

I miss you already Grandpa.

Shel

1 comment:

The Zookeeper said...

I am so sorry to hear about your grandpa. I had been checking your blog all week to see how he was doing. It is nice that everyone was able to be there for him and he is no longer in pain.