Grief Round 2

Welcome to the new world. A world impacted by a virus.

July 22nd I got news that my grandfather had died from COVID. We were very close when I was a kid. He retired to another country. A developing country. He didn't even get to be buried because anyone who passes of COVID there had to be cremated. We would chat every once in a while when he was able to make it out to an internet cafe. We'd catch up. The last thing he told me was how proud he was of me and my sister. I loved him a lot and have nothing but good memories of him.

2 days later my Grandmother (not the one who was married to him) was hospitalized due to COVID and delirium caused by other acute infections. The day I found out she was in the hospital I was getting ready to throw my stuff into my car and drive there, only to find out because she is a COVID patient she is not allowed any visitors. The hospital system had a rule that a COVID positive patient could not have any visitors until 20 days after their initial positive test. In the middle of her stay they changed it to 30 days due to the delta variant. We had to fight for an exception to be made for us to see her. (Us = myself & my dad) We finally got there that weekend. We took shifts being with her on Saturday and Sunday. In her delirious state she still recognized us. She asked for my sister by name. She called me by name. She told me the time on the clock on the wall. Sunday she was coughing a LOT and I kept making the nurse and anyone staff member who came into her room while I was there aware of it. But she was ordered to be NPO and so I couldn't give her anything to clear her throat or help her. I kept asking them to help her. I even expressed this to the doctor later that evening when my Dad was there but I was back at our hotel room. They ordered a chest x-ray. Which came back showing extreme progression of her COVID related pneumonia. There were 16 days between this chest x-ray and the one before it. 16 days that pneumonia was getting worse and no one was doing anything about it. By the time it was seen it was too late. She coded that Tuesday, was brought back with chest compressions but was then moved to ICU and intubated. She passed away that Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday 08.17.21: We got the news of her coding around 7am. We had came back to my house which was about 4 hours from the hospital. We had a meeting set up at 2pm with some of the hospital staff to discuss areas of concern regarding her care. We got back there around 12pm. Stopped to eat before our meeting and then went to the hospital a little earlier before our meeting. At 1:50am we were at the ICU to meet the staff to have our discussion but they encouraged us to see my Grandma first. It's a good thing we did because she was barely hanging on. Her vitals were very low on the monitor. Her body temperature was so low they had some sort of heating blanket on her that was radiating excessive heat. She was being kept alive by all of these machines and it looked so cruel and awful. But my sister was on her way to the airport. We were hoping she would get there before Grandma passed away. But Grandma could not hold on. I held her hand and cried. I told her how much we loved her. How much our family loved her. Her vitals started dropping more and the doctor came in and said that she was passing and asked permission to remove her tube - which my Dad gave. I called my sister and put the phone on speaker and put it next to Grandma's ear so that she could tell her goodbye. I removed her restraints from her wrists and held her hand. Dad held her hand. I just cried. Her vitals stopped registering on the monitor but I didn't want to let go. We got there at 1:50pm and she was gone by 2:40pm.

This would be the 2nd family member I would have to watch have a tube removed from them and them pass away. Yes I could choose to not be there in the room when they pass away - but it does not feel right to let someone die alone. Especially someone you care so deeply for. There are no words to explain the love I have for this Grandmother of mine.