Why Is Grandma So Important To Me?

You never truly know how much someone means to you until they are gone. All of the hot summer days spent at her house, the home cooked meals for lunch, the daily routine of watching game shows on GSN, the hours and hours of playing monopoly, and working the concession stand at Evans Park for the summer are now just cherished memories that I have with my grandma.

It was near the end of winter 2005, when my grand-aunt suddenly fell ill. In a short period of time her illness worsened and the doctors informed my family, my grand-aunt only had a couple of months to live. The news was devastating to my family as we watched a vivacious, independent, and outspoken woman, who enjoyed shopping, reading mystery novels and spending time with family become very weak and confined to her bed. Instead of placing my grand-aunt in a hospice facility, my family and I, with the assistance of a hospice nurse cared for my grand-aunt in her home until her passing.

My grandfather's dementia had gotten worse with age. He had developed a habit of walking out of the house randomly. They lived alone in their apartment in Pakistan. One day he walked out the same way and did not return for a long time. We were later informed that he had tripped on his way and broke his hip. After surgery my grandmother called me, I was living abroad at that time, and said, "I don't think he will recover, he is in a lot of pain" I assured her otherwise. She said, "I can't live without him. I don’t want him to die." The helplessness and grief in her voice was agonizing. She would often call and cry, it became tough overtime as I was abroad and not fully aware of his progress. I am her oldest grandchild, and she treats me like

My grandma was my superhero with her genial personality and her ability to give you her full, undivided attention in order to listen to whatever you had to say. It was always my dream to be able to share both my high school and college graduation with both my parents and grandma and being able to later pay them all back for all their sacrifices. Towards the beginning of my sixth-grade year my grandma became unexpectedly sick and as months passed her health slowly began to deteriorate until she fell into a vegetative comatose for the next four years. My grandma’s sudden illness came as an unexpected surprise which leads to my mom and her family having to take turns in order to care for my grandma throughout her extensive hospital visits and inhome medical care. Throughout those four years both my emotional and mental health took a hit as I tried my best to learn how to deal with her sudden illness and the fact that my mom was rarely home because she was either in the hospital or at my grandma’s house in order to help take care of

I answered. “Mija, where’s your grandma? Go get her now! It’s important.” that’s all I remembered from that phone call, but the moment I handed my grandmother the phone I saw her bright smile turn into the world’s most darkest frown. Out of the speck of my eyes, I saw small tears running down her face, with big worries she ran quickly to get a sweater and her purse.

My grandma had survived a hard life, and yet managed to raise four responsible, well-educated, and successful children. All this she did while working as a respected psychiatric nurse and a state mental health board member. Although she had had and was still overcoming trials in life, I always knew she would be there and cared about me and my life. As my brother and I grew older and were unable to visit my grandparents as often as we

My Great Grandma was my best friend, I’m not sure how else to describe our relationship. She was someone I looked up to and hoped to be like when I grew up. She taught me a lot about life and how crazy it can be. Whenever I have tough days I replay her encouraging words in my head. Towards the end of February of 2013, my family received a call from my Great Grandpa to inform us that my Great Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We found this out only a few weeks before we were supposed to head down to Arizona to visit them for spring break. Our family didn’t know how severe it was going down there, we came to find out she was genuinely unhealthy. She didn’t want to leave her room, she didn’t want to complete simple tasks, she would tell

After many chemotherapy sessions, it became clear that the chemo was truly killing her! Of course, when you are in a situation where your life is involved you begin to do any an everything that comes to mind to help the big problem. With that being said, granny flew to Houston Texas to the cancer center to begin a new type of chemo. Once she arrived in Houston she decided she no longer wanted to go through with chemo, she told us she believed that we needed to put it in the Lords hands and let him handle

Three weeks prior to the call, my grandma had just been diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer on top of her already hard diagnosis of MS, otherwise known as multiple sclerosis. She was on so many pills for her MS that barely even helped het that it had taken a bit of convincing to even get her to agree to fight the cancer. She told everyone in the family that she was tired and it didn't help matters that she refused to

I was eight when it all happened. I knew that my grandma was ill but being a clueless little kid i never quite understood the severity of her sickness. I remember when my dad first told me that my grandma was sick, i didn't think anything of it i honestly thought he just meant that she came down with the flu. We’d visit frequently, and every time i'd always tell my dad i didn't know what he was talking about because she seemed completely fine. Her face still brightened with a the happiest glow when she saw me and my sisters. She still loved to teach us how to bake, even though by the end of it her once neat and tidy kitchen, was now a total mess. She didn't care though because our

It all started in …… when the chemo stopped working and when surgeries were a normal thing for Grandma Botbyl. Being a thirteen year old and getting told that your grandma has cancer again for the second time was a rough start my seventh grade year. Being diagnosed and then misdiagnosed with cancer was something I couldn’t trust anymore, and I couldn’t trust the doctors at this point. Moving from doctor to doctor, trying to find an answer to all of these problems that are being caused was hard. Cancer is moving from place to place, left and right, until …. came around. Growing up with both of my grandmas struggling and dealing with cancer, I got an idea of how the long journey would go. After the latest surgery to remove all the cancer from Grandma Botbyl, I got to witness the loving family in the crowded hospital room all together feeling God’s presence able to call Grandma Botbyl ‘cancer free.’

It was difficult to see her in this way. I saw how small she had gotten, swallowed by the stark, white sheets. Even as I struggled with the sight of what was visible about my Grandma, I could sense she was at peace. Cautiously, I approached her bed and she looked up at me with a smile on her face. Grandma squeezed my hand and thanked me. A week later, I attended her funeral. Throughout the funeral process, I did not cry. I was handling death in a way I understood and could handle. A week later, everything finally sunk in and I sobbed with grief. I tried my best to adjust to school again as I battled with my own

Mom went over first, thanking God that my father had the forethought to create an emergency fund we could use to buy last minute tickets. Dad and I didn’t plan to go until Saturday, when the news of grandma passing pushing us to go and support mom. In truth, I felt almost indifferent to my grandma’s death; which might seem shallow, but I never knew got the opportunity to know her. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease before I was born, and when she first met me, she was in a stage with sudden mood swings. My mother tells me that she went from calmly talking to my Aunt to angrily grabbing my baby carrier from my mom and trying to walk out the front door while mom and Aunt Mary tried desperately to calm her down. I never knew my grandmother when she would be able to remember my name and not mistake

The phone rang again. Hoping for good news, yet again I was disappointed. It was my mom; she said she was following our pastor to my grandmother’s house. She said, “We are going to tell Grandma he’s gone”. I knew this would be one of the hardest things to do; it was her birthday after all. The three of us jumped in the car. We drove up to Grandma’s house. I remember Tosha running into the house and falling into her arms. Everyone tried to pull themselves together, but how could this be? This had never happened to us before. The wheel was broken.

Then, out of nowhere, he started coughing roughly. I waited a few moments, for his coughs to die down. However, they only got worse. “Grandpa?” I asked, not quite sure he heard me. “Are you okay?” I said, louder this time. BANG! I heard the sound of a body dropping, and the line went dead. “GRANDPA!!” I screamed, panic building up in my body.