I will never see my Grandfather again

[so_far_away]

I know that the title is bad, and it means exactly what it says.

My grandfather has cancer. It started out with a tumour behind his ear, which he had cut off, which caused his hearing to decline in that ear, which happened to be his good ear, so he couldn't hear very well after that, which was a shock.

My entire family hoped that that was the end of it, but with these things, it rarely is.

More tumours where found in his torso. I don't quite know exactly where, because no one could really tell us. That was the start, and after radiation therapy and numerous meetings with doctors and surgeons, we knew that it had literally spread throughout his torso. In his stomach, oesophagus, bowels. We were hopeful that surgery could help, but in the end, there was nothing that could be done.

Now he has at minimal amount of time left, around 2 months at the most, however, more likely to be a lot less time then that. Probably weeks, maybe days. I don't know.

We found out about the ear cancer in November 2011, which was hard, but we didn't think it was life threatening. I applied to go on Rotary Youth Exchange for an entire year, early in 2012, thinking that nothing was wrong. Later on in the year, once I basically couldn't pull out of my exchange, we found out about the other tumours. It progressed until he was basically in hospital a lot of the time.

I wasn't sure that I wanted to go on exchange, but my grandfather basically told me to go on exchange, and to not to worry about him. So I left in January 2013, knowing that my grandfather was sick, but not with months to live.

Now I have been on exchange for 3 months and 26 days, and have recently found out about the basic time limit. I still have roughly 8 or so months left.

My insurance won't cover me to go back, and even if I do, it might be to late. I'm not quite sure that I want to go back, because it will ruin my entire exchange year.

My grandfather has no Skype, and I have called him on the land-line, but it's hard. I will never see him in person again, and I might never see his face again.

I have accepted that, I know that it is a possibility.

I just wanted to get it off my chest, just so I can clear my head.

[gambitjr]

Sorry to hear the prognosis. Sometimes we have to do what our heart says to do even though our brain tells us different. The only advise I could share here is don't put yourself in any position to have to live with regrets. It is a horrible thing that after the fact we sit there and say, "I should have, I should have, If I only". Hope this makes some sense to you.

God Bless,

Al

[Jasper123]

I hope this post is not too late, do you have a family member with a smartphone, a cousin or something, then maybe they can help you Skype, where there's a will there's a way.