So ... my parents and grandmother aren't coming right out and saying it but I'm pretty sure my grandmother is dying. She has advanced emphysema, pneumonia, bronchitis, a bad valve in her heart and vein problems leading up to her brain. It sounds like a bad combo, which she is still able to pull through the worst of it (the pneumonia) but they don't think it is likely.

I went to visit her today and she was definitely still with it, talking to me and everything. Her breathing was labored but otherwise she was OK. It's good that I actually got to visit her while she was conscious ... my grandfather was virtually brain dead when I went to visit him before he passed last year. Either way ... it stinks.

I suspect this is all a part of getting older. You begin to lose loved ones -- and you are supposed to gain new ones though I haven't had that stage yet.

Either way ... just not a good couple years by the looks of it ...