Would you like some cornflakes?

The last 24 hours have been surreal.

Yesterday evening my grandpa (dad's dad) began vomiting and coughing blood. He lost several units and then went into cardiac arrest. It took the doctors 10 minutes of CPR before his heart began to beat on its own. They had to hook him up to a ventilator so that he could get oxygen. My mom spent all night with him. By herself all the while he having seizures.

This morning the doctors determined that his brain stem was swollen and he had absolutely no brain activity. He had gone far too long without the blood he needed. My grandma decided that he needed to be taken off life support. My mom was there with my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Dave, and Uncle Rick when the nurses took out his breathing tubes a bit after 5:00. (She said she felt like she should represent my dad...) His oxygen dropped and his heart beat lowered to 20 beats a minute. My mom said she couldn't bear watching it all so she grabbed his hand and then... his heart rate began to eventually rise to 74 beats. When she left his heart rate and oxygen level were strong. Weird. It's strange how the human body can kick into overdrive... The doctors say he could pass anytime...

When I got the call that he was being taken off of life support I leaned against the counter and stared at the second hand ticking the time away. Just waiting. I can't tell you how I felt. Some things just can't be explained. You simply must experience them to understand. It was strange to think that with every tick of the clock his life could gradually be dwindling away. When taking those seconds into consideration, life didn't seem so limitless anymore.