My grandmother passed away last night. She had COPD stemming from a previous bronchitis infection that went untreated and scarred her lungs. That made it hard for her to breathe. Last Tuesday, she was having such a hard time catching her breath that my grandfather wanted to call 911, but my grandmother is terrified of hospitals and said if he did that, she'd hate him forever. They eventually managed to get her breathing under control at home, but it looked bad. She called my mom and said she wanted "the kids" (meaning my mom, my aunt, and my uncle) to come that weekend because "it may be the last time". She ended up in the hospital before they got there because she collapsed several times and my grandfather just couldn't handle it. She was, apparently, in good enough spirits to joke with the EMTs though. When they got to the hospital, it turned out she had pneumonia and congestive heart failure, and her oxygen levels were way down. They gave her antibiotics for the pneumonia and upped her oxygen levels so that by the time my parents left on Sunday, things were looking up.
Monday night, I went out and got a "get well soon" card for her, wrote a little note in it, then sealed it and stamped it. I was going to put it in the mailbox on my way to work the next morning. My mom called me that night and said grandma was in good spirits, enough to actually send my grandpa home because she could feed herself.
My mom called me at 7am yesterday. Grandma's blood pressure bottomed out and despite their best efforts, the doctors couldn't fix it and she stopped breathing on her own. She was already on a ventilator, but had signed a DNR so my grandfather requested they leave her on the ventilator until the family could get there. I had to stay home to take care of stuff (reserving hotels, making phone calls, cancelling appointments). I called my dad a few hours later for an update and he filled me in, and told me there wouldn't be any kind of funeral service. I asked him to say goodbye for me and my brother, and tell her we love her. I knew he would and he'd make it sound really good too.
Mom called me around midnight last night and said grandma passed away around 11:45pm. They gave her morphine before they took her off the ventilator so I hope it was painless for her.
Today is my fiance's birthday and I'm trying to put on my happy face but it's been hard. He's really understanding though. I've ruined at least three or four shirts with tears, mascara and snot over the last week.
Anyway, FI and I have been really isolated throughout all of this, so I had to get it all off my chest. I'm sorry I had to unload it to anyone who reads this thread. Thank you all for your support. It really means more than I can say.