My Dad is dying. I know - we all are - but in his his case, it's happening sooner rather than later. It has been hard; his illness has taken him down very quickly and has been all but impossible to diagnose, so after six months he still has had only symptoms treated, not the actual illness. He is depressed and losing hope. I think he may be hoping to die even; he was a normal active man six months ago and is now completely dependent on others. He has lost all feeling in his hands and feet, so he cannot walk or feed himself. Tough to take for an independent person...

   For me, another difficult side of this is my disappointment in some of the actions (or non-actions) of my family members. I hate feeling judgemental and I hate feeling disappointed. I know everyone deals with things differently, but the problem with the denial approach is that it doesn't help those who are trying to take care of the logistics of the situation. And there are many. I sometimes feel guilty that I may not be doing enough; it's possible I'm even a little disappointed with myself. At the end of the day, I guess we can all only do what we can do. Others can lend a hand but cannot live our lives for us or take away the reality of our situations 24/7.

   They say "you come into this world alone and you leave alone." That's kinda sad.