My last few days with grandpa as written by Effy  

First of all let me introduce myself,My name is effy and at the time of this incident,I was 35 years old.I had been working  as a hospice nurse for many years and was sure of having control of my emotions and could remain professional,when dealing with the issue of death.Yet this was a time of education for myself and those around me. 

in the last few months of his life,he was burdened with cancer of the kidneys.i was hired to be his caregiver and medical transport too his chemotherapy and dialysis,which were very hard on him physically,so i would see to it,that after one of these sort of days that i would take him to do one of his favorite activities,and that was fishing.my grandfather had worked in the mills most of his life and was a big strapping man as i was growing up,but in these last month he had become very thin and tired,a mere shell of the person i remembered.

on our last trip over the mountain,to get his chemo,i decided that on the way back,we would stop off at fish lake,so he could relax and enjoy himself for awhile with his fishing pole in hand,we walked down to the dock.on our way we passed what i would call a couple of rough looking men,i remember grandpa squeezing my hand and me having a flashback into my childhood of us walking to the river to fish,and how i felt so safe to be with him.then the realization,that at this moment in time,he no longer was the protector and the strong.now i was.i squeezed his hand to reassure him it was alright and got him settled fishing.

after grandpa had cast out his line,i walked back to the car to have a quick smoke and to compose myself.while i was standing there fighting back the tears,one of the men approached me and asked if i was alright.suddenly i found myself telling this stranger everything,such as how the Dr.said that there would be no more dialysis and that we had a very limited amount of time.i remember the stranger smiled and told me,that if grandpa really wanted to experience fishlake,he needed to be in a boat.i told him that grandpa was very weak and would have to be lifted in and out of it,and that i just wasn’t strong enough.the man told me that him and his friend were more than capable of doing that and would be very happy to do so.