I'm sitting beside my grandmother. She is laying in her bed, breathing raggedly and laboriously, eyes open but unresponsive. She's probably mostly unconscious. She is 94 years old, and was diagnosed with cancer half a decade ago, but until just a few months ago the tumor didn't appear to do much. She had been losing weight rapidly over the last year or so and lost her appetite, but other than that she seemed healthy. Now in the last few months the tumor suddenly metastasized and she seems to be at the end of her life. She is my last living grandparent, but the first that I have been with during the end. Just a week ago she could still mostly move around under her own power, and was capable of speech even if it was slurred and she was often confused. It is terrifying and sad to watch someone you have known your whole life gradually slip away.
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