Think of it this way

My grandfather has been in the hospital for the past five days and is very ill. He's 87 years old and has smoked for years. A week ago he was sick with a cold and it turned into pneumonia. He was having a hard time breathing so they admitted him into the hospital. The doctor told my mother that he has a fifty-fifty chance of making it through this illness. I've been to see him twice and each time I break into sobs looking at his frail body hooked up to all the tubes and needing a mask to breathe. And because he hasn't been getting enough oxygen he has periods of being delusional which is so heartbreaking to see. My Mom has had to be at his bedside 24 hours a day for the past five days because her presence is the only thing that calms him. Her Birthday was yesterday and she had to spend the entire day at the hospital with him. People keep telling us that if he doesn't make it through this illness then it was his time "to go". As if that concept is supposed to bring people some sort of comfort. It doesn't.