Uh Oh

Rudy woke us up around 3 am because he was burning up with a fever. He was so sad. He wouldn't even take any medicine, not even the chewable tylenol. So we made him a bottle of chocolate milk and put some tylenol in it. He only drank a part of it and he has a fever again. So we got him some strawberry milk (you know, anything yummy enough to make him want to gobble it down) and mixed in some berry flavored motrin. He isn't drinking it though. He is playing a little bit, but mostly snuggling with me and stealing my toast, so at least he will eat. I'm just nervous that it will turn out to be RSV. Ever since we all got it (almost 2 years ago) and Maeve was in the PICU and my grandpa and grandma were both hospitalized with it (and my grandma subsequently died from a hospital acquired case of MRSA while she was there) I've been terrified that every cough is the beginnings of RSV. My grandma at one point during her hospital stay had 7 different types of infections and bounced back from everything but the mrsa. It just showed to me that sometimes the elderly (and young) can fight and fight and have great care but sometimes no matter what you do, it won't be enough.
Now we have the holiday season approaching and my grandpa is in congestive heart failure and is in and out of the hospital and we will be getting together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are all worried about spreading even a simple cold to him, but what good is extending ones life if you can't be around the ones you love and who love you?
My thoughts on life and death have changed drstically. No longer am I solely concerned with how I'm living affects any after death rewards, I'm also concerned about how I live my life because of how it affects myself and those around me while I'm here. My grandfather has lived an amazing life. From being born into a super wealthy family with mob connections, to his father losing almost everything when the market crashed, to working on wallstreet when he was 16 with a briefcase handcuffed to him with who knows how much money in it as he would walk to the bank to make deposits. Then after that he joined the merchant marines. He was on ship when the US joined WWII. A man was shot in the stomach and my grandfather had to hold the guys stomach together while the man's wife looked on (this was when merchant marines could transport passengers). Later he fought in Korea. He's walked through minefields and he's seen his ship hit by a rogue wave. Later he and my grandma had 2 little girls. He came home and started working for Dow Chemicals. And when I was born and there was a lot of crazy things happening in my life, he became my number one protector. He taught me how to shoot a rifle (though I know I would be a lousy shot now) and he bought me a slurpie every time I came to visit. To this day I can't see a slurpie machine without smiling :) point being, he has lived a wonderful life. He is a leader, he is kind, and he is strict. He knows there is a time for playing and a time for working, and he expects you to know that as well. I am a better person for having him in my life. I would wager anyone who knows him would say the same. And to me that is what is important. Loving and helping other people. He lived his life by what he could do to help his family and others now, rather than what should he do to set himself up in the hereafter. He is an example of true selflessness. I will be forever grateful for the love he has shown me.