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I just know if it were my son, I would want to say goodbye.
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What is your uncle's wishes? Although if he says don't ell and he dies then the guilt mom will have falls on you and she will question why?
For him to just disappear one day in death will be hard on her. She will regret not seeing him these past years and she shouldn't have to feel that way.

yes it will be hard. Start with calls about him going to a dr, getting a test result, slowly go through the steps that should have been done long ago, break it to her in steps and gently as if you all are just finding out.

What is her cognitive level? will she forget and keep asking or will she understand? Maybe uncle can write he a booklet of his memories and value of his mom so she will have that in her time of loss.
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I think that the right thing to do is to tell her the truth. She will love to be with
him during this time. It will be more devastating to her if she somehow finds
out about her son and that she was denied to be with him during his final
days. And she will never forgive any of you.
My mother was lied about her younger brother (whom she had raised) when
he got cancer and died. Never told her of his sickness or her death. So she
was wondering why was he not contacting her anymore. That did more
damage to her that telling her the truth. She was living with one of my sisters
at the time far fro me. So I did not find out until it was too late. They probably
did not want me to let her know. She never got over what she though it was
his rejection of her.
She felt abandoned by someone who has always been so close to her.
I am 87 years old and as much as it would affect me something happening
to any of my sons, It will kill me not to be able to be at their side during their
sickness and/or death. My older son had cancer and I was told. Went to
be with him (different state) during his hospital stay. Luckily he survived
but I will never had survived if, I and him , were denied the opportunity to
be together.
And have you thought about the feelings of her son not having his mother
with him at this time?
Please rethink your decision. If you have children of your own think if you will
like to be deprived to be with him/her (or deprivng them of your company)
at their final hour?
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I assume that your grandmother does not have Alzheimers ( that she does not know what is going on or who you are) Some of the people here seem to assume
that because she is 86 she is not competent. I am 87, my mind is working OK
I still drive, do a lot of reading, go shopping , get into political group discussions
etc. She maybe not be able to do some things but her mind can still be working
and be able to understand what is going on. Do not go by a person's age to
determine her ability to understand and to decide how she should feel.
Some young people are too self-centered to be able to care about the feelings and needs of others. They may not care.
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You don't mention whether your grandmother has dementia or not.  We had a similar situation.  My niece overdosed and we chose not to tell mom about it.  Our family was not happy about that decision, but they are not the caretakers of mom so they wouldn't be dealing with the fallout.  Then several more years passed and my grandma died (my moms mom)  I did not feel we could keep that from her.  We told mom that her mom had passed and I drove her to the funeral out of state.  Mom was very non-reactive.  I'm not sure she understood what was really going on.

If it were me, I would talk with your uncle and convince him to tell his mom so that they both have the opportunity to say goodbye.  If she is mentally with it, she will need that closure.  If she is mentally declined like my mom was, she may not have much reaction or it may be short lived.
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There is no right or wrong answer here. It will be devastating for her to lose her child. My first thought was not to tell her because it would make her suffer longer and she'd want to go to him and would see him very sick. Sometimes those images don't leave your mind. My husband said that when his father died they didn't tell his mother until she asked why he hadn't come to visit her (she was in the hospital). They told her then, and she passed away a few months later.
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