SpouseKitty's aunt is dying.

My end of it is pretty simple - I had to bail out of work early to meeting Kitten when she returned from school. From there, it's been fairly hectic-normal: make dinner for her, try to explain this sort of thing to her, explain why we're not going to be with her grand-aunt.

That's the other half. SpouseKitty's having more pains, serious pains. She has a condition called gastropresis(sp?) where the nerve to the stomach that controls food uptake / acid production is damaged. And her back has been hurting so badly she's willing to suffer the day of stupor, followed by the day of dizziness and nausea, followed by the day of splitting headache from the pain meds.

My mother-in-law has surgery next week, else she'd be down her my father-in-law to accompany his sister to the crossing. With my FiL in California to help his brother with the aftermath (emotional and logistical) of the funeral, my MiL will likely be staying with us.

One of these days, I should go into SpouseKitty's chronic conditions, if only so I can keep track of them all. There's the cervical fusion in her neck, the crushed disks in her lumbar, the dry eyes requiring drops every four hours (including nighttime), the gastropresis, the dry skin from Sjogrens', and one or two other things that are probably not fit for public discussion.

Actually, most of this is probably due to Sjogrens' Syndrome. It is an auto-immune disorder that dries out random bits of tissue, so that could hurt her connective tissue, her eyes, etc. I don't really care what it is, she's in a lot of chronic pain (as in, never goes away) so she has only crummy days and worse days.

For that reason alone, I'm really happy to see even her wan smiles. This one is going to be hard on her -- she was very close to this aunt (one of two she has, and she's not close to her other one at all.) Kitten is sensing it as well, and was clingier and more insecure tonight.

So was SpouseKitty, and so was I. I'm tired of both waiting for people to pass, and of the trauma when it actually happens. I know it's part of the natural cycle, but waiting for the transition is wearing and draining, and dealing with that event is just wrenching.

I guess some good came of it - tonight gave me a chance to spend lots of time with Kitten and SK. This was the first time I cooked dinner for Kitten, and she liked it, too. (Dinner was chicken breast cubes in a tomato paste + red wine + rosemary + thyme + bay leaves sauce over rotelli pasta.)

Got some good talking done about 'what happens next.' It's a subject we don't directly address. Look at how many euphemisms for it I've used here.

Death. We all die. Some just die before others.