Doesn't help one iota, and it's a right old cliche, but it's one day at a time and they will cope. Life is full of sad and happy moments and you have to remember to enjoy the good times when they're happening, because there will be bad times. Of that you can be sure.

I think I posted here quite recently, I'm dreading the day one of my parents die. There's nothing I can do about the inevitable. I just hope it's relatively peaceful. In the end, what else can anyone realistically wish for?

You have my sympathy, for what it's worth. May everyone remember the best of him and celebrate those memories and treasure what they may have learned from him.

My condolences on you and your families loss.

Regrettably the urine flow question was a no win situation. You were the one who was there and you made a choice not to further burden your relations with knowledge that wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome. I can totally see why you did so.

Remember the good stuff, let the bad fade into distant memory and get on with living.

My sympathies to you and your family, that's very sad news.

I hope your family can put aside their differences in times like this, so that everyone can grieve for him properly. Sadly, sometimes these things push families further apart - hope that doesn't happen in your case.

Don't beat yourself up about not telling them the inevitable outcome of his condition, you were protecting them from the awful reality, that's all. There was no need to burden them with that information, in fact it could have made their final days with him even more stressful and upsetting - and he would surely have picked up on those vibes.

As I said before, I really feel for his wife and kids - they'll need plenty of support and hugs in the coming months.

Well it's happened. The funeral was yesterday.

Throughout this entire thing, my uncle's family (mainly the immediate family) have been hostile towards mine. When my uncle moved away, when he developed epilepsy, etc they blamed this on the fact that he married my aunt and our family. So when he died, the first thing his father said to my grandad was "Congratulations". Even in the period leading up to the funeral, they did everything to be difficult: they argued with our family when we went over to visit my aunt; they wouldn't tell us which funeral home had the body so we couldn't see him; they wouldn't let us attend the wake (the senior family members still went).

In some ways, the fact that our families will now part ways means we won't have to encounter them.

The funeral itself was the most difficult thing for me. I thought I'd be prepared but it was tearful when my uncle's daughter (and his dad) were the ones to push the button for the cremation. I can't imagine what the daughter is going through, nor my aunt. But we've been there to support her. The son, being young, had a happy time in the park feeding the ducks.

Very sad to hear that.

Unfortunately, you can't help other people being childish.