Cause of my Grandma's death. (This is mostly for my journal.)

[bertha katzenengel]

We'd never had a diagnosis of Alzheimer's:

The death certificate says: "Cardiac arrest-congestive heart failure, arterial sclerosis, underlying condition: Alzheimer's Disease."

In other words, she died of old age. In How We Die, Nuland talks about the over-diagnosis of elderly patients, and contends that yes, in fact, we can die simply of old age. It's really not necessary, though it might be interesting, to know exactly what kills the elderly. Sometimes it's acute or chronic diseases, but sometimes - as in Grandma's case - it's just the accumulation of things that happen as we age.

I agree with Nuland.

Grandma had been ready to go for quite some time, but her body just wouldn't catch up to her wishes. She finally got to go to Jesus on October 27.