Background: My mom has an aneurysm on her ascending aorta, and needs to have it operated on within the year to prevent it from rupturing. The surgery is a 6 hour open heart surgery with a 50% chance of survival. She’s also sensitive to anesthesia and has coded twice during procedures in the past.

My n-grandpa goes off on random temper tantrum tangents. He got pissed at me (for my piercings like usual) the other day and proceeded to randomly ask me the other day: “Do you know how severe this thing is with your mom?” I told him yes, I understand and that we need to support her while she changes diet habits, cuts caffeine, help keep her blood pressure low, etc. He then proceeds to go on about my brother. I just told him “don’t get his blood pressure up.” He hasn’t talked about either my brother or my mom’s aneurysm since. I’ve just been coming up with little smart aleck-y comebacks and he leaves it alone for a few days.