My grandma died yesterday evening. She did fight a lot longer than we thought, because her state of health changed for the worse back in January. She picked herself up a bit when spring came and was even at our house for my brother's birthday in May, but the last two weeks she was mostly in bed.

I knew that it would be over soon, because when I phoned my dad yesterday he said she was fighting for every breath. It wasn't easy, but she was at home until the end and everybody was with her. My dad said she waited until the last of her sons arrived and when all five were there she passed away.

I'm very sad and it's hard being so far away from my family right now. I have to wait until we know when the funeral's going to be before I decide when to go home. But I really want to go sooner rather than later.

At the moment I'm mainly trying to distract myself.