My stepgrandfather has landed himself in the ER with a nasty, ulcerated case of colitis. He's 95. We are worried that if they have to perform surgery on him, he won't make it.

But it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. One, we're not really close. Two, he's been a macho twit about this condition for, like, 20 years. Three, he pretty much rebuffed all my mom's offers to help take care of him, in favor of his Favorite Granddaughter, who... is neither half as smart nor half as devoted as my mom. Four... he's kind of a reactionary crypto-racist asshole (and most likely was a Trump voter), though he's at least been nice enough to me.

This is mainly a matter of "shit, I hope he doesn't die over the holidays and break my stepdad's heart." His odds of making it are even pretty good so far. Surgery is just one scary possibility thus far. Frankly, to me, it's just One More Goddamn Thing, and one more reason to fret over my poor stepdad-- whom I *do* really like, and does not need this shit.