My grandmother would sleep for 3-4 days at a time. The nurse would tell us it wouldn't be long now... the next day she'd be sitting at her dining room table eating soup. "This is my 3rd bowl" with a big smile on her face is the last thing I remember in her voice.My father-in-law is eating and drinking minimally and the hospice nurse says he could last quite long if he keeps that up. One day he feel terrible and won't do either, then the next day he eats and drinks. He's had every test they can do and find nothing amiss. He's lost much weight in the past 6 months.
We had other conversations, but I still hear that in her voice.
It's a confusing thing to feel happy when someone passes, but that's pretty much how our family felt when my father in-law passed. He was such an active and fun-loving person, we had a hard time seeing him just sitting there wasting away physically and confused all the time. So, we were sad to see him go, miss him dearly, but are happy he's no longer suffering.
I think those feelings are becoming more common now that medical technology is keeping people alive longer, even when they may not have a very good quality of life. It can be excruciating watching someone you love dying a slow death as opposed to the "old days" where people just keeled over and it was done. I don't say that flippantly, either, as I have watched numerous family members die in such a fashion.
He just passed.
