I think it stays fresh when it’s a shock like that. I lost my father to Alzheimer’s Disease years before he actually died.
The hurt never heals, never goes away and the pain never receeds. You adjust to the loss and like Netanyahu said, it is like having your hand chopped off and both legs. You are never whole, never the same. You learn to survive without much of the part of your heart and soul that died when your loved one did.