RIP Dad

Just realized my last post was 12 AUG 2012 at 3pm. Little did I know he had so few hours left. He never woke up that afternoon. The last meaningful conversation with him occurred after a long sleep. Longer than any in his adult life; he passed his "light sleeper" gene to all three of his kids. I heard voices at 3am early in the morning and, knowing he was in good hands with my brother and my wife, tried to go back to sleep. I tossed and turned and finally sauntered out of bed at 4am asking, "how's he doing?" I looked over to him as he opened his eyes and gave me a little nod. I moved to his side, flipped the cool washcloth on his forehead and told him to go to sleep. "Okay" Seven hours later, Laurie and I started to rub his feet and his hands, he woke with a start and looked around wildly as if he was surprised to see us. My mother moved to his side and he desperately hugged and kissed her exclaiming, "I can't wake my body up." We assured him he was still here and helped him move his limbs and rubbed his back. I tactfully said, "You were dead asleep." He chuckled, "Almost!" We gave him some water and he asked for some oatmeal. Pretty soon he was tired again and he went into a deep, final sleep. We called the hospice nurse that night and she did a once over. The nurse reviewed any questions we had in the kitchen with my sister and mother and she left just after 10pm. My nephew was counting his heart beats and stated that the last minute was 6 beats. We all rushed to his side and lovingly whispered him off at 10:20pm on Sunday night, August 12th.
During the last week, many people who were touched by his generous nature have provided so many kind words as we have reminisced with friends and family.
He was a great guy and an inspirational father.

sad news

Although my stinking cancer remains at bay, I received a call a little over a week ago from my mother saying that she had admitted my father into the hospital with a swollen leg and shortness of breath. He has been complaining of fevers and sweats since January but he has always been hot blooded so this wasn't terribly shocking. The swollen leg in the last month was a problem, that could have been a blood clot, so all the tests were conducted. To make an agonizing, 7-day wait shorter for you, he has Large B Cell Follicular NH Lymphoma with a side of Burkitts Lymphoma. Unfortunately, they have found cancer in his spinal cord, bone marrow and the dialysate they drew off of his now non-functioning kidneys.
Another long story short, we brought him home to hospice last night and have started the process of ushering him away. Very sad.