In my last post I explained where I’d be for the coming weeks. Never did I imagine it would end like this.
A few days before Halloween, my dad was experiencing minor chest pains. He was the picture of health until that time. The only time he had ever been hospitalized in his life was in 1955 to have his tonsils removed! At 89 years of age, the only medicine he took was a blood pressure medicine. He volunteered with the hospital auxiliary, the ramp ministry (where a group built ramps over the steps at homes where the resident was unable to navigate the steps), worked in his yard, drove everywhere and lived a totally independent life.
He was having these pains, but drove to his lady friend’s house. She knew immediately something was wrong and convinced him to go to the emergency room. They felt sure he had had a heart attack and transferred him to the “big city” hospital.
A heart cath revealed major blockages and he ended up having 4 by passes. The heart surgery went well. Even recovery for that was good. Heart looked and sounded good. But he got pneumonia and a kidney infection. He had to be trached as well. Still, a few weeks in, he was better enough that the trach came out and he was headed to our hospital for rehab in a couple of days. I left him one day and they called an hour later saying they had almost lost him. He had become septic from the kidney infection, his blood pressure dropped drastically and he had a seizure. Back to the ICU.
He had to be trached again. The massive antibiotics caused C-diff. He just couldn’t recover. I left him on Christmas Eve in stable condition. Two hours later he was gone.
Total hospital time was eight weeks. I spent almost every day of those eight weeks sitting and watching him sleep. I don’t regret a minute of it. It hurts my heart to have to write this, but I feel I need to.
The world lost a great man. He was truly one of the good ones. A rare breed. I saw him really angry one time when I was 13 years old. I’m one of the few people who could even tell if he was annoyed. One of the things I heard over and over when people were paying their respects, was he was such a sweet, sweet man. And he was.
John L. “Leck” Horton
September 6, 1927 – December 24, 2016
OH WANDA YOU DID SUCH A BEAUTIFUL JOB WRITING THIS ARTICLE. YOUR DAD WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS TO COME INTO MY LIFE. I HAVE MY MOMENTS AND REALIZE THAT I WILL FOR SOME TIME. HE WAS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AND I MISS HIM TREMENDOUSLY. I AM GOING TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE SO I CAN KEEP IT AND SHOW IT TO MY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES.
Awwww…. Thank you Evelyn. You were so, so special to him, too. I’m so grateful you came into his life.
Oh Wanda, so sorry for the loss of your dad! And on Christmas Eve too! You have been thought about & prayed for. I know you are grieving. My heart goes out to you.
Thank you Florence. And thanks for the comment here. đŸ˜‰
Very sorry for the loss of your dad, especially at Christmas!:'(
Thank you. Christmas was definitely different this year.
I’m so sorry! He sounds like he was an amazing man.
He was, Pam.He will be greatly missed. Thank you.
Wanda,
I am so very sorry to hear of your loss. I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.
Thank you Lisa.
[…] My dad’s passing, as hard as it is to accept, presents new horizons for us. We all handle grief in different ways and I typically get most of my tears out of the way and focus on the future. Our future is now wide open. […]
OH Wanda, I am so very sorry to read/hear this. I just saw my latest email newsletter and had no idea you had been going through all of this. Your lovely words are a tribute to the man he was. Having lost my own father in November, it sucks and I hope you have many smiles when you think of him in the future. The tears come, but so does the understanding that he can watch over my mom better now. Sending you warm thoughts and prayers. Heading over to see what you decided to do with moving. đŸ™‚
Thank you. I’m sorry to hear about your dad as well. It’s hard to lose them. So very hard.
I am so sorry. Some of the details are different but my daddy went through something similar after his bypass surgery. He also had a valve replaced. They were extra cautious because he only had one kidney due to bladder Cancer – absolutely no complications from that. He went through two months of up and downs and even made it home for a week or two but I guess the valve was leaking and he was taken to the hospital after a fall in his bedroom and died less than 24 hours later. Luckily, I lived about 5 hours away and was able to get there and spend about 8-9 hours with him before he died. The first couple of hours, he was talking and actually sitting up and told us all what a wonderful life he had. He had the best attitude and outlook on life. I felt like I had been given a special gift to be with him when he died but it was one of the worst days of my life. I had lost my wonderful daddy and a true friend. He was 82 and my parents were 2 weeks shy of their 55th wedding anniversary.
I’m so sorry, Carol. But glad you got to be with him before he died.
It really makes us think about what we’ll be willing to let them do to us, doesn’t it?