I stopped the last post on the afternoon of December 14th 2024 after we got my Dad back into his bed after he fell.

We Weren’t Comfortable With That

At the same time our friend called because she talked to her husband and told us that we should call the non-emergency fire department number to get Dad to the hospital to get looked at further.

Not only did the ambulance show up, there was a fire truck and about eight guys came into the house to help get Dad out of the house and into the ambulance.

Roy and I followed them to the hospital emergency department where we stayed for several hours until they determined that Dad would be admitted to a room.

My Dad was very confused and scared. He couldn’t understand why we didn’t want him to come home. We did want him to come home only if he’d be safe. Once he got into a room after several hours of being in the emergency department, Roy and I went home.

The next day our friend Bridget who had been helping us the day before picked me up and she and I went to visit Dad together. He seemed much better and was able to visit and carry on a conversation but he was clearly tired.

Little did we know that would be the last time he would be able to carry on even that much conversation. On the 19th, they discharged him to a rehab center with a slight fever. He spent the night and by the next morning his blood pressure dropped to a level where he was slumped down in a wheel chair. Luckily he was sitting out in front of the nurse’s station so they were able to see what was going on with him. Roy and I were out doing grocery shopping when that happened and the phone didn’t ring while we were in the store. My sisters finally got a hold of me and gave me a bit of grief for not answering the phone. We took the groceries home and headed back out to the hospital. They admitted him because he had a high temperature and a virus. They should never have let him out in the first place.

My sisters all came home to be with him and we took turns at the hospital staying with him. Roy and I cooked dinner on Christmas Eve and we brought it to the hospital. Our priest came on the Saturday before that and gave him the Sacrament of the Sick and said prayers with my youngest sister and I. The other two weren’t able to get there till the Sunday before Christmas.

Christmas was my Dad’s favorite holiday. We tried to bring some Christmas cheer to his room with a small artificial tree but he wasn’t even aware that it was there. My Dad was a very determined person. Before he got to the point where he didn’t know what was going on he was frustrated because he couldn’t participate in decorating the church for Christmas.

We got through Christmas Day and discussion with the Doctors that Dad wasn’t getting better and any support was only keeping him as comfortable as possible. We decided that the next morning we would turn off the life support and as soon as we did Dad passed peacefully.

He was 93 years old and lived a great life until his last few months. He would have turned 94 on New Years Day. We gathered at the hospital and had prayers and then we left so they could call the funeral home and take care of rest of what needed to be done. Two of my sisters live in Los Angeles and had to get back home. We went to the funeral home that afternoon to pick out his casket, plan the wake, and write his obituary. The next morning before my other two sisters had to leave to go home, we went to church and met with the Bereavement Committee to plan his Funeral Mass.

This is where I will stop today.