The event....

On Wednesday June 10th my dad had arterial surgery on his carotid artery (right side). He had previously undergone the femoral artery during May. At that time, he delayed the 2nd surgery because he wanted to attend my cousin Angela's wedding and family reunion for my mother's side of the family. What an amazing wedding, family time for us to all carry with us during the next few weeks.......Recovery after this last surgery was very different. Usually my dad had bounced back pretty quick, and would get right back into breakfast at the legion, playing cards and getting stuff done. He was having a rough few days....there was some damage to vocal chords during the surgery, and he was weaker than usual, and staying home.

Monday, June 15th, Julia had a softball game. It was one of her best perfomances of the year! However, my parents didn't come like usual, because Dad was not feeling up to it yet. Julia insisted that Dan take her over to my folks house after the game, and Sophia and I drove the other car home. Dan got home an hour or so later and said that Papa had told Julia she could stay with them that night. My nephew Jake stayed over as well.

At 2AM Tuesday morning, Dan woke me up to tell me he was going to my parents house to watch the kids. I was confused and asked if he was taking Sophia with him. He told me it was 2 in the morning, and they were taking my dad to the hospital. This had happened before, and so at 1st I laid back down....a few minutes later I just had this feeling things weren't the same this time, and called the house. My mom answered and said that they were getting Julia out of the bedroom (she was sleeping with my dad) and the paramedics had just arrived. I called a 3rd time and asked my brother if I needed to come now. He said yes, and I packed up Sophia and jumped in the car. It was raining hard that night. It took us about 3 minutes to get over there, but it seemed like forever. I think I called my sister Rosemary, and she said she was on her way and I told her it was raining and to be careful.

When I arrived Dan was in with my dad and the paramedics....Julia and Jake were asleep on the couches, and my mother was on the phone with Dr. Kaslow. I went as close to the bedroom as I could and they had gotten a pulse and were getting ready to put him on the stretcher. Dan was devastated. The look on his face and the tears in his eyes told me everything I needed to know about what was happening. I think he told me then that it was bad and they barely got him back. I asked him to stay with the kids and jumped in with my oldest brother to ride behind the ambulance. The rain was still coming down, and it was pretty surreal driving to the ER. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be an easy night and asked him to take me to QT to get smokes.

Things are fuzzy in the ER....everyone is there.....Mom, us kids, dad's sisters, mom's sisters, my cousins, my nephew and his friends.....and the doctor came in. From what I recall, the way things were said did not completely clarify the situation. Dad had gone into a diabetic coma....did we want to continue measures? Yes...my mother did. At this time, I knew my dad did not want extreme measures, and tried to express this, but no one realized how far gone he was. We knew he had been without oxygen, but did not realize that he was basically gone at the house and what little pulse they had brought back was almost non-existent without the machines. So, we moved to the 9th floor and continued our vigil. I stayed until 6AM and went into work to let everyone know what was going on, and catch up on a few things.......at this point I needed to rest and went home.