The Last Few Days

This past week was my week to take care of Dad while Mom had some respite from this full time cares. Brian took the first week, and I had the second.
I took him to the ER on Tuesday noon - they diagnosed a heart attack and gave him some meds to try to keep him alive until Mom could get home. She came to the hospital by 2 pm on Wednesday. Brenda and Kevin and kids (from Taiwan) came in on Thursday overnight.

Friday Dad woke up and had some communication and a bit to eat. At about 3pm he decided he was sicker than he thought, and it was time to be done. We all gathered, and he died peacefully in his sleep at 9:48 pm in the New Ulm Medical Center.

Let me clarify what I mean by all, because Hubby and Early Bird were at our house. We are all so thankful that Early Bird went back to school on Friday, so that he didn't need to be there for the very end. He saw and talked to Dad on Tuesday, and Wednesday he said good bye. The little ones were there in the end, but they were a nice, energetic distraction and won't remember the details, at least not like a 6 year old would.)

Hindsight tells me that Dad had at least 2 small heart attacks - 1 last week on Thursday (We think.) and another on Tuesday afternoon. Perhaps another on Saturday night; he was getting more weak and disorinted the entire time that I was here. We had lots of end of life dicussions, and I'm comfident he is comfortable and walking around!

We will have a visitation on Tuesday at the Morgan UMC from 4-8 pm and the memorial service will be at 11 am.