Overwhelming Gratitude!!

I am overwhelmed by the love and support that I have received from my bloggy buddies and those bloggies I don't even know. And I thank ALL of you from the bottom of my heart. Never gone through this before makes me realize how important your words really mean!!

I thought I would give you a short note to tell you about my dad. Mainly so my children can read this and that I can remember what happened. There is so much more than I am going to write. My dad has been suffering from strokes the past couple of years. These last few months have been rough. He has been fine enough to be at home. A week ago they decided to bring Hospice in. The day Chelsea had her baby, Doran and I stopped to visit him. He was doing good and sitting in his recliner. We showed him pictures and he was thrilled. He LOVES children. I talked to him on the phone after that. The next time I stopped by was last Thursday. He was in bed, still doing pretty good. He was talking and I showed him more pictures that I had taken.

Late Friday night his wife called me and said he was not doing very good. I called my brother that night and told him I was going to go out in the morning. Saturday morning at 7:30 they called again so I called my brother and got ready and headed out. By this time he was not very responsive. He wouldn't open his eyes much and he couldn't talk. BUT when I hugged him and told him I would be back in a couple of hours and told him I loved him, he said, "I love you honey". He always told me that or "I love you hita". I will forever cherish THAT MOMENT!!

As I sit here and sob on my computer, I am so grateful that we were there. And I am so grateful that Doran and my brother, Jon, was there. Chelsea and her family was there. Dad held the baby AND he hugged her. He knew he was holding her. After meeting Jon's family, we ALL went back for a few more hours. The next day Doran was to fly out to Florida for work for a week. We had a tough struggle with that. He could stay home but we decided that he should go ahead and go because we didn't know how long dad would be like this. So Sunday morning he flew out.

Sunday we ALL went out again, minus Doran. They moved him to his own bed instead of the hospice bed. Jon shaved him and we got him in some clean clothes so he would be comfy. He responded even less that day, but Jon helped him sit up at one time and dad let Jon just hold him and he even opened his eyes for a long time.

Jon and his family went back home because the kids has school the next day. Jon was going to get some work done in the morning and come back down. (He lives 1.5 hours away). Paulene called last Sunday night and said since we left he has been so comfortable and sleeping peacefully. So I called Jon and told him and was able to go to sleep.

At 2:48 the phone rang. It was Paulene saying she didn't know if he was still alive. She had called Hospice and they were on their way out. I called Jon, got up and headed out there (Dad lives about 15 minutes out). Camri was just coming in the door from work and she went out with me. Right after I got there Hospice came, but before that Paulene's daughter-in-law got there. She is a nurse. She told us that he was gone.

I can't believe it. These last few days have turned into one blurr. My heart hurts, my head and eyes hurt. And I miss Doran. He would probably have to be out to work anyway. I can't seem to get past my eyes leaking to get ready for work. I still haven't made it and it is 1:00 pm.

We have most of the arrangements made but I need to find some songs. Maybe more later. But thanks again for your support. I will SO MISS HIS SENSE OF HUMOR AND LOVE. He is a wonderful dad!!!