My daddy - I love you!

I always mean to blog but life gets in the way. Another post telling someone I love goodbye. Daddy passed away January 1, 2016.

He was really doing good for most of 2015. He started to show signs of declining in October. It's amazing how I could sense things over the phone, that was the only way I could tell if something was wrong since I didn't see him every day. I went for a visit on October 30th and as soon as I got there we called the ambulance, Kim had stayed until I got there. Dad didn't want to go to the hospital but I told him he really needed to be checked out. They started running all kinds of tests, he was just kind of out of it. They initially thought he had a UTI. He was admitted, the next day when I went to sit with him at the hospital he was so out of it due to the infection he didn't know where he was but he knew me. He stayed in the hospital for five days and they transferred him to a rehab facility to build up his strength in his legs. Looking back we felt so bad about this decision, we didn't know how sick he was. He was in the rehab facility for about eight days they wanted to release him to go home, they said he shouldn't be there. I told my brother to tell them to take him back to the hospital which they did and he was in ICU for several days. When we went to see him in ICU he was better than I thought he'd be but the nurse wanted us to see about bringing Hospice in. That is such a scary word! Even though I could see his decline it's like your brain doesn't let you comprehend what's actually happening. We met with Hospice and got everything set up for his return home - that's where he wanted to be and we wanted him home too. We had to set up 24 hour care.

The day he came home he was so excited to be there, we knew we made the right decision to at least try home first instead of a nursing facility. This was around mid November and he was doing okay for several weeks. I went back and forth at first every other week then it was every weekend and I'm so glad I did and can look back on our time together with no regrets. I'm so glad I had the chance to spend quality time with him the past several years but especially since mom passed.

When my brother called me on New Year's Day at 6 am I knew before I picked the phone up he was gone. My dad was such an amazing man and I was so fortunate to have a daddy like him. My kids were so luck to have a Poppy like him. I know my mom and dad are together again and that does ease some of the pain. Daddy I miss you so much but know you are in a wonderful place you worked your whole life to achieve. I love you!!!