First off, I want to give a huge thank you to Pete (BST) for posting this. I wasn't sure when I would be able to post something and wanted to make sure my Fleets brothers and sisters that knew me were aware of events, and he was kind enough to oblige. Thank you, brother!
I would also like to thank everyone's well-wishes and condolences. Very much appreciated.
I'd like to take a moment to give a little background. I have been assisting both my 89 yr old parents for quite a few years now. It has occupied a fair portion of my RL time. I was glad to do this. They had been without a vehicle for over a year. On Tuesday Jan 8th my dad was slightly coughing and wheezing a bit. Nothing serious. At any rate, he thought it should get checked out and so did I. We went to Urgent Care to make sure it wasn't an upper respiratory infection that would go sideways on him. All looked ok up until the Xray. It showed his left lung was filling up with fluid.
I took him to ER where he was admitted. Over the course of the week they were trying to find out why his lung was filling up. Over the weekend it was determined that dad was most likely in Stage 4 of lung cancer. He was in the hospital last November 1st -5th where he was coughing up blood. It stopped 2-3 days into his stay after withholding the blood thinners he was taking. At that time it was probably already too late, unfortunately.
Dad was given a number of options, none of which was to his liking, save one.
He chose to let nature take its course, with the help of a pain killer. On Monday Jan 14th, dad was placed on a Morphine drip to assist with any pain.
On January 16th at 9:10am, my father quietly, peacefully and painlessly passed away in the presence of a loving family and friends. I am thankful and relieved he is finally free from the pain he was going through the last few years of his life.
Personally, I cannot adequately express what my father meant to me. He was my role model, my hero and larger than life growing up. He came from very modest means from a rural background. He taught me right from wrong, the value of hard work and lessons of life. He and my mother are irreplaceable to me. Personally, I don't know how they did it! He will be sorely missed. I will try to live up to his standards that he instilled in me. Thank you dad. I shall never forget you or what you taught me. Truly an amazing man, even to the end. I lift a chalice in his honor.
See you on the other side, Pop!
Sad news
