We were about a third of the way through the 7 hour drive when we got a call from my brother. He told us that we needed to take dad to M. D. Anderson as soon as we got to Huntsville, he was having trouble breathing and had pneumonia in his right lung.
When we got to my dad’s home, I was shocked to see how weak he was. It took a major effort to get him from the kitchen table to the car. We got to MDA at about 6 PM. We went through the emergency room triage and finally got to a room at around midnight. The first doctor that saw him in the ER felt that his condition was caused by a resurgence of his cancer and that he would probably not last the week and possibly that night. She asked one of her colleagues to consult. The second doctor felt that he was stronger and that we should be able to deal with the breathing and get him well enough to return home. The first doctor was right.
I am not going to share the details, but shortly after dad was hospitalized, so was I. I was in isolation two floors below him. The last time I saw him conscious was in the ER before we were both assigned our rooms.
My wife stayed with dad for the entire time he was in his room. Saturday morning at about 5:20 AM my wife came to my room and told me to get to dad’s room, he was in respiratory distress. I had to gown up, put on gloves and a mask. The nurse helped me and helped get me and my IV tree to dad’s room. Five minutes later, at 5:38 AM he went home.
Since August first, our family has experienced a miscarriage, a pregnancy concurrent with an aggressive form of cancer, emergency surgery for my dad, my mother in law experiencing a massive stroke and subsequent death, my father’s final hospitalization and death, and my concurrent hospitalization with my father.
It has been an interesting six months.
There are some things I wish to share from this. Things that the Lord has led us through. Things that deal with life and death.
I will start that tomorrow.
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