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Apr. 28th, 2005 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caraigIt's windy today. A lot of strong winds. The weeping cherry blossoms have exploded from the trees into whirlwinds of small white petals, almost blanketing the street.
Last night we held the wake and funeral for my father.
On Sunday morning I heard a sound upstairs, a heavy thud. I went up to find dad had collapsed. After he came to, he complained of intestinal pain. Hoping it would get better, we waited a few hours, then at about 1PM dad said that I should call an ambulance. We arrived at the hospital about fifteen to twenty minutes later, where I learned that dad had a ruptured aortic aneurism. The doctor was not even certain that he would make it to the operating table, and after a rupture, with surgery the survival rate was 10%.
My father survived the surgery, but he had lost so much blood, his body chemistry was so unstable, that it was too much. He passed away that night at about 10PM.
My brother at the time had been on a business trip to Europe, and though he made plans to return home about midday, the earliest he would be able to arrive was noon on the following day.
In a lot of ways I think we expected something like this to happen. After mom died, dad just was disconsolate and not the same. Loosing her had been rough on him -- on all of us, but in particular him. But he seemed like he was bouncing back, slowly but surely. I guess I just didn't think it would be this soon, or this sudden, that he would go.
Well. Now we move on. I might be still numb from loosing him. But either way, the path forward is clear. Muddy, as after a rainstorm, but clear.
Last night we held the wake and funeral for my father.
On Sunday morning I heard a sound upstairs, a heavy thud. I went up to find dad had collapsed. After he came to, he complained of intestinal pain. Hoping it would get better, we waited a few hours, then at about 1PM dad said that I should call an ambulance. We arrived at the hospital about fifteen to twenty minutes later, where I learned that dad had a ruptured aortic aneurism. The doctor was not even certain that he would make it to the operating table, and after a rupture, with surgery the survival rate was 10%.
My father survived the surgery, but he had lost so much blood, his body chemistry was so unstable, that it was too much. He passed away that night at about 10PM.
My brother at the time had been on a business trip to Europe, and though he made plans to return home about midday, the earliest he would be able to arrive was noon on the following day.
In a lot of ways I think we expected something like this to happen. After mom died, dad just was disconsolate and not the same. Loosing her had been rough on him -- on all of us, but in particular him. But he seemed like he was bouncing back, slowly but surely. I guess I just didn't think it would be this soon, or this sudden, that he would go.
Well. Now we move on. I might be still numb from loosing him. But either way, the path forward is clear. Muddy, as after a rainstorm, but clear.
