One Last Float Before The Trip Back To Pop

The day before we headed out for home we took an all day float down the river with our Canadian friends Mark and Colleen.  Our first trip was just the two of us with one kayak slowly losing air and thank goodness only a few hours on the river.  This trip found the kayaks in perfect shape, a gorgeous day, a 6 hour float with a lunch stop at the RoadRunner floating bar.
Looks pretty relaxing right?

So much so that Mark took a bit of a snooze. 

And then the next day we packed up and took off after saying goodbye to new found friends.  We fully intend on taking a trip to Canada this summer...soon.

Our trip back was the first real trip in the motorhome and the first few miles were interesting.  The first curve that we went around the refrigerator door flew open and out came water bottles that rolled all over the floor.  I got out of my comfortable chair to put it all back in and then remembered to lock the fridge.  Around the next corner and all of the pictures slid off of the counter onto the floor, the next corner the dog's water bowl flew across the floor spilling all over...but hey, we didn't hit anyone or get hit by someone!  That particular road is pretty darned bumpy and full of twists and turns...that's my story and I am sticking to it.  The remainder of the three day trek was uneventful and very very comfortable.

On our second night we pulled into the Walmart parking lot in Worthington.  When David went in to make sure that it was alright for us to spend the night he was told that not only was it OK but that two years ago Sandra Bullock and Jessie James stayed there for a night! 
Yep, in this very lot

We got back on Monday, pulled into the Mystic Lake RV park and off to the hospital to see Pop.  It seems his health was declining rapidly which was why we decided to head back early.  He was pretty confused but most of the time we found ourselves talking to the Pop from years ago.  He was cracking jokes and laughing at himself most of the visit.  It felt damned good to have those few hours...damned good.  However.....in one week his lung capacity had gone from an 80% functioning level down to 20%, his lungs were absolutely dieing on him and the docs were totally perplexed.  The closest to an explanation they could come to was a medication that Pop had been prescribed a few years back.  One of the side affects is just what happened to Pop...the lungs fill up with fibroids that slowly kill the lungs.  The doc on duty felt that Pop owed it to  himself to have a biopsy of his lungs done to rule out this medication and see if perhaps anything could help stop the process.  To do that he would be transferred to Abbott.  We decided to give it a try even though we were unsure if Pop really was comprehending what was going to happen.  David and I planned on being at Abbott the next day for support and to help keep him comfortable.
That morning at 2am my  phone rang.  I was not able to get to it in time but it was from dad who left a message.  "Bobbi this is dad, I gotta go I gotta catch my plane" and he hung up.  Then his aide called me just to let me know that he was having a horrible night, pretty agitated, confused etc etc.  At 4am the doc called to say that he was considering sedating him, something they had not done due to the functioning of his lungs, and would I come in to sit with him.  It seems that sedating him would certainly help him be more comfortable but would do nothing for his lung capacity, would in fact be detrimental to lungs that were already dieing.  As I sat there with my dad I did everything I could to keep busy so as not to think about what was really going on...nope I didn't want to think about it.  He was pretty heavily sedated and when the morphine started wearing off he began pulling at his oxygen mask and IV's so they had to just keep him calmly full of morphine.  I think at that point he may have known that I was there although he did not open his eyes the entire time.  I told the doc to forget the transfer, I wasn't going to put dad through that for something that was unlikely to help his situation.  At 11 Lenny, Kelly and David came and with the doc and a palliative care person we made the decision to turn  off all monitors, stop all treatment and just make him comfortable until nature took it's course.  At 3pm, with the palliative care person and the wonderful nurse we did just that.  At 3:45 as Pop took his last breath I looked out the window and there was a prop plane (the kind he would had dealt with in the air force) flying by the window.  He was right, he had a plane to catch and it seems that he caught it.  Damn that was one hard afternoon...damned hard.  It's still a bit surreal to think that he is gone.  This coming Monday we will have a celebration of life in his honor at the Nicollet Funeral Home with a lunch served at Rapid Rick's.  I am sharing some pictures of Dad in his honor here.....

Len and Kel's wedding

 One of the better ever pics of him

 Len's graduation party

 I love this one

 Dad's the young fella on the left at my cousin Pat's wedding.  I guess he sang at that wedding.  I had not a clue that he could sing!

Dad, Uncle Jim, Dad's brother Bill and my Aunt Veronica

 

 Behind the bar at our house by Nicollet

Although the whole plane thing is a strange thing, I choose to see it as a sign that everything was going to be OK for him and it helped me feel much better at that moment.  How strange is it that he leaves me that voice mail and as he goes-a plane flies by the window...a sign I tell ya a sign....

Dad was admitted to St Francis Hospital in Shakope where he received exemplary care as did we, his family.  From the volunteer at the front door up to the docs....they all have a smile, take their time with you, are pleasant ad just heads above any other hospital that I have ever been in contact with, and there have been quite a few.  When I was in Pop's room just he and I (and he was sedated) his nurse, a nurse who was not his nurse, the doc, aides etc...stopped in every 5-10 minutes to not only check on him but to make sure that I was OK, and that level of care and concern continued.  I cannot say enough about St Francis.  They are not in a rush, you are more than a number..they are just absolutely fabulous!  Prior to there he had been in St Gertruds which is a rehab facility connected to the hospital and it too has the same kind of care and concern.  Everyone so be treated so well as we all were!