MY FATHERS DEATH
Like most natural things in our lives, if anything can go wrong it will, it should have been routine, it wasn't.He died of emphysema, a disease he had for nineteen years.Ten months before he died, he called a family meeting, to tell us that all his doctors had told him that there was nothing more they could do for him.The lung specialist had said the damage had gone on too long and was too great to be healed The heart specialist said his heart was damaged beyond repair.The blood clot,said the same thing about all his major organs.After the meeting he and I went and made all the funeral arrangements, got his will made, etc.The Living Will was not in use at that time, but he told me, he didn't want to be revived when it was time.I nonchalantly, assured him not to worry, I'd make sure.H e chastising told me to make sure, I promised I would.That sure should have been a warning to me, I was in for trouble, but I figured I had three specialist and a family doctor on my side.WRONG-Ten months later, he was taken into hospital Wed, evening, by the time I was able to get away, it was Thur, afternoon.On my arrival at the hospital, MOM and the doc were talking in the hall, mom introduced me and said I would be taking over from then on, that everything would go through me, DAD and I had talk it over and it was his wish.I wanted to get everything out in the open from the get-go, so I told him it was DAD wish that there should be medical heroics when his time had come , it had come.The doc snarled at me and refused to shake my outstretched hand, oh-oh.Over the next few days, the tension between us mounted, he refused to talk to me at all, even though MOM kept telling him, I was following DAD'S wishes.Late sat, afternoon everything came to a head, DAD got a blood clot in his right thigh his leg was black and extremely swollen.The doc showed me his leg and informed me, he was going to get a surgeon and they were going to operate on DAD'S leg, I said no way.He then left.By this time DAD had a special duty nurse after the doc had left, she told me not to worry and that I should take a break, we talked for a few minutes and I started to leave.In the hallway I saw DAD'S doc, with a surgeon in tow, I waited until they got to me and told the surgeon.with body language and words, that he was not going to touch DAD, He then assured me, that he wouldn't operate without my permission, but he would like to check for himself.i then stepped out of his way.He was in the room less than a minute, came out and said there was nothing he could or would do.I didn't see DAD'S doc for the rest of the evening.Around 9 o'clock, the special duty nurse called for an I.V. nurse, to put DAD on a morphine drip and change DAD'S oxygen tube to a mask, when they started to work on him,suddenly he grabbed one of the nurse and started pounding on her , yelling", you are not going to put me on life support".I then drove on top of the nurse, reached down and yanked out from under me, taking a few shots from DAD until I could pin his arms down,then the I.V nurse leaned in and started assure DAD, that she was just giving him a morphine drip,the other nurse then jumped on my back and did the same thing.He finally got the message and settled down.DAD passed away at 11;45, the nurse had to get the doc to confirm it, he came in said yes and left.I asked for a few minutes alone, I left at 12:15 am Sunday.At the elevator the doc stopped me and told me,in his mind it was a suspicious death and he was going to order an autopsy I tried to walk away, but he wouldn't let me,finally, I turned and told him if he did, he'd better order two,just then the elevator door opened,has I tried to step in,he grabbed my shoulder and started to say nobody talks to me like that, while spinning me around, He never got a chance to finish, he ended up flat on his back, with a bruise starting to form on his cheek bone, and I had a sore right hand.There was one little twist of fate left, the hospital administrator at the hospital where dad died, was the same man that was DAD'S boss several years early when DAD was a hospital worker in FT, Erie, he was also the chair of a few charities, that DAD was, the head of the ways and means committee for.He had been at our home several times and I also knew him from the family function held at the hospital.The phone rang at 5:15 am on that Sunday morning at MOM'S house , it was the administrator, asking me if I would let the hospital handle the situation internally, man was I relieved, I was expecting to be charged with assault, instead I received an apology.In retrospect, GOD TO THE RESCUE AGAIN.