April 12,2010

My father-in-law had congestive heart failure. He had been sick for quite awhile. One of his doctors called him "Lazarus". Grandpa wanted to be at home. My son and I took turns staying nights at grandma and grandpa's last week. I stayed last Thursday and hung around till 10:30 or so the next morning until the nurse left. He got up that afternoon and put on his new red polo shirt and blue sweat pants. Looked really good. Chatty. As on top of things as a man in his position could be.
I got a call about 8:15 p.m. Couldn't get out of his recliner. By the time I got there, the recliner had tipped him out onto the floor. He remarked that he wasn't going to get out of bed anymore. I told him I thought that was a good idea because we didn't want him to fall and hurt himself. I joked about the need/use for gloves, baby wipes, and air freshener. I called my son, he came, and we got him off the floor and into bed. Made sure Grandpa was "comfy cozy" and gave him his med. He took our hands, thanked us, and told us good night.
Grandma sat down to watch a little tv after we left and went to sleep in her chair until 1:30 a.m.
During the night Grandpa's breathing was worse than it had ever been. I stopped over Saturday morning to see how things were going. Everything seemed fine. Then we got a call at 1:20 p.m. that Grandpa had died. He just didn't wake up on Saturday. He passed very peacefully.
Funny how you remember the details...
We had the privilege to make sure he was comfortable when he went to bed for the last time.
I'm glad. :-)