These past two weeks have been a roller coaster for our family. I have put off blogging about this b/c I didn't really know what to say. Saturday June 13, 2009 Garets father past away. The day just after him and his wife's 50th wedding anniversary. This was an unexpected death. But when the news of Cancer came about one week prior to his death we were grateful that it did go fast. Thursday June 4th Garets dad was admitted in the hospital for tremendous back pain. Garet and his brother had previously been treating him and took x-rays of his back and found a compression fx. There is not much treatment you can do for a compression fx. It is much like a stress fx, it gets better with rest. After a couple days of rest Garet told his dad that he needed to go to the doctor if the pain did not subside so like I said he was admitted to the hospital for pain management. He received alot of pain medication at the hospital which did relax him a lot and made him quite sleepy. Friday they did an MRI and found evidence that he had bone cancer to the back. This was a fear of Garets b/c his dad had previously had a hx of bladder cancer. Saturday he remained quite sleepy but his kidneys started to fail. The Doctors then decided to air lift Dad to Tucson Medical Center. All of the family but 2 grand kids and one son in law were there to see him leave the hospital. We had lots of tender moments with him before he left the hospital and witnessed small little mircles. Before Dad left he was able to hold each grandchild and child (including in laws) hands and tell them he loved them each individually. It was very hard to see him leave but a very special experience for our family. In Tucson it seemed like his kidneys were slowly getting better, and a bone scan they did showed that there wasn't bone cancer. Our family felt that this was an answer to our prayers and truly a miracle. Garet and I were able to be with him Saturday night thru Monday night. He was still very sleepy but could answer most of our questions. Again this was a special time. Thursday they decided to run one more test just to make sure everything was improving as they seemed to be. However they then found that there was cancer in his liver and spleen. From these reports the Doctors only gave Dad a few weeks. During these weeks they said he would most likey be in alot of pain. Then that same day out of know where his kidneys started to shut down again. The doctors told us we could do dialysis but that would only save time until the cancer killed him. Friday morning we decided to bring him home with the family until he passed away. The Doctors weren't able to explain why his kidneys were shutting down but we found this as another tender mercy of our Heavenly Father. Because the kidneys are the bodies filtering system he wouldn't be able to release his bodies toxins and thus not be able to feel the pain of the cancer. It was nice to have him home with the family. Dad was glad to be home also. All the family came and were able to say good bye to their grandpa and father. Saturday early morning he left his earthly body and went to be with our Heavenly Father. His wife and kids were all able to be at his bedside. This was a very hard, but very special as well. His Funeral was a week ago Saturday. It was a nice funeral in which all the family was able to participate. Dad was a man loved by many people and a friend to all. Like an old saying says, "He didn't know a stranger, just a friends he hadn't yet met." We will truly miss our Dad, and Grandfather. He was a wonderful man and always willing to do anything for us. Paige loved her "Bampa" and misses him. Since we lived with him she really got to know him. Once they moved out, she still got to see him every morning. She now loves seeing pictures of him. We are sad that our "future" children will not know there wonderful grandfather in this earthly state but know they are getting to know him at this time. We are grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and know that we will see him again. We know that because of our Savior this is all possible and are grateful for what he has done for us. Thanks Dad for everything, we sure love you!!!
