On Tuesday, April 1, my 92-year old father was taking his daily, brisk 1-2 mile walk -- safely keeping to the sidewalk as he always does -- when he was struck by a car that suddenly accelerated from the street up onto the curb. Apparently the 72-year old motorist became so disoriented that, in an all too common and tragic happenstance, she confused the accelerator with the brake. According to the police, she stopped at least and seemed genuinely sorry, but its obvious she shouldnt have been driving in the first place as her judgement is seriously impaired. My Dad was still miraculously conscious and was able to convey via words and gestures to the ambulance paramedics that he felt like he was choking on his own blood. Which was wholly accurate as he had fallen flat on his face and had indeed swallowed a huge amount of blood! After the emergency room doctors at Sharp Memorial Hospital (the best trauma unit in San Diego County and one of the most stellar here on the West Coast) sedated my father heavily and placed a breathing tube down his throat to protect his airway, he was moved immediately to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, where he was pronounced in critical condition. In addition to suffering major trauma, blood loss, multiple broken bones (including his cheekbone, nasal bone and brow), and massive facial lacerations, the first night in the SICU, Dad was bleeding into his sinus cavities so profusely, he had to undergo surgery just to cauterize his sinuses and stop the bleeding. However, amazingly, the first CT scans of his brain and spine showed no damage whatsoever. This was a tragic harbinger of false hope! When he came out of surgery on Tuesday night, Dad was, of course, on a ventilator to help him breathe. On Wednesday, April 3rd, he took a turn for the worst: his heart weakened and his blood pressure dropped to alarmingly low levels. Dads cardiologist, two pulmonary specialists, and a number of other specialists gently warned me and my family that -- despite the fact that my father is in miraculous health for a man in his nineties -- despite his powerful mind, dynamic personality and incredible will to survive -- despite the fact that hes already beaten the odds in cases in which trauma victims much younger than himself would have succumbed to this severe level of bodily assault -- the fluids in his lungs coupled with his Aortic Valve Stenosis, did not portend a huge amount of hope for his continuing survival. Over the past 10 days, my family and I have been on an emotional roller coaster. Teetering between hope and tragic expectation, between prayers for Dads recovery and the realization that if he cannot recover with a reasonable quality of life - the quality of life that ABOVE ALL --HE WOULD WANT -- that we need to allow him to quietly, peacefully slip away. Thus it was today, Thursday, April 10, that my brother and I made the heart-wrenching decision to take my father off all unnecessary, pointless, prolonged life support. Although Dad had managed, miraculously, against all odds, to survive the severe trauma of his initial injuries -- and had been subsisting on a ventilator and feeding tube for 10 days, CT scans revealed that he was bleeding into his brain; his heart was irreparably damaged, and, despite his own heroic efforts to recover, would have been kept alive in a purgatorial state of bare subsistence. After all the tubes were removed, we held Dads hand, played Gershwin for him, told him what a warrior he was and how very much we loved him. He passed away peacefully less than 2 hours later. Be at peace now, my dear loving father, you have ascended to the heavens and are now with Mom. Dad, Take Moms Hand Dad, take Moms hand its been held out to you for so long. Take it and go with her to the promised land. She awaits your smile, She awaits your kiss, As she whistles in your ear to come to her. Go, be at peace with her forever! - Michael Williams
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 04:13:24 +0000