Happy July! Havre de Grace is supposed to have their fireworks tonight, but it looks like they may be stormed out. We were going to go out on the boat and watch them, but we will scratch those plans. There is nothing worse than being out on the water in your boat during a thunderstorm. Maybe we can go out when they have a make up date, if they do. Nothing much going on around here. It is too hot to do much. This is the 4th or 5th code red day in a row. Right now it is only in the 80s, but yesterday it was 96 degrees. Pretty conducive to staying inside in the air conditioning. Keep the faith ;)

Sorry it has been so long, but I have been pretty busy. Dad started his chemo Monday a week ago. My sister took him to that one and I took him to his chemo this Monday. Last week lasted 4 hours and things went pretty good. This week it was only 2 hours, but it was horrible. They give him Benydril to help prevent reactions to the chemo. This really knocked dad out and when the chemo was done 2 hours later, he was still very sleepy. They got him up and he was very disoriented. He started yelling at them to leave him alone and get their hands off of him. They were trying to get him in a wheel chair, but he took off. He got to the door and his feet stopped, but his body just kept on going. I couldn't hold him up and he went down against a couple of cardboard boxes. They kinda broke his fall and he didn't get hurt. It took another 15 minutes of talking to him to get him up on his feet. Then he sat in a regular chair instead of the wheelchair and it took more time to get him into the wheelchair. We finally got him out to the car and he feel asleep instantly. While we were driving home, he undid his seatbelt and I had visions of him opening the door and taking a header out of it and rollind down alongside the road. Then he was cursing at me for slamming on the brakes and I hadn't even touched them. He called me everything but a white girl. I realize that it was due to the medicine and him still being almost asleep, but it still hurts. I guess the whole thing would have been funny if it hadn't been so pitiful.

Yesterday he had to go get 2 units of blood because his red blood cell count was so low. My sister and her husband took him down for that. I take him back to the oncologist next Tuesday. He doesn't get chemo next week, just sees the oncologist. I hope his red cell count has gone up some by then. He is taking so many drugs that my sister had to draw up a chart and after he takes them we mark it down so he doesn't overdose himself.

My dad has gotten much worse over the past few days. He has a lot of congestion in his lungs. He is not running a temperature, but I know he should be seen by a doctor. He refuses to go to the ER and wants me to call his doctor on Monday to see if they can get him in instead of making him wait til Tuesday. I am at my wit's end. He has gone downhill so rapidly, I feel the only thing keeping him going at this point is my brother's visit from FL next week. I have been crying off and on and just don't know what to do. I pray to God to please not let my dad suffer, but then I feel as if I am praying for him to die. Please keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers.

This past week has been just about the worst week of my life. My dad passed away on Monday.

As I wrote last week, he had gotten much worse. By Sunday he was pretty incoherent, but was still getting around under his own steam. Even Monday morning at 5:30 he was out of bed and sitting at the dining room table. My sister and I were going over there to spend the day with him. On the way over, Yobo called me on my cell phone and said Margaret, the woman staying with dad, had called and said dad had fallen and she couldn't get him up. By the time I got there 2 minutes later, he was already gone. The most unnerving part was his little dog. The poor dog was sitting at dad's feel just howling. I swear, he sounded human.

Of course, I called 911, but then we wouldn't let the ambo take him because he had a DNR order. Then the police had to come and because of the situation and after talking to the doctor, they decided not to have an investigator or medical examiner come out to the house. They usually have to do all that because it was an unattended death, meaning hospice wasn't involved and a doctor wasn't present. I guess we were lucky because it could have been a lot worse.

The worst part of it all is that my brother from FL was coming up on Friday to spend all this next week with dad, but dad just couldn't hold on that long. As callous as this sounds, I'm glad he is gone as all his suffering is over. He was never the same after my mother died almost five years ago and last Thursday he told me he was just waiting for the Lord to take him home. He was laid to rest on 26 July, his and mom's 49th wedding anniversary. It was some comfort knowing he is finally with Ma and is happy again.

Now my sister, brothers and I are dealing with all the crap that goes along with a death in the family. It will probably be months before everything is settled.

I miss dad terribly and will always love him, but am so glad he is done suffering. He had his first skin cancer surgery in 1970 and has had numerous one since then. This time he just waited until the cancer was too far gone for the doctors to be able to help him. He went through 7 weeks of radiation therapy and had started chemo. He only had 2 chemo treatments, and they were just too much for his system to handle. Dad, may you rest in peace.