No more pain for Daudy

Wed. morning when I got to the hospital at 6:30, the Nurse said that Daudy was trying to talk, but she couldn't understand him. I got excited and asked him a few questions. The responses that I understood were, vas?, ih vase net and oh my! When he tried to say more than one word at a time, I couldn’t understand him. The excitement was short lived. His oxygen saturation levels kept dropping. I can’t remember the order in which the Doctors came in, but none had good news. When Doctor Patel came in and asked me if it was ok if we move Daudy to ICU, I didn’t hesitate to answer, yes. Wil was in a meeting, Mary needed to be at work and Sue was at home in KS. Going to ICU was not a decision I had to make, since it was discussed previously. I called Wil and he came right up.

We were told the reason for sending him to ICU was that he could be watched better. They also wanted more antibiotics, liver specialist to check him, chest xray and more bld work.

I was alone with Daudy in ICU and there were lots of questions coming my way. I was getting a bit stressed when Tom, an employee whose office is next to Wil, stopped by. I asked if Wil was still in a meeting. Soon after, Wil set up camp in ICU and did his work from there. Tom had gone downstairs and told Wil that he thinks his wife needs him. Thanks Tom!

I had called both Mary and Sue to give them the update and it was so hard for both of them to not just drop everything and come. Mary was there by 2:30. After being with him all day, we talked and decide to suggest that the grandchildren that were around, should come see Daudy. He was still opening his eyes and at times would try to say something. Matt, Monica, Brennan, Sawyer and Jeremiah, Jim and Bryce, Dave, Agne, Daniel and Benjamin were all there. I took my grandsons to the private waiting room and had some needed grandchildren time.

When it came time to go home, I decided that I would spend the night. He seemed to do better when there was a familiar face around when he was moaning. That was the evening of the last storm. I was glad Wil was still there. We had to turn Daudys bed away from the window and since we chose to stay in the room with him, they gave us blankets to put over our heads, in the windows broke. We are thankful that we didn’t need them, but we did loose power and in the short time that it switched over to the generator, Daudy’s saturations dropped. Wil then went home and I went to sleep on the chair bed. Mary had gone home, just before the storm. It was a tough night. I was up and down with him. I was asking for pain meds for him before he was scheduled to have them. The Nurse then called the Doctor and got an order to give Morphine every 2 hours. By morning, he was getting more restless and then the doctor ordered Ativan, and that did the trick.

Soon after Wil got there Thursday, Dr. Patel came in the room, sat down and asked us to pull up a chair. He said that Alvin has multi-organ failure: Both lungs, liver and brain.

Dr. Patel advocated maximizing comfort : making sure he has no pain and is not restless.

He also advocates that we, the family, get our rest.

Marilyn and Joyce went to Life Care in LaGrange and brought Barbara to the hospital. We brought her there, thinking they would take her home late afternoon.

In this picture, Wil was on the other side of the wall on another phone and they were updating Sue and consulting about some decisions they may need to make.

Roxane stopped by with the children. Grandma holding Matthew.

Bryce and Tara with Daudy

All of a sudden around 5:00, Daudy quit breathing. One of the children quickly ran out to get Mary, who had gone out to talk on the phone with her daughter-in-law, Deb.

We said our good byes, took off the mask so grandma could kiss him good bye a bit better. He started to breathe again but struggled without the mask and so we put it back on.

The hospital called Pastor Ben and he was there with us the rest of the evening. We had some very meaning prayer times.

Matt and Monica had gotten a sitter and had planned to pick up dinner for us and Mary and spend the evening with us. I sent them a text, saying that I think we are loosing Daudy. They came straight to the hospital. It was such a blessing to have them with us. There were lots of tears shed. It meant a lot to hear grandma tell Matt how Daudy always thought a lot of him.

Worn out mother trying to make sense out of everything and very concerned what this all means for her. Loosing someone that she was married to for 66 years and who went to see her at the Nursing Home almost every day for a year now.

Mary’s son Jim came later after the rest of his family went home. Jim and Matt would have been the only grandchildren there when Daudy died. The rest were all there in spirit.

It just so happened that David and Mary Ellen had come to see Daudy right soon after he had stopped breathing the 1st time. We asked them to let Daudy’s other siblings know. It was such a blessing to us as a family, to have almost all of Daudy’s siblings and spouses there within an hour of his death. My sister Anna and Frank also stopped by to show their support.

Alvin D Beachy born June 28, 1923 and died June 24, 2010 at 9:40 PM

We love you Dad-Daudy