You never think of being without your parents, no matter how old you get. They're always Mom & Dad, and you just take for granted they're always going to be around. It's a real eye-opener when you realize that both your parents are gone, and you are truly now "on your own" without Mom and/or Dad around to advise you.
Hey, Rich, I am sorry you are going through this pain with your father. And Dobie, God bless, you poor thing. Truer words were never spoken. My father was the love of my life, he was diagnosed in front of me with Stage 4 terminal bladder cancer in July 2002, went through chemo and radiation multiple times, threatened to kill himself multiple times cause he was in so much pain, my mom finallly put a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order in place at his last hospital. I was sitting at my house on the couch November 14, 2006 at 11:35 pm, reading, then I got the strangest creepy feeling that I had to go to him in the hospital. I got in my car, drove the 7 blocks to my mom's house, told her what I was feeling, asked her if she wanted to go along. She said no only because she could see I was in a hurry to get there, and she, being 78 at the time, would have needed a while to get out of bed and go somewhere. I raced out to the hospital in the snow, went thru the emergency room doors up to his room, asked the nurse for a diet Pepsi cause I intended to stay there all night, had a couple sips, then went over to his bedside, 12:15 in the morning on November 15, stroked his white hair with my right hand, held his left land in mine, and whispered in his ear, "Daddy, it's Mandy. I'm here, and I love you." He took his last breath at that moment, right there in my arms. Nurses said he was just waiting to hear those words so he could go on to the next world, happy, peacefully. My daddy and I were always best friends, and my Mom and brother, they were best friends. I will live the rest of my life, never knowing if he would have died anyway at 12:15 am that morning all alone, or if it was my words in his ear, comforting him, that put an end to his misery. My daddy was the dearest man that ever lived. I've still got my mom, though, thank God. We watch "Dancing with the Stars" together, new season just started last night. Losing one of them most definitely makes you thank your lucky stars you've still got one left. I can't even imagine when they're both gone, how empty life will be...
