K-G Flake: 31 Years ago today, My Dad Died...1 Year ago today, Ken came home for Hospice

31 years ago today at 5:45 am I received a phone call. I thought that it was a subbing call, but then I looked at the clock and saw how early it was. That wasn't good. My super, well loved father passed away at 52 from fibrosis of the lungs, due to too much radiation treatment for his Hodgkin's Disease.

The radiologist was an awful man. My father was a civil servant, with average pay for the day. The doctor told him,"You took a mortgage out for your home, you took a loan out for your car, I'm not waiting for Blue Cross-Blue Shield, take a loan out to pay me."

I loved my father to the ends of the earth. He made us feel as if all four of us were his favorite. I always figured that if I was 1/2 as good a parent as my Dad was, that my kids would turn out all right. *

So it did not slip my mind in the least when we found out that Ken would come home for Hospice a year ago today. It compounded the memory date, emblazoned it in my heart and soul forever.

Of course, we were hoping to heal Ken. And, after all, while home in Hospice, he got rid of his hematuria, 2 colds, and started to gain weight/eat & drink more, ever so slowly. But then he made a drastic turn for the worst, his body temperature plummeted to 88 degrees, and then the following day, his final day here on earth with us in May, to 87 degrees. He was 55.

My sister said that he had 1 foot in heaven , and three here on earth. That so described Ken. He did not want to leave. But, alas, it was not his decision to make , but it was the decision of the man upstairs.

This is the last nice photo smile that Ken gave us , Thanksgiving Day, 2009, the day before the stroke. He's holding up that smile for us. Shortly after the photo was taken, while driving back to his sister's place, I had to stop the car 3 times for him to vomit. That fall was so uncomfortable for him. His oncologist had swine flu, and he picked up a nasty virus w/the last chemo treatment that he had had.

He tried so hard to have a nice , normal Thanksgiving dinner. Poor baby.