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I started this post early in the summer and never finished it....
Its been an emotional summer.  My Dad was admitted to Roswell Park Cancer Institute for the first two weekends in May, the third weekend he attended my nephews first communion, and the following week was admitted again.  He was diagnosed with Colitis and then became Septic.  He slowly improved but his bone marrow refused to kick in.  After 4-5 transfusions a week and shots to help produce blood cells, the Doctors met with us.  They told us there wasn't any more they could do.  My Dad hasn't been eating normally since he had the stem cell transplant.  The Doctors said sometimes when the chemo kills all of the bad cells/bacteria it also destroys the good cells/bacteria. 


Yesterday my Dad was transferred to Hospice.  He is sleeping 99% of the time.  Yesterday he groaned and nodded his head when I spoke to him.  I have been going almost every day to visit.  The hospital is about 30 minutes away and Hospice will be about 20.  The kids have been great.  Evan knows Grandpa won't survive but it hasn't completely hit him yet.  My Dad had promised Evan this huge Lego and wanted to give it to him.  So Saturday we had Grandpa give it to him and it brought him such joy to see Evan dance around with excitement.  Evan was so sweet he told me I really want the Arkham Assylum Lego but I want Grandpa to come home more.  My Dad is afraid the kids won't remember him.  I hope they always do.  I was trying to remember my first experience with death.  I think I was around 4 when my Great Grandma passed away.  I can remember going to her apartment and having fig newton cookies, I remember what her bathroom looks like but not what she looked like other than from one or two pictures. 

Farewell Summer

     Once again summer has come to a close.  It has been a very difficult summer.  My Dad went in to the hospital with an infection in May.  He was diagnosed with Sepsis and Colitis.  After recovering from that his immune system was very compromised.  His body stopped producing bone marrow.  For weeks we had daily transfusion and shots to regenerate blood cell growth.  In mid July my Dad was sent to hospice and he lost his battle on July 27th.

 
     I am tearing up a month later as I briefly relive it for our blog.  As I have seen my friends loose parents to heart attacks, suicide, and breast cancer.  I never anticipated losing my Dad at 72.  He battled non Hodgkin's lymphoma for 4 years before undergoing a stem cell transplant last September.  He was in remission from the cancer but lost his battle after all. 
     My parents live in the same neighborhood as us, so I feel the loss each day.  Sara has adjusted and Evan has had a tougher time with it.  In July my Dad made me purchase the one Lego Evan has been dreaming of.  He gave it to him at the hospital and 4 days later Evan completed it, on his own.  We were able to share the joy of Evan and Grandpa during those last few days.  I hope Evan always remembers how special he was to my Dad and his special gift from Grandpa. 

     August flew by as we attempted to catch up and enjoy summer.  The weather didn't always cooperate.  Sara did learn to swim underwater and has no fear jumping in the pool.  Evan overcame his fear of the pool and finally jumped off the side alone at the end of the summer.  We practiced riding bikes.  Sara is much more athletic and daring than Evan.  She can ride like a pro with training wheels.  Evan wasn't interested in peddling until half the summer went by.  Sara swings by herself, and will do the monkey bars and turn around and come back on her own.  Today my mom said she spent the afternoon attempting to climb up the slide and wouldn't leave until she mastered it.

     School has begun.  Evan had his first half day of Kindergarten and the remainder of the week will be full days.  Sara goes for a full day on Friday.  Lunch making and packing backpacks has begun!  Evan wore his uniform for the first time today and was very proud to be in it.  He came home and told me he didn't like Kindergarten but he didn't cry. Last year we had lots of crying. 
     I have the least amount of preps ever.  I have 2 keyboarding classes and 3 accounting classes.  I am anxiously awaiting the ipads we received from a Discover Card grant to be delivered.  We have a class set of 30.  I borrowed one over the summer and the kids and I have had fun learning and playing.  Its amazing how quickly they become pros.  The also argue over the Kindle Fire and the ipad.  But they saved us each time we spent hours at the hospital or Hospice.  The kids sat quietly and played and we were able to show my Dad pictures and videos.