Our family has suffered a great, sad and unfortunate loss. Big Daddy, the girls' grandpa passed away on Monday, the 3rd of March, from...we don't know exactly. Some sort of infection is suspected but we don't know for sure.
He was being treated in Houston for a blood disorder called MDS. It's somewhat of a precursor to Leukemia and we were hoping that his treatments would put it into remission for 18-24 months. We had great hopes. After his first round of a new treatment protocol we were quite optimistic, then he got a fungal infection and they had to go into his sinuses and remove tissue and bone that had become necrotic. Days before he was supposed to be released from the hospital his blood pressure dropped and the doctors put him in the ICU just to be safe.
His low blood pressure cause his kidneys to operate at diminished capacity and he retained about 40 pounds (~5 gallons) of fluids. They started him on dialysis to eliminate some of the fluid but he went into cardiac arrest. They were able to stabilize him, albeit temporarily, and he passed about 3 hours afterwards.Gina was in Reno for work and started making plans to get to Houston to see him as soon as she could, which turned out to be almost 8pm. The next day she flew home and we flew to Florida for the services 2 days later.
He was a great man and loved the twins. Gina is understandably sad for so many reasons, not the least is she can't call him everyday on the way into work. But she is also sad because she really wanted the girls to have memories of Big Daddy.
And he really loved his grand babies. Almost everyone of his friends I spoke with at the services mentioned how much he enjoyed and loved and couldn't wait to see the girls.
For me, he was a wonderful Father-in-law. He welcomed me into the family without hesitation or conditions and made me feel like I'd been a part of it for years. We should all be so fortunate to have people like Big Daddy in our lives.
If you've read much of this blog, especially the parts about Teagan, then you know I look for signs to let me know that those who have been called home are still "around".
Last week we were in the kitchen feeding the girls. I had my back to the room and Gina was doing something by the fridge when she said "Scott, do you see that?"
I turned around and to see one sauce pan and a hanging basket swinging on the rack. I had felt a sharp blow of cold air through the window a moment before she called me but it wasn't enough to get these swinging like they were AND they weren't slowing down. The other thing I should mention is that these are hanging from a wire shelf that serves as a pot rack and had many other pans in between that weren't moving at all. And these things weren't anywhere near each other...one was on the left side about 1 foot from the end and the other on the right end...a good 3 feet between.
I looked at Gina and said "Teagan? No."
She said "Big Daddy!"
Gina said if he's going to be anywhere, it's with the girls. Which makes me wonder if they've seen him and if some of their chatting is to him, or Teagan. Hmmmm.
For me it's reassuring and comforting that those we love surround us more than they ever could when they walked among us.
Rest in peace, Big Daddy...and visit often...we love and miss you.
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