Butler was on the bed with me so I had to contort myself around him to try to sleep - until he decided he wanted to get off the bed sometime after midnight. And then I was amazed this morning. Butler has not let me sleep past 6:00 a.m. for quite a while - even during the work week when I don't need to get up until 6:30 but today not a peep out of him. And....he has not been able to jump up onto the bed for a few months - I have to basically toss him onto the bed. This morning sometime after 6:00 a.m. Butler jumps onto the bed and lays down next to me to "snuggle". I thanked God for that moment.
I got up a little before 7:00 to get ready to watch John Hagge and Dad called wanting to know if I was going to drive to Pella today. I told him I had planned on it after going to church - I needed to go to church to be uplifted by friends and uplifted spiritually today. Dad called back about five minutes later letting me know we had an appointment to meet with the funeral director at 2:00 p.m.
When I walked into church I was immediately given hugs by many of my church family which I truly appreciated. The song service was great and so was the sermon - one of our elders spoke since our senior pastor is on a wilderness trip with some of the guys from the church. I got more hugs and kind words after church and got an absolute amazing surprise. Three little girls came up to me and gave me handmade cards! I was blown away - and gave all three of them hugs. My small group leader and wife had taught the Waves group (K-3rd grade) and all the kids had made cards for me. As Rob (my small group leader) handed me several cards, I lost it (crying) on his shoulder and told him I would treasure these cards forever. This month Waves are learning about Helpfulness and today they were learning how to be helpful to someone at church - and it was me. As I walked out a couple more little girls personally handed me their cards and I gave them hugs.
So after stopping at the Casey's close to church for a bottle of pop and something to snack on I headed to Pella. I got there around 12:15 and knocked on Dad's door - no answer. I have a key to his apartment and let myself in calling "Dad" and no answer. I'm thinking, "great, Dad's aneurysm has blown and I'm going to find him dead in his bedroom". Nope - no Dad. No Dad anywhere in his apartment, downstairs in the laundry area for his building or his storage room - and no answer when I call his cell phone. Lovely. He did appear about 10-15 minutes later letting me know he had gone out to eat lunch. We talked about different aspects of Mom's service and picked out something for her to wear.
Dad told me that he took the three mylar birthday balloons he had gotten for Mom, tied them together and as they drove away from Comfort House with her last night - he released the balloons into the air and watched them go higher and higher. I thought that was awesome.
We got everything taken care of meeting with the funeral director. I will finalize Mom's obituary tomorrow so it will appear in Tuesday's Des Moines Register (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/). Tuesday morning Dad and I will have time to be with Mom at the funeral home before opening the time for public viewing - we will not be having a family viewing in the evening.
Public Viewing: Tuesday afternoon until closing
Van Dyk - Duven Funeral Home
615 West First Street - Pella
641.628.2540
Funeral: Wednesday
9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Family Viewing/Visitation
10:00 a.m. Service
First Baptist Church
709 Independence Street, Pella
641.628.3401
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Hospice of Pella or the First Baptist Church. Donations can be sent to the funeral home and they will be given to Dad or they can be sent to Dad directly.
Dad's address:
LaVerne Hill
832 Franklin #3
Pella, IA 50219
It has been interesting to see some similarities between Mike's last days and Mom's. Mike went into the hospital 3/1 and was in-and-out three times before coming home on 4/24 with home Hospice and then passing on 4/27. His kidney cancer had spread to his lungs, he had fluid in his lungs, they took two huge glass containers of bloody fluid from his lungs. Mike was "involved" with Hospice for 3 1/2 to 4 days.
Mom went into the hospital 6/1 (both went in the first of the month) but she did not leave the hospital until going to Hospice. She passed 7/16 (eight days short of the same amount of time Mike first went into the hospital and then passed). Mom was "involved" with Hospice for 3 1/2 to 4 days. Mom's cancer was lung cancer with a quart of bloody fluid taken out of her lungs.
