THE PAST TWO MONTHS

Daddy and his 2 sisters, Lovelle and Pearl

Daddy and his three daughters
Terrie, Karen and Dianne

This has been such a stressful and traumatic couple of months. But, I am finally ready to try to get caught up. First, Tom's dad, Obed Wooldridge, had been very sick since August, and we were making frequent trips to Snyder to check on him. He finally died on December 11. When we went to Snyder on the 12th we find that my dad, Hershel Cox, had been in the floor all the night before and all that day, unable to get up, and very weak. He also had a bad cough. But, he refused to let me take him to the ER. So, I stay with him at his house all that weekend and the next few days because I'm afraid to leave him alone. During that time he is using his walker to walk, because he is so weak, and a lot of times I have to help him get up out of his chair. Finally on Tuesday morning, the day of Tom's dad's funeral, Daddy tells me he thinks he has pneumonia and thinks he needs to see the doctor. So, I get him in to see a doctor that morning. The doctor doesn't think he has pneumonia but sends us over to the hospital for lab work and a chest xray. By the time we are home from the funeral, the doctor's office is calling Daddy to tell him he needs to go to the ER because he is critically anemic. So, Tom and I take him out there and we find out that he needs to be transported to Lubbock for a Bone Marrow Biopsy before they can give him a transfusion. So, he goes by ambulance to Lubbock and we go home to get our stuff packed and get there later. The doctor there tells us they suspect he may have Leukemia or Lymphoma. Just 2 days later we find out he has Acute Leukemia and has a very short time to live. We also find out that he does have pneumonia. The oncologist tells me to call my sisters and get them there the next day so he can meet with us. So, Karen and Dianne are there on Friday to meet with him. He first explains the details and what is happening and that Daddy is too old to take the chemotherapy, because it would be so toxic on him that it would kill him. So, he says that as soon as they have his pneumonia under control he will release him to go back to Snyder under Hospice Care. Daddy takes this news very calmly. After our talk with the oncologist, Tom and I leave Lubbock to go home to have Christmas with our kids. Dianne and Karen both stay there with Daddy. We plan to come back on Christmas Eve and me stay until the end.

We go home and have a great Christmas with our kids, as I try not to think too much about what is happening in Lubbock. On Christmas Eve they are able to bring Daddy back to Snyder and they have a room ready for him in Assisted Living at Cogdell Hospital, right next door to Mom. That way they can be together. Our plans to go back to Snyder are ruined by a blizzard that hits Oklahoma and we get 14 inches of snow! So, unfortunately we don't get to go to Snyder until Saturday. Tom goes back home on Sunday and leaves me there to be with my sisters and Daddy and Mom. From the time Daddy goes to the hospital he is too weak to walk at all. He has to have help just to get him in his wheelchair or to get him on the seat to take him to the shower or to get him in his chair to sit up for a while. He also has trouble eating without getting choked and needs to eat only very soft foods. That week he is having trouble sleeping, so they give him something to help him sleep. Unfortunately, when they give him the medicine, he sleeps all night and is sleeping off and on all the next day too! By the end of that week they are having to give him Morphine for pain and he is out of it and doesn't talk or eat at all after that. Finally at 2:27 am, on January 4, 2010, Daddy dies after only 19 days from the day I took him to the doctor, with all 3 of his daughters surrounding him with our Love. His funeral is on January 7, 2010. Now Tom and I have both lost our Dads within one month! Tom's dad's death was expected and my Dad's was a shock! It had been so sudden and so unexpected! Until the time we got there we had thought Daddy was doing fine and was the strong one, taking care of the house, going to visit Mom, and getting whatever she needed, and taking care of himself. It will take a while to get over the Shock of losing him. But, we are so glad he didn't have to suffer a long time, but was able to go Home to God quickly. If Tom and I hadn't got there to Snyder when we did, he could have died in the floor and we would have found him there. That would have been so awful! But, instead we got there in time, and we were able to spend the last 3 weeks of his life together, making sure he knew how much he was Loved and appreciated, and He was able to tell us how much he Loved us and was so proud of us. I'm so glad we had that time with him. I won't ever forget it! "Daddy, I miss you so much and I will Love and Remember you Forever! You were, indeed, a Great Blessing to your family!"