I got some sad news yesterday. My dads best friend past away. This man served 3 tours in Vietnam and was a proud vet. He was also a dad, a husband, a friend, and too young to be gone already. Oh, and he was hilarious. We would always team up and pick on my dad. Almost every time I saw him he would say something sweet like, 'Sweety, I'm not sure how you turned out so pretty with THAT as a father.' Giving my dad a hard time was an excellent way for us to bond.
About 6 months ago he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. It wasn't long before he was in the hospital and having surgery to remove one of his lungs. Things did not go well after his surgery. A number of times he stopped breathing and even suffered a stroke. It took weeks, but he did start to improve. The last couple of weeks he spent in a adult-care rehabilitation facility. Yesterday morning after a day of developing a cough, they admitted him back to the hospital with pneumonia. At 4:00 yesterday, he passed away.
He spent weeks suffering and in pain. He would not have wanted to live that way. He talked a lot with my dad after his diagnosis. Mostly about how he'd lived a good life and if it was his time to go, it was his time. He didn't want to live in suffering. I think my dad was more upset while his friend was in the hospital than a couple of hours after he was gone. Knowing that he is no longer connected to machines to do his feeding and breathing brings my dad peace. I hope that same peace is settling over the rest of his family and friends.
For now, I hope that he is up there practicing his cribbage game, because next time we play I'm going to take more than just $4. :)
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