My dad died Sunday.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

I appreciate the support this group offered when I posted about it a couple of months ago when he was first diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.

He decided against chemo and was cared for by a family effort with hospice support. The pandemic and family hostilities complicated the experience, but he had constant attention by Mom and at least two additional family members. He mercifully suffered little physical pain. Ten days ago, he was moved into a hospital bed set up next to the bed he'd shared with Mom until then. He died there in the early hours of Sunday morning.


My sister and niece, an RN, who were there at the time, washed him, dressed him, and laid him out on that hospital bed. He was there for about 7 hours, allowing all 5 of his children to arrive and see him before he was taken to the funeral home for cremation.

The ongoing planning of the funeral & "celebration" is fraught with the family tensions, including disparate views on COVID safety precautions. Hopefully we can find a way to work through the conflict. One way or another, those events will occur this coming Saturday.


Now we face another family health crisis. Two weeks ago, my brother-in-law was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia--a rare form of the disease which is much more common in children. Prognosis is far worse for adults who get it. Due to his severely compromised immune system, he's had self-isolate as he waits for arrangements to be made for his admission for a four to six week stay during which the first course of treatment will be administered.

He is the brother my husband is closest to, a fellow musician, and helluva nice guy. He's a park ranger and was in good shape. Meanwhile, the lazy fast food prez bounces back from COVID and carries on.