lynnspotter

We're still keeping you in our prayers dear Baldur!
Happy Birthday to Billy Graham, Al Hirt,Luigi Riva,Alex Ribeiro, Alexa Canady Nick Glider, Lucinda Green, Kamal Haasan Christopher Knight, Tommy ThayerJohn Barnes, Andre Hastings, Mark Preston, Michael Heidt, One Be LoLily Thai : ), Joni Mitchell, Johnny Rivers, Greg Tribbett, Jeremy London, Jason London, Yunjin Kim, Zach Myers.

Baldur

Thank you everyone for the outpouring of love and sympathy.

I had typed out the outline of what happened to my father in an email to a friend and I will now paste it here so you will all understand the sequence of events better.
The 'commitment' ceremony of installing his remains in the mausoleum will be this Wednesday.
This will be the briefest of service as per my mother's wishes

Here is the text:

The event was indeed shocking despite his overall health problems of the last 30 years
He was feeling perfectly well that morning (last Thursday).
He and my mother went shopping. In the store my mother was a little bit ahead of him as he pushed the shopping carriage. She heard a dull thud and turned around to see he had fallen, he was gripping the handle of the carriage and puledl it down backwards on top of himself. He was unconscious.
Miraculously there happened to be a nurse right there, shopping and she dropped to the floor and just about immediately began CPR. Someone else called 911 and the rescue squad was dispatched immediately.
The nurse continue CPR until they arrived and jolted him with a defribullator.
Until that point there was no heart beat.
They did get the heart going erratically and rushed him to RI Hospital.
The doctors have since determined it was likely he was completely dead at the moment of the cardiac incident (which they are not calling a heart attack) and any of the efforts after that point were heroic but not likely to help. There was nothing that could be done better or faster that would have changed things.
My mother called us all before the EMTs arrived and we all got there (to the hospital) rather quickly, very shortly after my father got there himself.
The doctors said that he never regained any bit of consciousness at any point.
They wanted to do a hypothermic therapy in which they artificially lowered his body temperature to 89 degrees Fahrenheit for a full 24 hours to allow the brain to be protected from further damage. They would then slowly return him to normal temperature.
From the moment he arrived he was on a ventilator (not breathing on his own).
This was causing my mother quite a bit of distress because they had promised each other often that they would never permit the other to be kept on life support.
The doctors, who were all wonderful with great bedside manner talked her through everything telling her that they would follow her wishes and do nothing extraordinary to prolong his life. But that unless they gave him a fair chance of recovering she would always have doubts afterwards if she had done the correct thing.
Friday evening they began the slow process of raising his body temperature.
We had been told that there was almost no chance that he would return and to prepare ourselves for that eventuality.
The priest came in and my Father was given the Last Rites.
We brought my mother home, my sister stayed there with her and at 1230am we got a call from the hospital that his blood pressure was dropping and that if we wanted to see him we should come immediately.
I was undressed and in bed; somehow I got dressed got in my truck and was at my mother's in 17 minutes.She lives 12 miles away.
To this moment I have no idea how I got there so quickly, I was not speeding.
By the time I got there he had passed away.

polenta

Thanks for telling us all this. I think this means you consider us good friends even if we don't know your face or real name and neither do you. After all, WE ARE A COMMUNITY.

marius

Yes, Baldur, thanks very much for sharing. What a difficult time it is when a loved one departs. I will be sending you thoughts of comfort and care the next couple of weeks, especially on Wednesday when you go to the service. Keep us posted when you can. Thanks again for the update. : )

danila

Baldur, we are all near you!!I have been through similar pain, I lost my father many years ago, he was only 61, but I was lucky to see him, going back to Italy, as he spent 30 days in the hospital before, only the last night he was in coma, and the died, with my mother I was not that lucky, she was only 56 years old, she died before I could see her, I had a flight back home the day after she died.. We are never really ready for this!! we never forget..time can only help to make the pain less intense!! a big warm hug to you your family and your dear mother!

clorophilla

Although we don't know each other, I send a huge to you. I also lost my uncle (quite a father for me) in similar circumstances many years ago, he was 70 and was very well (he was on holidays) since he had the heart rupture, and in the night he was gone. He was so abruct, I can undestand how you feel.
I send you energy and warm thoughts.

autumn

sorry for your loss Baldur.

Baldur

Thank you again everyone.
I'm almost getting enough sleep finally, it has been rather crazy.

lynnspotter

Happy Birthday today to Hedy Lamar, Spiro Agnew, Carl Sagan Choi Hong Hi, Thomas Ferebee, Sir Alistair Horne, Carel W H Boshoff, Carl Perkins, Mary Travers, Tom Fogerty, Lou Ferrigno, Nazzareno Carusi, Pepa, Victoria Keil, Fred Lindberg, Laura Csortan, Cheyenne Pyle.

Happy Birthday yesterday to Nerva, Julian of Norwich, John Byron, Milton Bradley, Marie Prevost, Margaret Mitchell, Katherine Hepburn, Christian Barmard, Esther Rolle, Joe Flynn, Patti Page, Bonnie Raitt, Ricki Lee Jones, Diana King, Vanesa Littlecrow.

We try to carry on for you Baldur!

lynnspotter

Yes Baldur, very surreal I'm sure.

Qsilv

nod... your particular family dynamic is bound to make this extra unsettling. Getting sleep - even in short naps - is enormously helpful, and I really hope you're keeping your blood sugar as even as possible. Take care of yourself, Baldur, ok? You're a gift to the people around you. (smiles)

Qsilv

*blink* ...Katherine Hepburn, Bonnie Raitt, Carl Sagan, Lou Ferrigno, Mary Travers and Hedy Lamar... all within 24 to 48 hours?? Maaannn... on the goofy off-chance that there may be reincarnation and such, let it be clearly stated. I want to come back when the stars are in THAT configuration .........lol !

Dragon

Ok, this is a neat news story. This concept was not actually new to me but I'd never actually seen the product they talk about before.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?rn=222562&cl=22863511&ch=&s rc=canadanews

lynnspotter

Seems we've lost another great artist to down-voting. Five is fed-up! Maybe we should all vote for her "last pic", get it in top five, & something will be done by our awesome benefactors at TD....

marg

Heya, Baldur.. my love and feelings are with you - I got back too late as well, but I know absolutely that my father is alive and kicking in my heart !

polenta

Thanks lynnspotter for letting us know about Five's anger. I thought it was only the crazy Lunartics topic. Yes, I'll give her my favorite. Let's all do this. we can't lose artists.

lynnspotter

Happy Birthday today to: Martin Luther, George II, Fredrick Von Schiller, Cyrus West Field, Dobri Voynikov, Claude Raines, Carmen Miranda, Guido Turchi, Russell Johnson, Greg Lake, Sinbad, Mackenzie Phillips, Tommy Davidson, & Chris Cagle.

Login

Sincere condolences, Baldur. I know the pain of losing loved ones. Time eases the pain to a certain degree but never quite erases it. Best wishes to you and all the family.

arty

Baldur, I feel very much for you and your family. I have been away and only now saw what has happened. I think you know I lost my dear husband 16 months ago. I still feel the pain. LIke your father he was on a ventilator for three weeks. I watched his agony trying to deal with it. My mind was in a turmoil as to whether I had made the correct decision and for many months later I regretted it. Please tell your mother I know how she feels. It has taken me many months to overcome my guilt feeling, but realised I would have felt much more guilty if I had never given him the chance of recovery. My husband also had the Last Rites and I believe it gave him peace. My heart is with you and especially your dear mother.

lynnspotter

Happy Birthday to:Leonardo DiCaprio, Peta Wilson, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, Marc Summers, Bibi Andersson, Jonathan Winters, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, Alger Hiss, Pat O'Brien, George Patton, Benedicta Boccoli, Carlos Fuentes, Lavern Baker, Sam Spiegel, Victor Emmanuel III, Alfred Herman Fried, Dostoyevsky.