Karen I hope your dad is ok, my mom has a pacemaker, and don't know if you know or not, but about every 5 years the battery must be changed. My mom is on coumadin, and when the time was coming close for her battery to be changed, she stopped the coumadin, but her blood levels were too high at the time so they put the changing of the battery off. Last summer, the damn pacemaker actually was protruding through her skin, she developed an infection, and we had to take her to a cardiac thoraic surgeon about 40 miles from here. In one day they removed the pacemaker, and she was on high levels of antibiotics for a week, the next week they put in the new pacemaker and she has been ok since, with the exception of this past fall breaking her hip. Oh its been one hell of a year!!! She's due to be released from this past session of nursing home/rehabilitation soon. As for the crackhead, he is digging his own grave. Keep us posted on how your dad does. Alberta

Mavis is a good one to have as the head of your prayer team - she is just the best, and has a real 'in' with GOD. I will add you and your family to my prayer list, too. God bless and take care of yourself.

I know that I should not hold him at fault, and I don't completely. I know that all the things took time, I just don't understand why he couldn't have just called 911 right then instead of going nextdoor to ask what they thought. And it's not only that he didn't really seem sad hardly at all. My dad had been taking pain killers for many years because he had broken his neck around 1980 and it would still give him pain, he had become addicted to them. A couple of days later we found a whole bottle hidden in my uncles car that were my dads and I know that my dad would not have given them away thats for sure. I can promise that(my dads family has a way of trying to deal with things through alcohol and drugs). And also my dad didn't have one dollar on him and that is unexplanable, my dad always had money on him, always. I don't want to accuse him of stealing from his dead brother, but fact is he is a bum and had been there mooching off my dad for weeks, he had been staying with friends in another town and they had to tell him to leave because he was stealing from them so I wouldn't put it past him. All in all he is my uncle and I love him still and if anything like this did happen I will leave it in gods hands. What I ment when I said that my husband tells me to try not to think about it, was that I will sometimes listen to songs that remind me of him and I will look at his pictures and I will just cry so much, and he tells me that I am making myself more sad by doing that. He has been very wonderful with helping me grieve. We have a 3 year old little girl and she misses her grandpa too very much, she will upset and tell me is sad, I will ask her whats wrong and she will say "I miss pops" thats what she called him. It makes me really sad too when she tells me that. I have always been afraid of those late night calls, I would think about how I would feel if someone close to me died, I never imagened that my dad would go He had always been such a strong man. I think about it still so much almost like it's not real I mean my dad, my dad, he's not just a phone call away anymore or a two hour drive. I really appreciate all of your advice so much, it really helps alot. Thank you all so very much. God Bless

I'm so sorry for your loss. I want you to know how very much you have my deepest sympathy. I lost my step-father of 46 years on January 6, 2015. It is devastating and I still can't believe it happened. It was also a heart attack. Everyone got to say goodbye except me since I live in another state. I feel as though I should have been there because if I had just bought a ticket and flew up there I could have been there but my mother kept saying don't come, we will need you later when he comes home after the surgery. All of this happened in just a matter of a few days anyway so there really wasn't a lot of time to get there. He had the heart attack on December 30 and passed away on January 6 during open heart surgery. He was 78 which doesn't seem old today but certainly much older than your sweet dad. My stepfather was so full of life, everyone loved him, his funeral was attended by hundreds of people lined up past the front doors. He was taking good care of my mother who has a number of ailments. He was worn out maybe from all of it. My mother was struck with a rare disease 6 months before he died. She was in a lot of pain and taking all sorts of medicines. It made her a difficult person. I was so sorry to see it since she wasn't like that before. He was her primary caregiver. I also feel very sorry for my mother who on top of her health issues, then loses her husband. She is doing better now and a new treatment has put her in remission thank the Lord. We are all cherishing our time with her now. …. My own father died when I was very young and my stepfather had been there for most all of my life. It's a loss as great as losing my father. I know what you are going through and it hurts. From losing my own father when I was young I can tell you that not a day goes by that I don't think of him. Though you never get over it exactly, you do learn to live with it and life does go on. My stepfather's death was so shocking and brought back all the painful loss of my real father. I miss my stepfather so much and am still in disbelief and so very sad that I didn't get to see him one last time before he left this earth. I can so relate to your feelings and please know you are not alone. There are so many of us at our age losing our parents and siblings. It is not easy and takes time to heal. Allow yourself time to grieve. I hope you won't feel bad for not seeing your father enough (as you mentioned) it's not going to help to make yourself feel so terrible when you are already grieving. Just try to remember the good times, it's what he would want. If you can, be there for your mom as much as is possible. She needs you now and it would make your dad happy to know you are stepping in for him. Good luck and take good care and cry as much as you want to.