Darrel died this morning at 8:00.

It was amazing how quickly he faded. We had an appointment with Dr. Feldman on Thursday. Darrel was weak and I ended up using a wheel chair to take him back to the car.

On Thursday night at about 9:45 we were surprised to get a phone call from Group Health about Darrel’s test results. His platelets were low and his potassium was high. They wanted him to get retested on Friday as the test can sometimes be false.

So, yesterday morning I got him moving and we went over to Burien. The doctor called back about 12:30 and said the potassium was still high and that could affect his heart. Either erratic or just stop. I asked Courtney to come home at that point. There was a medicine that he could have taken that might have helped but we decided against it.

We had seen the hospice social worker and spiritual advisor on Wednesday but weren’t seeing the nurse until Friday. She came shortly after Courtney arrived home and we discussed the medication with her. She told us that the side effect would be major diahreaa. We talked with Darrel and he didn’t have the energy to be going to the bathroom that much. So it reaffirmed our decision. Shortly before she left she told us that she didn’t think his death was imminent. Boy, was she wrong!

He was aware for the most part all day. We put him to bed and had comfort medications from hospice. He was quite restless all night and I gave him some of the meds throughout the night. Then I got up a little before 8:00 AM and took a shower. When I got back to the bedroom, he was dead.

I woke Courtney and then started the phone calls, etc.

I hadn’t planned on doing a Memorial or anything for him since we had the big party in March. He and I both felt that was his ‘memorial.’

However, I have decided to go ahead and have the Soup Night on Thursday night. Hopefully, I will be able to have it at the club so that it will hold more people. I am waiting to have it confirmed that I can get it.

I will blog details in a couple of days.

Thank you all for your support through this difficult time. It has meant a lot to me and did to Darrel, also.