Many here that attended the symposium in PA '08 may remember the wiggly
champagne boy that Dr. Snell had on stage with her during the animal
communication session. His name was Fat Boy, which he told her he
didn't like.

Well, our FB lost his fight with insulinoma this past Tuesday.

I haven't had time to post because just the day before my Dad was
admitted to the hospital with pulmonary edema & chronic heart failure.
My folks live in FL & I in VA, so on Wednesday had to fly down. Dad is
in hospice care now & the family has been coming in from all over to
spend time with him while he is still lucid. We don't know how long we
have left with him, so we are making our peace with him. A luxury most
don't get. I was able to say the words "I love you Daddy" directly to
him. The words that in the past were so difficult for me to say & most
times in a situation like this would go unsaid because of sudden loss.

The family doesn't get the ferret thing so it's hard to be dealing with
FB's crossing while sitting in Dad's hospice room. The place is great,
but I've been walking around in a stupor. I was able to spend the
entire day with Dad Friday, which was mostly just me & him for a few
hours while family members were running airport shuttles & other
errands. When Mom got back to Dads room I left them so they could have
some alone time & borrowed Mom's car to find a place to grab a bite
to eat. It wasn't until then that I was able to let down my "strong,
eldest child" persona and just bawled for a straight 45 minutes.

Dad was a smoker. He knows he did a lot of this to himself and has
decided he doesn't want to fight it any longer. Yesterday after my
"lunch run" I returned to the room to find their priest there. He is a
young man from Ethiopia with a life spark that radiates from him. Dad
has never been much of a religious man, until recently. This young
priest was so kind & wonderful in explaining that he wasn't there to
perform Last Rites, he was there to do a "healing" prayer. "To make
him whole & restore him to health in preparation for his trip back
*Home*". It was the first time I have ever seen my Dad take communion.
He has inner peace now. My grief for FB's loss has been doubly
difficult to come to grips with while going thru things with Dad &
feel like my sanity is on very shaky ground.

Hug those you love, whether they are fur "kids" or skin "kids". And
tell them you love them. Make sure they hear you & know this before
the end.

Live your words, have no regrets; we don't know how long we get.

Debbie

[Posted in FML 6252]