My dad in 2013, at 83...would have been considered in the top two percent of folks his age for good health and capability. I don’t think he had spent more than three nights in a hospital in his entire life. For three years, he had talked of leg cramps...ever increasing.
After a run of tests....terminal cancer, stage four. The cramps weren’t really cramps and one might blame marginal doctor care for missing this. From that day, it was about five months later when he passed (he did do chemo and that extended him for 60 days, but you could say that it was marginally effective).
For me, there were two versions of my dad. Version one was the one I’d known for 57 years. Version two was the one that you had to see as person lessening in health each day. The second person is the one that you went as far as possible to ensure a pain-free day. You have people who want to come and visit in the last four to six weeks....but he was pumped up on pain-killers and he didn’t really recognize anyone.
In some ways, you come to appreciate heart attacks. The quickness makes this just one sudden pain. Drawing this out over several months...simply frustrates you more. It’s best to remember the best acts of your dad, and how positive consequences occurred often, thus making you a better person in the end.
Watching my sister and father die of cancer made me appreciate the quickness of heart attacks too.