My brother's last days

My brother passed away 2 weeks ago. I want to thank everyone that sent him a card on his 60th birthday in April. My mom came up with the idea of  having 60 cards delivered to him and I went on Facebook and asked everyone to send him a card. When I went to see him on his birthday he had received more that 60 cards, including one from President Obama. Those cards stayed up over his bed for a long time. I asked him if he wanted me to take them down several times and he always smiled and said no. I could see in the twinkle in his eye that all those cards were something that he was proud about.

Last January Mark was seriously ill and sent to the hospital. At that time he was put on a respirator and we thought he would pass away. He didn't. Since then, every day we were surprised Mark survived another day. He was getting better. He was getting stronger and the nursing home periodically took him outside and found ways to keep him busy. A few months ago I asked people if he should be taken off Hospice since he was getting better and we often had discussions about it.

Mark had been in a nursing home for the last 12 years. I can't imagine what I would do if that had happened to me :(. On Monday, December 16, I was driving to Sacramento to visit some offices and then I would stay the night then work in a school the next morning and then drive 5 hours north and stay the night in Yreka and then work in a should up there for a couple of hours and then return. On my drive to Sacramento I got a call from Hospice telling me Mark had not woken up that morning. I called my mom, sister, and his kids to tell them what I was told and told them I would go visit him that afternoon.

When I got to the nursing home that afternoon I asked questions to see what was going on and all anyone knew was he didn't wake up and was unconscious. I talked to the people I have talked to over the past years and they were not working in Mark's ward any more and didn't know what was going on so I told them they needed to go say goodbye. They all were suddenly concerned and went to go find out more information. I sat in his room for 2 hours that afternoon and just watched his chest rise and fall as he slept. He gasped for air as he was breathing and had oxygen supplied to him.

Josephine would often stop in and read to Mark or just talk.

I came back on Tuesday around noon before my long drive up north. He was still in the same condition as the day before. I took a few minutes alone with him and said goodbye. I cried a little thinking this was the last time I would see him alive. I got to Yreka around 5:45 and signed into my hotel and got a call from the hospital at 5:45 and they told me Mark had passed away. I called everyone, which was the hardest thing to do and then went out for a walk. It was so cold that I couldn't walk much and then went out for dinner.

The next day I was supposed to work until 1:30pm, but I let the school know I could only do half of the students I had to meet and drove down to Sacramento to sign some paperwork and get all of Mark's stuff out of his room. Some of the residents hadn't heard of his death until that morning. One woman that often visited him and just read to him or just had conversations hadn't heard about his passing away until she had come in that morning to visit him and his bed was empty. Rest In Peace big brother, you will be missed!!