The last part of June was very dramatic and sad for our family, when my oldest brother Scott passed away unexpectedly. He had been sick with a cold for about a month and it wasn't going away. When he finally went to see a doctor, he was diagnosed with pneumonia, for which he began treatments. After a couple of weeks, when his condition hadn't improved much, Dad took him to his doctor. That was on Thursday. He was sent to the emergency room at American Fork hospital and was admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit. The next morning, he was taken by ambulance to the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. That afternoon he was taken by Life Flight helicopter to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. Shortly after that, one of the doctors called with the alarming news that Scott was not expected to live very long. There was some concern that he would not survive the night.We all rushed to his side and were told that his heart was failing - it was enlarged and not pumping only 5-15% of its capacity (normal is about 60%). By this time, his liver and kidneys were so badly damaged by the lack of bloodflow that he was ineligible for transplant (even if a donor heart were available.) We stayed with him through the night and the next morning he was still stable, so I brought Mom and Dad home to freshen up and get a little rest. I was about ready to lie down for a nap, when the hospital called and asked us to hurry back because the surgeon wanted to try a procedure that would help Scott's heart pump more blood. They wanted Mom and Dad there to give their approval. So we rushed back up.
After the procedure, his heart rate and blood pressure dropped a bit but remained stable throughout the day and through the night. The next morning (Sunday) the doctors consulted and gave Scott the sad news that they had done all they could do. The choices were 1) stay alive indefinitely with no chance of improvement or 2) disconnect all of the medications and equipment and make him comfortable (in which case, time would take its course.) Scott chose the latter.
We called all of the family together: Steve and Barbara, Drew and Emily, Cameron, Mariana, Amy and Me, and Grace. Olivia was in Washington, D.C. and would not be back until Wednesday, but she joined us via speaker phone as we all said our good-byes.
Everything was disconnected around noon and Scott passed away peacefully at 4:43 P.M. on Father's Day, 21 June 2009. (I told Dad that was a pretty lousy way to spend Father's Day. To make things worse, the next day, was Mom and Dad's 58th wedding anniversary.)
Scott's memorial service was held the next Saturday and the following Monday, we laid him to rest in the Wilford Cemetary in Wilford, Idaho. Scott is missed by all of us.
You can read his obituary here.
