I truly hope that the rest of the year does not keep up at the same pace that these first three months have had for me. I think my head may explode.

First, I had that sinus surgery scheduled for January. It was postponed, but not until the morning of my surgery. So, I went through all the emotional turmoil with that. In February, I actually HAD the sinus surgery. In the end of February, I had Joey’s birthday (my hubby), and we planned a whole little party for that with his mother and step-dad, who came up to visit for the occasion. Ice cream cake and all!

Not a week later, we got a phone call from Joey’s mother that Wally, her husband and Joey’s step-dad, had a heart attack and was in the hospital. We dropped everything and drove the 2 1/2 hours down there to be with them. (Later on, I noticed that we so literally “dropped everything” we were doing that I found a cooked TV dinner in the microwave that my hubby had started and never got to eat.)

The next few weeks were a blur. I really couldn’t tell you what day was what, but I remember the course of events perfectly. Wally had been one of the few people (less than 3-5%) who was suffering from something called Atrial Fibrillation before the age of 65. They had been in the middle of taking steps to help correct it, even though doctors insisted that it was not “immediately life threatening.” Wally would say “Well, it isn’t their heart.” Atrial Fib is a condition where your heart beats irregularly, and sometimes goes into periods of much faster heart rhythms than is normal.

So, four days after my hubby’s birthday, Wally’s heart flipped out of the Atrial Fib heightened heartbeat condition, and simply didn’t start again. They got him to the hospital as quickly as was possible, but it was simply too late. His brain hadn’t been getting oxygen for too long - probably from even before he passed out, doctors told us.

For three agonizing days, we waited. Apparently, after this kind of an accident, 3 days is a fairly accurate amount of time to help you judge how much brain activity will be recovered. In other words, how Wally was in 3 days was basically how he was going to remain for the rest of his life.

Those 3 days came and went so very slowly. They checked his brain waves each day, and weren’t telling us anything about them. I assume that they were waiting until the end of the 3 day period, which is probably wise… but it was agony for us. On the third day, we were told that Wally’s chances of any kind of recovery were as close to 0% as you can get.

The decision was made to pull him off life support, and we waited. They moved him to a wonderful Hospice that was in one wing of the hospital, where all of his family that was there (myself, Joey, Kathy - Joey’s mother, Jeft & Jeremy - Wally’s sons) could stay in the hospital room with him 24 hours a day. And that’s just what we did. We had 2 dogs that needed to be taken care of, as well, and so I would make trips back and forth to the house to let them out 3 times a day. I made trips to get cappuccinos and the occasional dinner for everyone, as well - they call me “Errand Girl!” I didn’t mind… it was the least I could do.

I only knew Wally for a short 6 years, but it was long enough for me to learn what a great and selfless guy he was. He (& Kathy) made me feel like a member of their family more than I could have ever hoped from my in-laws. I hope he knew how much I had grown to love him in those 6 years. I’m sure he did.

Now, back to the busy topic… 2 days after I had gone down to be with Kathy & Wally in the hospital, I had to drive back up here to Dothan. My ICL surgery was coming up, and I had to have the pre-procedure done. (I couldn’t reschedule the surgery, because two of us were getting it done at the same time and one being done was dependent on the other… not to mention that the company that makes the lenses for the surgery were flying into town for the surgeries!) Basically, they had to poke small holes in my eyes with lasers to help keep the pressure in my eyes how they should be once the lenses were implanted.

So, I left my husband with them at the hospital and drove back up here. I had it done, and then had to go back the next day for a checkup, and then I could - finally! - drive back down to be with Joey & Kathy and the rest of the family that had arrived down there.

Wally passed away on March 4th, 2007. We had the Memorial Service that Wednesday (it was beautiful!), my husband and I drove back home that night, and the next day I had ICL surgery on my left eye. The next day I had ICL surgery on my right eye (I’ll be posting more on my experiences with the ICL surgery soon - it’s amazing!).

Kathy is staying with us. We didn’t want her to have to be alone at home quite yet. She’s doing a wonderful job with all this, all things considered. I’m worried about her going back this Sunday, but I’m sure that Wally will be with her to help her through those initial lonely times. I can’t even imagine what that would be like, to go through having to readjust yourself to living alone after having been married to someone for over 20 years.

Wally was only 56 years old.

We love you, Wally.

My husband posted his words from Wally’s memorial service in his blog. You can find it here:

http://shimerdla.com/2007/03/07/memorial-service-for-walter-armentrout/

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.