Late yesterday afternoon, my grandfather, John Parker, Sr. passed away due to complications with a sudden heart condition. About three weeks ago, he began noticing his feet and legs swelling. One night, he couldn't take his boots off. That's when he figured something was terribly going wrong. So he went to his family doctor, who put him on heart medication. Grandpa said that this helped for a few days and then the symptoms came back stronger.
On Wednesday of this week, my mom took him to the VA hospital here in Salt Lake. They ran tests and found that he had a very strong, healthy heart (as if he were 40 years old) except for the valve for the aorta had shrunk so it was the diameter of an eraser head instead of a nickel or quarter. They had scheduled to operate on Monday.
Yesterday, they were running another test on him, one that required him to stay in a flat position during the four of five hour test. (Sorry, I don't remember the name of it.) Anyway, three hours into the test, he suddenly started having a panic attack, complaining that he needed to sit up and that he couldn't breathe. It was at this moment, that he began going down hill. Within an hour-and-a-half, after a crew of six doctors and as many nurses worked on him, he had passed on. The doctors were stunned, not knowing what happened. They proved that it wasn't the heart. My parents approved an autopsy to find out what went wrong. Maybe a blood clot in the lungs?
I have the honor of representing the grandkids and speaking at his funeral. I will write more on him as the days go by.
Granpa, rest in peace! Thank you for teaching me hard work. Thank you for your kindness and support to me and my family. You always were interested in what I was making of myself and I greatly appreciated that. I will miss you. We all will miss you.
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