Thursday, July 9, 2009

Sad ending to the holiday weekend

Keith 1964-2009

The continuation of our holiday weekend report....

Just after we had settled in to watch our movie in the camper Sunday night, Scott's Mom called to let us know his brother Keith was taken to the hospital. 5:45am Monday morning we were awakened by her calling to tell him Keith had just died. It was a big shock, but looking back, not entirely. We packed everything up and headed home.

Keith was only 44 yrs old. He had health problems over the past few years and had spent time in the hospital on several occassions. This all took a toll on his heart. They had implanted a defibrillator in his heart a few years ago but then he got an infection around one the of leads. Scar tissue prevented them from changing the lead out so doctors wanted to put a new device in his chest. Keith wasn't willing to go thru that surgery again anytime soon so he wore an external one for awhile.

No one knows for sure what happened Sunday night but they don't think the cause had anything to do with his heart. His weak heart could be partly why they couldn't stabilize him.

Tuesday, Scott flew down to be with his folks for the next week, to be together and to help them with alot of the stuff that needs to be done after something like this. I stayed home to take care of the business, our home and the dogs. It's easy for me to temporarily 'forget' or 'ignore' the sadness as I go about my daily routine; out of sight out of mind, 5000 miles away, but Scott's absence reminds me. I pray for peace and strength for the folks, and Scott, as they face each day. Keith had been living with his parents so his absence is a big adjustment for them, in more ways than one.

The picture is old and scanned, and not very clear, but it's the most recent one of him I could find at the moment (that wasn't of him in the hospital).

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