Dad Update.

Well ladies and gentlemen, I am here to inform you of the news. My dad (Stephen Wayne Sphar) passed away on Friday December 17th at about 1:50 pm at St Rose Hospital.

I'm sort of a mix of emotions. I'm mildly depressed, only because things keep reminding me of him. I'm a little overwhelmed at the amount of things to do, and to arrange in the next week or two; not to mention entertaining all of the family that is in town now. And last but not least, I'm relieved. I nkow that probably sounds wierd or mean, but it's true. He was in So much pain for SO long, and he was SO tired ALL the time, he was just ready to go.

The timeline sort of went like this... Monday they took the tube out, he seemed to be breathing okay, so they left it out....Tuesday, he started having difficulty, and the hospital called us all to his bedside to make some decisions with him. When we got there, he told us that he didn't want to go through this anymore, and didn't want to be re-intubated. We signed the forming stating that... Wednesday, he started going downhill again. His heart rate was erratic (to say the least), and his breathing was funky. He was having trouble talking, but I had one last real conversatioin with him about decisions that were going to have to be made. I told him that if he was ready to stop fighting, and go be with Jesus, that would be okay with me. Everyone in my family agreed, and so my dad decided that he wanted to be taken off all medications (besides morphine) and just let God's will prevail. So, that's what we did. We filed the paperwork to make that happen... Wednesday was the last time I ever saw my dad. I had been thinking all week, that when the time came, I didn't want to see his final breaths. That was just never something I wanted to do. I didn't want to remember him like that, and I know for certain that he wouldn't want me to be traumatized like that.... So Thursday, I went to work. I worked all day, and then went to Grey's night with my girlfriends. We did our little white elephant thing, and that was pretty much it....Friday came, and we knew the end was drawing near. I called the hospital/my mom every hour or so to get updates. Over the course of the day, his numbers (heart rate, bloodpressure etc) were getting very bad. The at around 2, my mom called with the news. He went home to see Jesus.

An interesting bit of information that I left out of the above paragraph (on purpose) was this : My daddy loved Jesus. WHO KNEW! Pastor Damian chatted with his Tuesday night, for only a few minutes, and apparently since my dad was sick before (in august), he had found Jesus, and had been living as a Christ Follower ever since :)

That, ladies and gents, is why I feel relief. I know that one day, some day, I will see him again in his full glory.

I love you daddy.

Stephen Wayne Sphar
September 24th, 1952 - Birthday
December 17th, 2010 - Day he went Home.