A new angel

On July 3rd, I received a phone call from my sister that my dad was put into hospice.  My world stopped.  I stood there silent.. managing to let out a nervous “okay” before I hung up the phone.  Does that mean…. ya know?  I couldn’t manage to speak the words that were pounding my heart.
My young dad, just 50 years old, has had a long, exhausting & painful life for the past 6 or 7 years.  The doctors couldn’t figure out what was going on and how to fix him.  He never wanted us to worry, so it was hard getting information out of him.  His liver wasn’t acting right & he developed what they call “Watermelon Stomach”, where his stomach would bleed in various spots.  The doctors would have to go in and cauterize his stomach to stop the bleeding, and they’d have to do this all the time.  Since he was losing so much blood, he’d have to go in and get blood transfusions.. again, he’d have to do this a lot.  In fact, he holds the record at St. Francis Cabrini in Alexandria, LA for the most blood transfusions.  He was admitted to the hospital so many times, he became good friends with so many of the doctors and nurses.  It seems that everyone knew & loved my dad.  For a man that never smoked & occasionally had some red wine, it seemed totally unfair why this was happening to him.
Over the past year or so, I know his health has been on the decline.  He wasn’t able to drive or work anymore, and that was a big pill for him to swallow.  He was such a hard worker, and boy did he love his Corvettes.  My sisters live in New Orleans, about 3.5 hours from him, so they would go visit & help him when they could.  I, however, am in Florida.  I always told him how awful & guilty I feel for not being closer.  He told me, “Why?  You grew up & you moved away!  That’s what you’re supposed to do!”
I knew he was sick, but I didn’t know he was close to deathbed sick.  Sad to say, but I would have done things differently, had I known.  I would have called him more.  I would have visited him A LOT more.  I guess you just take for granted what you have, not realizing it could be gone so soon.
The day after I got the call that he was in hospice, I flew in to be with him & my family.  I spent a week with my dad.  I expected it to be all tears & sadness.  I didn’t know how I was going to get through it.  I’ll say this, thank God I believe in God.  :)  He 100% gave me the strength I needed.  And thank God I had my family there to hug when I needed a hug.  It’s funny, it seemed we all had our hard to handle moments at different times.  I believe that God designed that so we could be a rock for the person when they needed it.
Throughout the week, my dad was in and out of it, but always aware of what was going on around him.  When he talked, sometimes you could understand him.. sometimes you couldn’t.  But he was always happy, upbeat & positive.  As miserable as he was, he always had a joke & kept us laughing.  One day, we were playing some Peter Frampton, and he was singing & bopping his head.. Even when they were changing his sheets right from underneath him!  He was singing the whole time.  Another day, we were talking about tattoos & he was joking that my sister’s fiancee was alright despite having a tattoo & how he wanted to wipe mine off.  My Maw Maw then joked about how she was thinking about getting one.  Then my dad muttered something I will never forget.  “Tramp stamp”.  All our eyes got so big & the room erupted in laughter.  Dad & his jokes.
One night he took a turn for the worse.  The nurse told us we should call the rest of the family to come in.  But she said that he might not make it before they got there.  Not only did he wait for everyone to get there, but he was very picky about the time he wanted to leave.  He was in a coma, but we knew he could hear us.  We made sure he knew that we were excited for him & that he was going to get to see heaven.  We made sure he knew that we loved him.  We made sure he knew we were going to be okay.  It was 31 hours after they told us he wouldn’t make it another hour, and it was me, both of my sisters, my husband & my sister’s fiancee & we were laughing about whatever story was being told.  I guess that was the moment my dad was waiting for.  He knew we loved him.  He knew we were happy & we were being taken care of.
I never realized how special my dad was.  I knew he was kind & he was a great dad.  But I never expected the outpouring of love that was shown from everyone who he has worked with & people he went to school with from the 70s!  Everybody knew he was special.  They all had stories about kindness & compassion that my dad has shown them.   They knew.  I hope my dad can see what a legacy he left behind.  A legacy of hard work, pride but humbleness, kindness, compassion & most of all love.  Love for Jesus, his family & friends, and every single person who he has met.

R.I.P. Anthony Joseph Jeansonne
8/10/61 – 7/11/12

Thank you to all who have prayed & sent messages.
Thank you to those who sent flowers.
Thank you to Cabrini Hospice for not only the special care of my dad, but us as well.
Thank you to my inlaws for taking care of the dog while we were away.
Thank you to Raquel Sergio & Brandi Morris for taking care of the wedding.
Thank you to my husband for being my rock.
You all have made this time easier to handle because of your kindness.