Patootie

Last week when Keith's dad was ailing my sister told me a story that broke my heart. Apparently, when he first came to the hospital he was fine but within an hour the bleeding started to really make his condition deteriorate quickly. His daughter, Janis, whom I just adore...she is just an awesome person had arrived and the doctor asked Ken if he knew who she was. He said he did but when asked what her name was he answered with , " I have no idea." Janis then said, "That's ok Dad, tell them my nickname" Ken didn't know that either. He ended up being vented later that day and then dying. Before we went to Detroit I kept thinking about that and he just broke my heart. I hated that was her last interaction with her father. Especially b/c that isn't like him at all. So, on Weds night she told a story that just floored me. Her cousin came up to her at the funeral home on Tuesday night and said that he had a dream that he felt he needed to tell her about. He dreamnt the night before Ken died that Ken came to him in his dream and said " You have to tell Janis "Patottie" and then he said toots and that in his dream Ken died. He didn't know at the time that his uncle was even in the hospital. The next day he got a call from his mom telling him the news and the dream suddenly made more sense. Apparently her cousin had a dog called Patootie and Janis was born around the same time as the dog and suddenly the dog's name became her nickname..go figure! She took such comfort from that revelation. It was if her dad was saying, " I knew who you were,I just wasn't able to tell you." Such a simple story but adds such comfort to everyone involved. Another interesting story is that when they took him off the vent his heart immediately stopped beating. The neurologist said that he has never seen that happen in over 30 years of practicing medicine. Keith laughed at this fact because Ken was never one for long goodbyes. When he was at a family gathering and he was ready to go, he was gone. They took his quick goodbye as I sign that he was truly ready to go home and that he was ok. I know we will all be ok as time goes on!

S