His 62nd Birthday... 5 Years Ago

Today marks Alex' what would have been his 67th birthday. The last time he celebrated his birthday, he was 62. Tina and Kipp took us to the Clark Planetarium and out to eat. We had a good time. He also had just gotten his new driver's license a few days before. He had bought a brand new 4-wheeler for his birthday and was planning on using it a lot during the summer and also to help him with his irrigation.

Alex had been having a cough for over a month. He went to the Urgent Care Center and he was wheezing really bad. They said he just had a cold and gave him anti-biotics. They also gave him a nebulizer for his wheezing. They called later to tell him he had a very slight shadow on his lungs of a very mild pneumonia and they told him to keep taking the ant-biotics. They had x-rayed his heart and they said it was of the normal size.

He did start feeling better but his cough still lingered. He mentioned feeling more tired than usual. He was still very sleepy all the time and fell asleep as soon as he sat down. The week before he died, he was very busy staining the deck and fixing his tractor. He had plans to go get some manure and start his spring garden which he dearly loved doing. He was also in the middle of remodeling his bedroom. We had plans to go on a little spring trip with Marty and his family. The day before we were to leave on the trip, he died sometime during the early morning hours of Good Friday, April 9, 2004. It was less than a month since celebrating his birthday. An autopsy said it was his heart and that it was enlarged but the x-ray he had said it was fine. He had also had an echo-cardiogram a year earlier that said his heart was fine. They said he had had high blood pressure and that accounted for his large heart but no Dr. ever told him he did. I know he suffered greatly from sleep apnea and he would stop breathing for minutes at a time. I am sure that put a great stress on his heart and that caused it beat wildly and cause his death.

I miss him and his fun personality. He was a very good man and a hard worker and would do anything for those he loved. So even though he is not here today for his 67th birthday, I would like to tell him wherever he is that I loved him and I feel his spirit around our yard each day. You can't look out and not see something his hand created both inside and outside the house.