So I've been gone from Hive for a while and this is a large part of the reason why.
In early January, I’ve got a phone call from my brother telling me that that my dad had had another fall and had to go to hospital.
Apparently my dad actually asked to go to hospital and for him to ask to go to hospital that means it’s bad because he’s one of those tough old truck drivers who would never admit that he was in pain because he doesn't like putting people out- being an inconvenience.
In honour of dad's favourite fashion, we had a 'flannie' shirt funeral
My brother and his best mate Jai built a special platform for the back of the truck to give dad his last ride to Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again".
So I quickly packed my bag and raced up there which is almost a 10 hour journey and I expected only to stay for a few days but when I saw him in hospital I knew that I couldn't leave.
So I sat with him every afternoon until about 8/9pm just chatting, showing all these old photos, anything to get him motivated to want to come home, while my brother sat with him in the mornings.
As I sat with him, watching his face, even when he was asleep, I noticed that every time he moved his toe, his face would screw up in intense agony.
I watched him do this for a few days and during this time I’ve got the nurses to show me the bruising on him and he did look a lot like a Dalmatian dog, but I still couldn’t understand why he was in so much pain with just a few bruises and no breaks.
Dad with his first truck in 1952 at the age of 17- A fuel tanker!
Dad in his 'Natios'- National Service uniform in about 1952/3 with his dad (my Grandpa) to his left, his cousins and younger brothers to his right and a couple of his mates.
I commented to the nurses a few times that the amount of pain he was showing did not match his bruising, so they did some scans and found out that he had a fractured T12 and although they said it was an old fracture somewhere between two months and 12 months old, obviously a series of 6-7 falls in a month period had triggered a reaction.
Dad with his old #CommerKnocker #GoldenFleece Fuel tanker w8ith his girlfiend Lola (my mum)
Mum and Dad
During this time they had to try his warfarin with heparin to get his INR level back to normal.
For those of you who are not familiar with those medical terms, both warfarin and Heparin are blood thinners, but warfarin is the strongest of the lot and what they both do is control the speed at which your Blood coagulates- which is a test called INR which is just an international standard for the speed that they calculate.
https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/blog/what-is-an-inr-test
So therefore if it’s too fast then the blood is too thick and it won’t pump around the heart and the body fast enough. If it’s too slow then the blood is too thin and if he got cut or bruised, he could not stop bleeding.
Us at the beach
Australia's version of "Evel Knievel"
Unfortunately when dad was first admitted into hospital, his INR was at 10 which is far too thin, meaning he could’ve bled internally and died instantly.
They got it down from 10, to just 1- which is far too low, puting him at a risk of developing a blood clot.
So they took a few weeks titrating his INR- continuously measuring and adjusting the balance of the blood thinners, between the Heparin and the Wharfarin to get it back to its normal levels between 3 and 4.
Dad always entertaining everyone, from the kids to the adults.
With his best mate "Douchy" RIP Douchy. Now you and dad are continuing those antics up in heaven again.
Then the medical team realisd he was anaemic, so gave him a couple of bags of intravenous Iron.
Then they realised he didn’t have enough blood at all, so they gave him a couple of bags of intravenous Blood.
Then they realised he had an infection somewhere, so gave him a couple of bags of intravenous antibiotics.
"Gone Fishing"
Dad the Dog whisperer with Tyson, Rex and Bonnie.
Dad entertaining all the crew and guests on the Murray Princess Paddle steamer
During this time they also realise his blood count was still too high, indicating an infection somewhere in the body, but they couldn’t determine where it was, so they decided to do some upper body tests including his lungs and that’s when they found some small amounts of fluid in both his lungs and were 99 9% sure that that fluid contained the Mesothelioma cancer cells.
Cancer from being exposed to the deadly Asbestos fibers.
https://www.asbestos.com/mesothelioma
Dad as always the Larrikin at his 80th birthday party.
By this stage, Dad had weakened so much and he was in such a frail and fragile state that he was only eating ice cream for dinner and cornflakes for breakfast though he was still very thirsty and drinking a lot.
Because of his weak state he became completely incapacitated- bedridden needing 2 nurses to assist him to go to the toilet- to do everything, until eventually he couldn’t get out of bed anymore at all.
So about seven weeks after he was put into hospital, he left us to finally go where he wanted to be- back with mum and out of all that physical, emotional, mental pain that he’d been suffering for so long without her for the past 6 1/2 years.
Then I had to arrange his funeral and we could not find a minister for church Service to hold the funeral in the church that mum and dad had been married in over 60 years earlier, so we had to wait a few weeks until Celebrant was a available and held the service in the chapel of the local crematorium.
We also had a graveside Service, where he was buried on top of mum and they were finally back together forever.
I stayed up there another couple of weeks while everything got settled and to make sure that my brother and my dad's Little dog Spilkey were okay.
So I'm sure that from all of these photos, you can see just how much of an incredible father who somehow managed to devote a monumental amount of time to his family and friends, even though dad spent so many hours on the road, driving trucks, delivering the necessities of life to people.
There was nothing more important in the world to dad than the 5 Fs.
Family, Friends, Fun, Flannelette check shirts and the F100 ute and one of his favourite things to do with all of them together.
Dad gave us the best of everything and in particular, gave us the best active and seriously fun up bringing that every other kid could only dream of.
And those were the days- the 70's and 80's in Australia.
The best time for a kid to grow up in.
We were often packing up the esky and the f100 for a day trip to a beach or lake somewhere, or waterskiiing down the river, camping at Bournda, waterskiing on Wallagoot lake and prawning at night. And he was always entertaining everyone around the campfire with his antics- as I'm sure you can see from the photos.
He was always making sure that we were fed, clothed and taken care of and despite there being some hard financial times, we always had the best presents and the best parties.
Dad was the most generous man I’ve ever met and never hesitated to help someone.
He was also the humblest man I’ve ever met, had no ego and there was no need to rave on about his help for he was embarrassed by praise, because to him, helping people should not be praised, it should just be done and not for any accolades.
He was an incredible man, a truly outstanding human being and a fantastic father.
I returned to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, straight back to the daily grind, but at least now I’m back in my own home, feeling able to get back into a creative space both physically and mentally and I’m so happy to have the Hive to come home to again to see all of my Online friends and family too.
So One last thing that I would like to say is that during the wake, I had quite a few people tell me that I had lifted the bar for Slideshows at funerals, as I had not put music on dad's slideshow (which nearly didn't happen at all but that is another story), I recorded the eulogy to the photos in the slideshow and had a few recordings of dad telling funny stories in there too.
I didn't do it to lift the bar, I did it because a few years ago, my best friend told me that after her father died, her mum and her started forgetting what his voice sounded like and she said that as a professional photographer for over 30 years, she had thousands of photos of her dad, but no recording of his voice.
From that moment on, every time I went home to see dad, I would get all the old photos up on my laptop and I would ask him questions about them, or he would just naturally start telling me the stories to them and I thought that this is the perfect present for all of his future descendants too.
So I encourage everyone to record your loved ones- young or old because you never know when they'll be gone and you'll forget their voice.
Rest in Peace together now my wonderful, amazing, beautiful parents Lola and Johnny. You are both sorely missed by so many and will be for a long time to come.
🐠🐃🐌🕷🐍🐓🦆🐸🐁🐿🦋🐢🐞🦍🐈🦆🐥🐜😊❤️🙏💛🙏💚🙏💙🙏💜😊🦑🐛🐄🦇🐪🦏🐳🐊🦀🦌🐖🐢🐏🐋🐝
Thank you so much for reading my post, I really hope that you enjoyed it and look forward to your comments and thoughts.
@hiveaustralia, formerly @teamaustralia check us out now!
🐠🐃🐌🕷🐍🐓🦆🐸🐁🐿🦋🐢🐞🦍🐈🦆🐥🐜😊❤️🙏💛🙏💚🙏💙🙏💜😊🦑🐛🐄🦇🐪🦏🐳🐊🦀🦌🐖🐢🐏🐋🐝
🐠🐃🐌🕷🐍🐓🦆🐸🐁🐿🦋🐢🐞🦍🐈🦆🐥🐜😊❤️🙏💛🙏💚🙏💙🙏💜😊🦑🐛🐄🦇🐪🦏🐳🐊🦀🦌🐖🐢🐏🐋🐝
Please feel free to checkout my other work on
https://chocolatescorpionc.wixsite.com/chocolatescorpi
https://www.redbubble.com/people/CHOCOLATESCORPI/shop
https://fineartamerica.com/art/chocolatescorpi
https://deepdreamgenerator.com/u/chocolatescorpi
https://www.instagram.com/rawscorpi/
https://www.instagram.com/chocolates.scorpion.creations/
https://www.behance.net/chocolates0386/projects
https://www.pinterest.com.au/chocolatescorpioncreations/
https://twitter.com/CHOCSCORPI
🐠🐃🐌🕷🐍🐓🦆🐸🐁🐿🦋🐢🐞🦍🐈🦆🐥🐜😊❤️🙏💛🙏💚🙏💙🙏💜😊🦑🐛🐄🦇🐪🦏🐳🐊🦀🦌🐖🐢🐏🐋🐝
So sorry to hear @chocolatescorpi
RIP for both of them.
Biggg !HUG my dear friend 🤗🥰
Thank you sweetheart, yes may they both rest in peace as they deserve to.
I still can't believe that its been 6.5 years since mum died- it still feels like yesterday...but I'm sure to dad it would have felt like a million years...
You are so welcome 🤗
Time goes fast I know… it must have been forever for him.
Now they are together again 😊
Have a lovely day sweetie ♥️
!LUV
chocolatescorpi, littlebee4 sent you LUV. 🙂 (3/10) tools | trade | connect | wiki | daily
Made with LUV by crrdlx.
I sent 1.0 HUG on behalf of @littlebee4.
(1/3)
I am very sorry for the loss of your dad, dear friend @chocolatescorpi on this earthly plane, since his spirit will forever be with the whole family.
As you say, he has gone where he wanted to be without bodily pain and in the company of his beloved wife Lola.
Thank you my dear friend Jose!
I really appreciate your words and know that he is soooo much happier now with Mum.
Sorry for your loss. You have written an incredibly beautiful, loving, personal tribute here that keeps the memories alive on the blockchain forever. All the best. Time will take away the sharp edges, and although the loss will always remain there, the beautiful memories will prevail.
Thank you so much for your words- and your validation too Hetty tribute here that keeps the memories alive on the blockchain forever.
That is good to know, for dad really was a true gentleman, hated swearing, opened the door for women, very gentle, always so polite to everyone- just a beautiful human being and it's nice to know that he won't be forgotten as he'll be memorialised forever on the blockchain.
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
❤️ @nadin-zakrevska suggested sagarkothari88 to upvote your post ❤️
🙏 Don't forget to Support Back 🙏
I am so sorry for your loss. I hope time will heal the pain and your father can rest in peace.
Thank you hon, I really appreciate that.
Even thoough I have been expecting it for years, I still don't think it's quite sunk in yet.
I went to call him tonight and as I dialed his number, I realised and put the phone down...
I’m so sorry for your loss
This is an emotional tribute for your dad and I know he’s gone but his memories live on.
Now I’m really imagining how beautiful those slideshows were at the wake.
I think the main reason why I never seem to forget my grandma’s voice is because my mom speaks just like her but thanks for this advice, I sure would be recording my loved ones a lot now.
Thank you darling I really appreciate that and I know that it must be hard for you too as your grandma has just left, as I know that it was hard for me last week when my best friends mum died after a short illness too.
Her mum Anne treated me like one of her daughters too and I was so upset to know tat she was dying and my best friends- 2 sisters Sarah and Lisa were going to lose her.
But like I said earlier, we are the lucky ones, because we are getting the chance to say goodbye, unlike so many millions around the world right now.
I'm so glad that you saw that piece of advice.
It's the best piece of advice that I have ever been given and so I hope everyone now starts to record their family and friends too.
And I just did it on my phone. No fancy equipment needed- just your phone and there are heaps of app for voice recording for every phone now too.
Your father had a grand and long life, Sorry he had to suffer at the end. You and your brother are good sons to be with him as you were. Hearing those recordings is like living the past. Thanks for your personal story "mate".
Yes, you're so right. Dad did have a good innings and because of him and Mum we all had a great life and his memory has now been immortalised on the blockchain forever, aswell as all of the recording and photos of him that we have of him and our lives together.
Thank you for commenting and I'm glad that you appreciate the life story of my dad and us.
Hello @chocolatescorpi. It's been a while since we spoke. Condolences for the loss of your dad. What a wonderful tribute you gave him in his article. And a knockout couple in their youth. When you speak of the best ever childhood a parent could give, that warms my heart to hear. Parents do what they can. But when they give of themselves, that means more than anything.
Thanks for sharing your dad and your family's history with us. Take care and have a good rest of your week.
!ALIVE
!LADY
Hello there there gorgeous, so great to hear from you and thank you for the kind words too.
Yes you are right, when there's so many kids in the world that didn't then and now can't have a childhood like ours, then it really makes you so grateful for everything that was sacrificed by your parents. We had parents! We were the lucky ones!
Now tell me how you have been?
And tell me, was it you that first introduced me to a charity in America ages ago- when I first joined Hive that accepts dination from westerners, then send portion of that to women in Africa as a loan to start up their own businesses and then they pay the loan amount back into the charity?
If so, what is it called? I want to donate to that and keep it circulating.
I have been doing fine. Just getting older and slowing down in my senior citizen years. Yes, I introduced you to KIVA, the company that does microfinancing of loans to impoverished countries. Most of the loans are to women. Well, we all know who the stabilizers are in the family! The men will sometimes spend the money in town on non-essential family items. It's an excellent program. You may want to get into one of a group of lenders, so that your money is pooled with others.
Yes, the good old days when things were slow and parents had time to spend with children. Life was good. Sometimes hectic, but good. Those days are just a memory of what family could be.
Take care.
!ALIVE
!LADY
Glad to hear that you're doing well. And unfortunately old age is going to get us all- it just depends on your attitude and how you get there and I'm pretty sure I'll be kicking and trying to scream my way out! 🤣
Yes, I just checked out Kiva and am really impressed and happy to know that it's still going strong. I haven't actually ever forgotten about it- just the name!
I checked out many of the requests and have found a few that I would love to support, but not quite yet- When the inheritance comes through, but it's not going to be huge, but I'd still like to become involved in this because I think its a great way to support people, so thank you.
And it will be a great way to make new memories and help others make new memories with their families too.
The good thing about Kiva is that you don't have to choose Africa. You can choose to support anyone from any country that has qualified for a loan. A great initiative.
Thanks so much for the engagement. Good luck with this and your continued Hive journey. Take care.
!ALIVE
Ah yes, so true, but I do want to choose so many of the African nations- and everyone else too!
Wish I was getting millions!
No matter the amount you are able to give, I can just see the faces of those deserving individuals as they celebrate you for helping make their dreams come true.
Take care.
@justclickindiva, sorry! You need more $ALIVE staked to use this command.
The minimum requirement is 1000.0 ALIVE staked (non-delegated stake plus incoming delegations).
More $ALIVE is available from Hive-Engine or Tribaldex, plus you can win Alive Power delegations in our daily chat on @alive.chat every day.
View or trade
LOHtokens.@justclickindiva, you successfully shared 0.1000 LOH with @chocolatescorpi and you earned 0.1000 LOH as tips. (2/20 calls)
Use !LADY command to share LOH! More details available in this post.
@chocolatescorpi! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ justclickindiva. (8/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want, plus you can win Hive Power (2x 50 HP) and Alive Power (2x 500 AP) delegations (4 weeks), and Ecency Points (4x 50 EP), in our chat every day.
View or trade
LOHtokens.@justclickindiva, you successfully shared 0.1000 LOH with @chocolatescorpi and you earned 0.1000 LOH as tips. (2/20 calls)
Use !LADY command to share LOH! More details available in this post.
@chocolatescorpi! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @ justclickindiva. (2/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want, plus you can win Hive Power (2x 50 HP) and Alive Power (2x 500 AP) delegations (4 weeks), and Ecency Points (4x 50 EP), in our chat every day.
