It has been one year and four months since I lost my thirty-nine year old son. I had four boys and thank GOD I did. Chris was on his second marriage and got married in 1997. He has a sixteen year old daughter by a previous marriage, a thirteen year old step-son by his wife’s previous marriage, and a seven year old son, Michael, that was his and hers.
Chris was in the air conditioning business and had been since he got out of high school. He had quite a large crew under him and really didn’t have to do the work. But being who he was, he would jump right in there and work. On August 5, 1999, he and a helper were carrying a five-ton unit up some stairs when his helper lost his end. Some how this pushed Chris up against a concrete wall and crushed him. Now, we didn’t think it was all that bad until tests were run and he had many doctors. If you are not familiar with Workman’s Comp, most doctors do not take that insurance any more because they don’t get paid. He went through two back surgeries, installing and removing a pain pump, three hip surgeries, the last one being a total hip replacement. They also had him lined up for another hip replacement. Then he lost his primary doctor who had been right by his side through it all. He was on very heavy pain meds and a variety of medicines every day. I really can’t go in to why he lost his doctor, but it was nothing he did wrong. He finally found another one who decided to put him off. He left him without pain meds, doubled over on the couch for four months. Somehow he found the strength to go to this doctor’s office and guess what ... the pain management doctor that Chris had been asking to see just happened to be in the office. He wrote him a prescription for meds that weren’t as strong as what he had been taking. I guess he thought that he could start back at the level he left off at. That night his wife was visiting with relatives from out of town at her sister’s house and decided to spend the night. Chris did not want to go so he went to his brother’s home. They stayed up until around four in the morning playing computer games and just talking. The next day Scott (his brother) woke up and came into his bedroom around ten. Even though Scott used to be an EMT, he still couldn’t bring him back. This was during the fifteen minutes they had to wait on the ambulance to respond. But it was too late.
So mothers out there with children of any age, tell those kids you love them as often as you get a chance, because it might be the last time. We just never know. God has a plan for all of our lives and even though we may not understand at the time, we certainly will “Farther Along.” As for me, I need to talk to someone who has had a situation similar to mine. It is just horrible and I am just now getting to where I can talk about it.
