On Thursday evening, July 21st, at my brother-in-law's wake in New Jersey, I sat down on a chair next to my brother, Charlie, just before he and Marty and their wives left to go home.
I kissed Charlie on his cheek and told him I would call him next Thursday. We had been speaking quite a bit on the phone lately about medical issues and also about our upcoming trip to Italy, planned for this Fall.
Two days later, Charlie went to sit down in a plastic molded chair in his neighbor's backyard. The chair fell backwards and Charlie hit the back of his head on some concrete. He was able to walk into the house, but had a headache and some nausea and an ambulance was called. He was brought to the closest hospital and a CAT scan was taken which showed a subdural bleed. The Neuro Surgeon looked at the scan and prepared the OR. But, after speaking to Charlie and observing how alert and oriented he was, the Surgeon canceled the surgery. He understood that there were tremendous risks to a surgical procedure since Charlie was on Plavix and aspirin (for previously placed coronary artery stints).
The plan was that Charlie was going to stay in the hospital in order to be closely observed. He told his wife and my brother and sister-in-law that there was no need for them to stand around the hospital all night, they should go home and get some sleep. In his usual, laid-back manner he said, "we'll see what happens". A couple of hours later, Charlie became non-responsive due to the increased intracranial pressure that was building up inside his skull. His wife, Ellen, was called back to the hospital to sign a consent for emergency surgery. The first surgical procedure was deemed a success. It would just be a day or two before Charlie regained consciousness. Then he began to bleed and the intracranial pressure sky-rocketed. Another surgery was performed. After-wards, we sat around a "crying room" as the Neuro Surgeon told us that he "used every hemostatic agent in the hospital" in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Sadly nothing worked.
Charlie's heart stopped beating at 8:35AM on Saturday morning, July 30, 2011 as we (Marty, my Dad & I) ended the rosary with this petition, " Dear Lord, if he is not going to recover, then please take Charlie swiftly to Your Bosom."
