On January 14th, Sid came home from meeting with contractors at the cabin to start remodeling and told Jeri that his ears were ringing. He soon complained that his chest hurt. Sid layed down for a few minutes before Grandma decided they needed to get to the hospital. As they were driving to Lone Peak Hospital in Draper, he stopped talking and his eyes rolled backwards and he passed out. Jeri kept nudging him and telling him he needed to stay with her. She ran into the hospital and yelled for help. The staff got him inside and they determined that there was fluid around his heart that was causing pressure on it and making his vitals drop. They needed to get him to St. Marks Hospital where they have the states best heart doctors, but they had to wait until he was stable enough to transport him. About an hour later, they took 2 Ambulances to St. Marks Hospital to transport the doctors and machines that were caring for him. Once there, they did a CT scan and drained the fluid from around the heart. It was blood, which they said was the worst case scenario. The doctors were trying to determine where he was bleeding from. They could tell that it was somewhere behind the heart, but couldn't tell exactly where. The pericardium continued to fill with blood throughout the evening, and each time it did, the pressure on the heart would cause his vitals to drop and they would have to hurry and drain it so they wouldn't lose him. The doctors were amazing. They kept coming out to the waiting room to keep everyone informed.
Jeri, Brandon, Amanda, Emily, Spencer, Jim and Kathy, me, and their Bishop were there. Jeri was strong and kept positive. She was lifting all of our spirits. There was a brief time that they had Sid stabilized enough that they let Jeri and some of the kids go back to see him. Their Bishop and Brandon gave him a blessing. Brandon said that Sid was moaning in pain, but consciously relaxed while he was given the blessing. Sid started bleeding again, so the surgeon, cardiac specialist, head nurse, and 2 additional nurses decided to make a larger incision so they could put tubes in to drain the blood. The doctors said they had never seen this problem without an obvious cause (source of bleeding). Later in the night, they pulled out a 12" blood clot from behind his heart. The doctors were so fascinated with this that they took a picture of the clot to show us. They were confused as how he was bleeding, yet clotting at the same time. They had to sedate him because he was restless and fighting. The doctors decided to go in with a pericardial camera and see if they could find anything but they couldn't. Late in the evening, Grandpa was stable and hadn't had any bleeding for awhile, so the doctors came and told us that things were improving and that they wanted to let him rest on Thursday and then go back in and see if they could find the source of bleeding on Friday, once his body had a chance to rest. The Nields and Ericksons joined us at the hospital by then. Around 11:30pm, we went back to see him before going home for the night.
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The hospital called Jeri around 4 in the morning and told her that Sid started bleeding again, so she went to the Hospital. He lost so much blood, that they started giving him blood transfusions, but that blood drained as well. When Jeri walked into Sid's room, the doctors were doing CPR. They tried for 40 minutes, but Sid decided to pass on from his mortal body and go serve the Lord on the other side (around 5:05am on January 15, 2015). Emily called Brandon around 5am to notify him that he had started bleeding again, so Brandon got up, threw some clothes on, and before he even got to the garage door, he got another call saying that he had passed away. Jeri decided to do an autopsy, supported by the doctors, since they had never seen anything like this before and also questioning if it was genetic. It wasn't anymore conclusive about where the bleeding originated, but the death certificate says Hemorrhagic Pericardial Effusion due to Aortic Disruption.
* * * * *
Immediately friends and neighbors started bringing food, flowers, calling, and texting. It was amazing how fast the word spread and how social media made it easy to notify everyone so quickly. We didn't get much sleep that night, so everyone decided to go home and take a nap before making any decisions. Brandon took a nap in the theater room because it is so dark and cozy. I had to go turn his phone on 'silent' so the constant flow of texts/calls wouldn't wake him.
Green plant from Brandon's Co-Worker in Kansas City
Daisies (along with strawberries and chocolate sauce) from my neighbors, The Stotts
Tropical Flowers from my amazing friends, Heather, Emelie, Rachelle, and Callie
Large Basket of Flowers and Greens from Hess Travel (Brandon's work)
Edible Fruit Arrangement from Brandon's bosses
Jeri had a lot of flowers delivered to her as well.
Jeri has wonderful friends and neighbors. They immediately started bringing in food for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, and paper products, knowing that she would have family from out of town staying with her.for awhile. We also have great friends (Walkers and Lightens), Visiting Teachers, and Home Teachers that brought us dinners, which happened at a time where our kitchen was out of service! We feel blessed to have all of them in our lives to help us through hard times.
Visitors
The next few days were surreal with all of the Funeral Preparations.
I joined Jeri and her daughters to pick out the flowers for the casket, and the sprays from the kids and grand kids. I felt like a 5th wheel, but Melina encouraged me to go ;)
We decided to coordinate all of them. These are the flowers that Jeri chose.
Jeri wanted the Grand kids to sing Child's Prayer at the Funeral. Sid sang it with Spencer's kids a few days before while he was babysitting them.
Jeri even led them...
We visited with Sid's friends, the McGuires, his 94 year old mom, Lila, and his siblings to hear stories of Sid from their perspectives and give ideas to those giving talks at the Funeral.
The Viewing...
Jeri and her daughters spent the week putting these beautiful displays together of Sid's favorite things
Ashlyn and Brooklyn writing their memories
More beautiful flowers
Our friends took a picture of the line at the viewing. It was almost 2 hours long!
* * * * *
Brandon's siblings
The men each wore a tie of Sid's. I got this idea from the Lightens when Trevor's dad passed away and mentioned it to Jeri. I love the tribute!
My kids didn't see Sid until the day of his Funeral. The boys had a hard time. Sid was a little blue from losing so much blood and he didn't have his glasses on, so he didn't look a lot like they remembered him. Zack liked to reminisce on his bed. I would catch him crying off and on throughout the week. He said that Grandpa is who made him want to serve a mission because he saw his good example and service to others.
The night that Grandpa passed away, Cam was shaking so badly that he wanted to sleep in our bedroom. It took him awhile to calm down. At the funeral, he buried his head into my side most of the time.
Luke got really choked up when they closed the casket and after the Family Prayer. He cried out loud. It was so loud, that one time I thought he was mocking, so I pulled his chin up and see his face bright red.
Jeri and Betty
Sid's mom and siblings
Brandon's aunts, uncles, and cousins
The Maughan's Best Friends, the McGuires
Brandon's best friend, Ryan, flew in from Texas.
My parents
Brandon and Spencer
Cam and Tanner also wore Sid's ties
The Maughan's Bishop and RS President
so many hugs
and so much support
Tired feet, dry throats, tissues...
The Funeral
Sid is on the 19th hole!
Jeri said that if President Hinckley's funeral program was an hour, we can do what we need to in an hour!
Brandon gave an amazing Family Prayer and everyone else on the program did well too.
The Graveside
We broke tradition and Camry was a Pallbearer!
Sid had many people that loved him
Spencer making sure he knows everything for the Dedication of the Grave
Sid's mom, Jeri, Jeri's mom
My handsome dudes
Grand daughters
McGuires
Brandon and his friends Jason and Ryan that both traveled from out of state.
The guys relaxing!
The Luncheon
There was plenty of food, but they had to keep setting up tables and chairs!
No one believes us when we say that Jeri has a "BIG" family!
More plants to decorate the stage!
Things I will always remember about Sid:
- His Laugh. I wish I had it recorded. We can see hints of it in his kids and grand kids.
- His Sigh. Usually followed by "Jeri..." I hear the same sigh in Brandon!
- Standing on the deck with him, just the 2 of us, at our last family reunion, trying to get a good picture of the crop dusters. He got the best ones...
- He always wore his camera around his neck when he traveled...
- He would wait for Jeri to get dressed and then he would get dressed to match her (his tie to match her dress, etc)
- The last conversation I had with him was on January 11th. We were at their house for Sunday dinner. I was cold and had a headache, so I wrapped up in a blanket and laid on their couch and was reading an article on the Internet about a mom that had cancer. He came and sat down on his green chair and asked me what I was reading about. I told him and he immediately said something similar to "I'm sure there's a good moral to the story and they all are growing from their trial." He was always positive and never said a bad word about another person.
I will miss him dearly!
This is the headstone that Jeri picked out.
This is the headstone that Jeri picked out.
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