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I'm so sorry. I lost my Dad 13 years ago, one week after his 80th birthday. To my knowledge, he lived the longest of any male in his family line--most had died between 65 and 70. He was lucky enough to have had open heart surgery available to him and at 62, he had 4 bypasses, or he probably would not have made it to 65. My parents had a wonderful 18 years of retirement, with lots of travel to interesting places. But during the last year of my Dad's life, he had several bad heart attacks and a couple of little ones. They finally decided to do bypass surgery again, but found that the damage to his heart from the attacks was too severe. He did not survive the surgery. My Dad's mind was just fine and other than his heart and a little gout, he was very healthy. He wanted to keep living and figured the 75% odds the doctors had given him of being helped by the surgery was a bet he had to take. He and I talked late into the night before the surgery and got some stuff said that needed to be said. I sure didn't expect to have him die. My Dad was one of my closest friends, and I was his favorite child all my life. I still miss him terribly, and would do just about anything to be able to talk to him again. I sure hope to see him in heaven... It sure is hard to watch our parents and their contemporaries get old and die. Good luck with your parents. May the decisions you make be ones that are the best for all concerned, and ones that you can be comfortable with.
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