ESTHER RUTH PARKINSON
July 27, 1945 - June 7, 2010
Erik's sweet mom Esther passed away on June 7th. It's been quite the whirlwind. So many emotions. She has been sick for most of her life. She's been in a lot of pain the past few years. It's nice to think that she is no longer in pain, but it's still hard for the rest of us. Erik was very close to his mom, so it's been hard for him.
She got sick about 4 months ago with a really bad infection & we thought we were losing her then. She pulled through after a couple of months & ended up losing sight out of her left eye in the process. Erik was excited that she seemed to be getting better & trying harder than some of her previous surgeries. She went in for a pre-op check up to do plastic surgery on her eye. When she was in the hospital for her infection a lot of the infection rested on her face & especially her eye.
After a couple of surgeries to release the pressure it was just too much for her eye & she lost the sight in it. Because of this it drooped a little & they wanted to fix it so it wasn't so noticeable. At her appointment they told her she wasn't a candidate for surgery due to the fact that she had 2 leaky valves in her heart & she needed to get those taken care of. That was on a Friday. She went into the hospital on Sunday night because she wasn't feeling well. They wanted to do surgery to correct the leaks, but couldn't just yet. They didn't know what was causing it. Whether it was a blood clot or an infection in her heart. Until they figured it out they couldn't do surgery & they didn't feel like she would make it through at this point.
Monday morning Pete, Ron, Nikki & Andrea were with her & she was talking & doing fine. Pete headed to work. About an hour or so later 8 doctors rushed into her room kicking Ron, Nikki & Andrea out. Apparently she went into cardiac arrest. They worked on her for 40 min, but her body was done. In many ways it was a blessing that she didn't have to go through a bunch of surgeries again.
The worst part, I think, is the fact that we were in St. George through this whole ordeal. In fact, we didn't even know anything was wrong until Sunday night. We planned on heading home early on Tuesday so that Erik could be available to help & be with her in the hospital. We were told not to rush home - she'd still be their in the next couple of days. Erik had to find out over the phone a state away that his mom had passed. That just sucked!
{Erik, his Dad Pete, his younger sister Andrea & older brother Ron}
We drove home first thing Tuesday morning. What was the use at that point rushing home Monday night? Once we arrived home Erik headed straight to his Dad's to help with the planning. Most of the planning was already done. His Dad was extremely blessed. Things went so quickly & smoothly. Completely different experience compared to my brother Michael's arrangements. It seemed like that was an overwhelming stress. This was so smooth it made me nervous the whole week. But, it turned out lovely! The funeral home {Falconer Funeral Home} was amazing!! If you ever need to use one, I hope you don't, check them out. They were truly wonderful!
We had her viewing on Sunday night & the funeral on Monday morning the 14th. All of the grandkids sang at the funeral. It was beautiful! The poor kids had a rough time, but it was beyond touching. Esther loved her grandkids more than anything. She would do anything for any of them.
{The only grandkid missing from this picture is our nephew RJ. He's currently serving in the Guayaquil, Ecuador Mission.}
Ron told me hilarious story that I've never heard before. One Saturday they were outside playing ball. He was batting {with a wiffle ball bat} and got too close to her. He smacked her right in the eye somehow & she had a massive black eye. This Saturday happened to be the day before Mother's Day, so she showed up at church on Mother's Day with a giant black eye from her loving son. She will be missed. Her smile, her generous heart, her love of sports {not to mention screaming at the TV when refs didn't call things the way she thought they should go} are just some of the things we will miss most!!
