The Last Laugh
My dad was in a coma
for 4 days before
we took him off of
life support because
he had no brain activity left.
.
The night after the life-improving brain/ear surgery that led to his death, his conscious state was altered and they performed emergency surgery to drain his brain.
.
They shaved off
his beautiful thick
head of hair and
placed a tube in his skull.
.
Later on, his heart began to fail.
.
They performed CPR
for 45 minutes
in the middle of the night,
breaking 3 or 4 ribs.
He was all alone in that room.
.
When we took him off life support, we sat with him, my brothers, my mom and I. The rest of my family was outside in the waiting room.
.
When he finally died,
when the machines turned off,
I cried and cried and cried and
hugged him one more time.
He snored.
I laughed.
-J. Rendi
