September 4, 2012

***This is detailed because I don't want to forget the details. As hard as this was for me to write and read, I wanted to make sure I have this in my records***

We arrived in Virginia on August 23 - we were getting settled and into the grove of things - and then On September 4 at 3:01pm I got this text from my mom "D went to the hospital last night. He had some bleeding. He had a procedure this morning. We are losing him... I can't call each of you.... we are still in the crisis." My brother Trevor responded "Grandpa Koch?" Then a few mins later she wrote back "We just lost Grandpa Koch. We are still in the ICU. All the kids are still coming. The sons and daughters. I will call you when I can."

I was so confused - maybe because I didn't want to understand because the text is pretty clear, but I called my mom and she told me he had just passed away and that she was in the hospital room with him and my aunts and uncles and she would call me later. I couldn't believe it. We had just seen him at Whitney's wedding and right before we moved and he was doing great.

We found out that he had a bleeding ulcer which he has had before. Last time it happened he went to the hospital, they did a quick procedure and he was fine and left the next day. So late on September 3rd after he put my grandma to bed, he realized he had a bleeding ulcer again and that he would need to go to the hospital. He contacted my Uncle Dan to have him go be at the house with Grandma, and he called my mom and dad to meet him at the hospital. It was confirmed that night he had a bleeding ulcer but his blood pressure was kind of low so they were going to do some things to get it up and wait until the morning to do the procedure. My parents checked on him the morning of September 4th and he was doing great - blood pressure was up and he was doing and looking great. The doctors said they would do the quick procedure and he would get to go home the next day.

My aunt Cheri works at the hospital my grandpa was at so she decided to go check on him during the procedure since none of the family was there right then. She could tell things were not going well so she called her husband James and said he needed to hurry and get down there - he then frantically called his brothers and sisters and told them to get to the hospital immediately. My uncle Brent and my aunt Susan live in California so they booked the next flight out of there and hurried to Utah. They all started showing up as fast as they could get there, my parents, James and Cheri, and Kris and Dan were there when the doctors told them what was going on. They went in to do the procedure and one of the things they do is give the patient a medication to thicken the blood so they can stop the bleeding. Well that put strain on grandpa’s heart which was weak. They tried to save him but it was time for him to go. The doctors stopped working on him and left the room and the kids that were there went in and were there when he passed on. They stayed there until all the other kids showed up so they could say their goodbyes. It was a crazy thing and something they needed to do to help him live, was the thing that ended up killing him.

The funeral was planned for Monday September 10th so we flew into Salt Lake on Friday September 7th. Saturday we all met at the Temple and did a sealing session with all the brothers and sisters and grandkids that could do it. The grandkids that were not old enough to do that did baptisms so we could all be in the temple together. It was a very special, sacred moment for our family. One I will cherish and never forget. Sunday we had a special family get together before the viewing where all of us grandkids could share our memories about grandpa. It was so wonderful to listen to people’s memories about him. Then Monday was his funeral and we had all of us grandkids sing a song and me and my mom and 2 of my cousins and an aunt sang "I know that my redeemer lives". I had a very hard time not crying during the song – so when I sat down - I lost it. It was a beautiful funeral and we had a wonderful time talking and spending time together. We were lucky that Mike and Brittney watched Jax and Addy for us so we could enjoy the funeral and not have to try and handle our wiggly kids.

Early Tuesday morning - September 11th we flew home. I was a little worried about flying into DC on Sep 11 (it is considered the most dangerous airport to fly into) but we were told there were extra air marshals on board and that there were other things being done to make sure it was safe. They were also doing random carry on checks and all this other stuff for people flying to DC. It was fine though - we obviously made it alive haha. And really it is probably the safest day to fly because of all those extra things they do LOL.

Jax and Addy did good on the flights and when we got home - it was hard to get back into the swing of things.

I love my Grandpa so much and miss him A LOT! Our annual family trip to St. George in May will not be the same. It is hard knowing that we won't see him on this earth anymore, but I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that I will get to see him again.

Love and miss you Grandpa!