Our Father Joseph L. Barron’s Death

Dad, Mom and I pose in front of their Palm Coast, Florida, orange trees at Christmas 2002. The fruit trees were Christmas presents from years earlier, and over the years produced many oranges suitable for juicing.
Dad, Mom and I pose in front of their Palm Coast, Florida, orange trees at Christmas 2002. The fruit trees were Christmas presents from years earlier, and over the years produced many oranges suitable for juicing.

Caution: graphic descriptions

Joe and Sarah Jo Barron, 1993
Joe and Sarah Jo Barron, 1993

Friday, February 18, 2005

My sister Nicole called this morning to say that Dad is near death. He had been vomiting when the emesis turned bloody. EMS took him to the hospital in Ormond Beach (where he had a bypass in 1996), where he coded at least once and his kidneys shut down. We are waiting for another call but have arranged to go to Florida tomorrow.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

My wife Abby and I are flying to Florida right now. I have a bad cold and the cabin altitude has rendered me deaf in one ear.

Reports indicate that Dad is not dead, though the cardiologist and the gastroenterologist can’t agree on a diagnosis. Everybody seems more upset that I am about this. Maybe I’ve been preparing myself for many years due to Dad’s very poor health.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Joseph Lloyd Barron, dead, 9:51am.

This is Florida Hospital Flagler, where Dad died.
This is Florida Hospital Flagler, where Dad died.

Mom, Sarah Jo Barron, described his onset: Woke at 5 a.m. Thursday to Dad’s calls. He had uncontrolled, continuous diarrhea. She took him to the bathroom where it continued. He insisted on lying on the floor where he vomited, then vomited blood. She called 911. According to her, he “filled the floor” with bloody vomit and diarrhea until EMS arrived. At the emergency room while giving a medical history, he coded and did not regain consciousness. They stabilized him in critical condition. By Saturday night, his organs and vitals crashed. The hospital called saying come immediately. When we arrived, his pupils were fixed, his temp was 105ºF, vitals fluctuating. He was given huge doses of insulin to keep him alive. He received last rights of the Episcopal Church. We requested that he be removed from life support, but he died before that could be done.

Monday, February 21, 2005

I feel good that Dad got to know and love my wife, and see me happily married, before he died.

Along with Nicole, Abby and me, Dad’s sister Carol and her husband, our Uncle Wes, are here, as is Mom’s sister Margie.

The family gathered around our mother, Sarah Jo Barron, from left to right, seated, are Mom and her sister Margaret "Margie" Skinner; standing behind them are Nicole, her guest Stuart, Dad's sister Carol, Carol's husband Wes, my wife Abby, and me.
The family gathered around our mother, Sarah Jo Barron, from left to right, seated, are Mom and her sister Margaret “Margie” Skinner; standing behind them are Nicole, her guest Stuart, Dad’s sister Carol, Carol’s husband Wes, my wife Abby, and me.
Joe and Sarah Jo pose for a picture at their first home in Columbia, Missouri, where I was born, in about 1957.
Joe and Sarah Jo pose for a picture at their first home in Columbia, Missouri, where I was born, in about 1957.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Funeral. It’s nice to see that Mom is in good health. She is able to care for herself, which Dad almost certainly could not have done. Mom’s only real crying jag came when getting out blankets to pack something, she came across the “death blanket,” the one on which Dad had his episode.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Mom told us that several weeks ago, Dad was weeping and depressed, saying he need to go shopping because he, “Didn’t have a decent suit to be buried in.” Mom reminded him that he was going to be cremated.

Dad devoted most of his lifetime emotional energy to depression and fear.

Abby and I are heading home to Oklahoma.

My sister Nicole, mother Sarah Jo, and father Joseph pose in front of the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in Palm Coach, Christmas 2000.
My sister Nicole, mother Sarah Jo, and father Joseph pose in front of the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in Palm Coach, Christmas 2000.

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