Arthurs Family Update

  Thank you to each and everyone one for all of the prayers, love and support, hugs, visits, and deliveries in the past 10 weeks.   We are so grateful and thankful for everything and it seems impossible to ever say it enough.  We know that Scott (Dad) is watching over us every day, and was also thankful for everyone as well.  From the bottom of our hearts, Thank you.  Love Janet and the Arthurs Family. 

 The reality of it all still has not set in. I still just think he is out in his shop like he always was, fiddling with the truck or having a rum with his friends. Or its a weekend, and he is away fishing.  I can't sleep, but when I do, I find myself having conversations with him, or about him, or hes just there somehow. Lingering always in my thoughts. A few weeks ago, while he was still home, he was getting a 2 am dose of pain meds, and I had gotten up the previous couple nights to help him with that, instead of my mom (or sister) waking up to help. But on this particular night, I was not going to get up to help, as I had my alarm set really early (5:30 am) to try to go to the pool to swim and get some much needed exercise. So I was not going to wake up at 1:45 am. I have been sleeping in the room in the basement on the back end of the house. with the door tightly closed, because I like it wintery cold and always open the window to outside as far as it goes. so I keep the do...

 ** Book mark this post for future updates **  If you would like to be on an email list with details about the event  - send an email to J.arthurs@gmail.com  All the planning details will come with time. There may be new posts about it as well but I will be sure to update this one so it will be best to save this post in your favourites.  As mentioned we will not be holding a funeral service for Dad. It’s all too raw. It would be overshadowed with sadness.  We will plan a celebration of life for him.  Details will come once we have dates and such.  Right now. It’s not our focus .  But here’s some high level info.  - It will most likely be the Sept Long weekend . Dads birthday .  - It will be mainly outside , weather permitting.  - Location  - near his home in Alberta (for anyone who would like to travel in)  For you to do now-    If you have pictures , or videos of Scott  Please email them or mail t...

We all stare at the space between.  Sit, Waiting for the next breath not to hurt so much.  For it not to be real.  But it is real. The pain and the sorrow.  The grief and the finality of it creeps in.  There are millions of tiny moments in every second, where thoughts of him cross my mind and I feel my throat tighten and my eyes fill with tears.  I know one day it won’t hurt so much, but these days the sadness is so very present.  Anyone who knew my Dad, knew what it felt like to be instantly loved and welcomed. His hugs changed lives. The warmth of them.  He was always so calm, steady, strong for me and for us all.  His wishes are to be cremated.  We will not be having a funeral service for him in the coming weeks.  We will wait, until the sadness is replaced by happier memories, and the gratitude of having a man like him in our lives for any amount of time, so widely loved by so so many is the focus for us all.  And one day l...

  Time was too short  Our time with our father has come and gone.  As we all know now there is never enough time.   We have spent the remaining time with dad alone and as a family holding his hand and talking.  We have read him all our posts and everyone’s responses.  Dad was the greatest man WE ALL knew.  We will strive our whole life to be half the human Scott was and still won’t come close to touching the lives he has touched.  The final days were some of the hardest moments of our lives as we watched his strength drained from him.  There were heartfelt moments and lots of tears as we sat around his bed saying goodbye.  At 1:43pm on April 9, 2022 the strongest man we knew started his new journey.  He left behind a huge group of loving friends and family.  We have all felt the love and hugs sent to us from all those he touched.  We want to thank everyone wh...

  Scott came wishing with my Dad Jerry Choma and I along with friends Grant Ford and others.  I worked with Scott in Snapon for a couple years.  Scott is a great guy and I got along with him. That fishing trip wasn’t the best for salmon but I was able to catch my first halibut and with Scott’s help yelling from the other boat beside us. I was able to land that 82lb fish.  Thoughts and prayers are with Scott and his family.  Joe Choma

  Some people are lucky enough to have a brother , I’m one of them !!! I have been lucky enough to have my brother for 68 yrs , he’s been my rock when I moved my parents and when they passed on. He’s always Made me laugh even when I was annoyed with him !   He has always called me    his sister ugly  😂 He has been an amazing loving brother, uncle ,father , grandpa.and husband . Heaven will definitely receive the best angel they have ever had ,( maybe a wee bit troublesome  😁 ) but he will rock heaven just like he rocked life here!  This seems so wrong to me and my heart is breaking ,    💔💔 But I know he will have no more pain  And I will love him as much there as I do here in this life  Gods Speed brother    of mine  ❤️ Your sister ugly Linda 

  Hello Arthurs family, Been thinking of you all a lot the past few months...  our hearts ache for you all.  It's not been easy watching our strong ones becoming weak 😔 I've been looking thru our old albums the last few days trying to find pictures for mom & dads 50th Anniversary next month, and there are so many great memories in there with all of you in there. The arthurs clan were a big part of our summmers for so long!! I wanted to send a few I found along... Camping at Fawcett, and many other amazing fun places. Washing our hair at the sani dump  🙈 Scotts freezing cold birthday weekends with cake parades, bagpipes and highland dancing. Dad and Scott always in the lake fixing our boat motor I'm sure there are so many more ❤  I will send more if I find them! Sending all our love and huge best hugs to you all.  Thinking of you every day Heather & family 

  All the grandkids came for a visit. We got a picture with poppa.   Scott was able to come outside in a wheelchair to get some sun and some fresh air. The nurse drained a litre out of his abdomen this morning. The family read Scott a bunch of Tyler’s memories and he acknowledged that he heard them. Scott’s awareness and energy are deteriorating and he is not very responsive anymore. As a family we are trying to stay strong for each other with lots of tears and hugs.  We thank everyone for all the kind messages and memories they are sharing. The laughter brought by some memories and the tears brought by others make us all know that you all love him as much as we do. Joanne’s first communion in Singapore  April 7 outside the hospice  Last week at home for Kamryn’s birthday 

 Thursday ,  So many visitors came to see Dad and we got him outside in the sun at 2 different times.   He was alert most of the day and VERY tired in the evening.  He slept all night with help of pain meds .  Friday - This morning is very tough. He is only sleeping . Declining quickly .  We have on his favourite radio station  The Bridge of Siriux XM radio.  We are sitting with him, holding is hand . Listening to the tunes.  💔

Big day of more visitors coming. If you want to come, please please do.  What do you do when you know your soon  losing  a pivotal part of your life?  How do you cope? How do you deal?  My dad has been the strongest man I have ever known. He has helped me through everything that has come in the 42 years I have been alive.  I don’t have a lot of sentimental memories that don’t contain him.  He has been my hero for my entire life .  My  go to when I need mechanical input, my hunting partner, my whole life.  Dad has always been there to help me through whatever I needed.     When we found out about the cancer in  February ,  we were all upset , scared and broken hearted .  Then we came together as a family and decided we should go on a trip  we were told roughly 3-5 months .   Seems like the next day everything went downhill.  With the Fluid Draining from his chest, and the pain meds our 3-5 months is...

  Dec 3-10 - Mom and Dad went on an all inclusive trip to Mexico. Mazatlan. They had a blast. Everyone was feeling great. Dec 25 - Dad has really bad cramps in his stomach and stayed home from Christmas Dinner at Tyler’s.  January- mom and dad were supposed to go to Mexico for 6 weeks leaving Jan 29  Dad had been struggling with cramping , neck pain and back pain and had been going to a chiropractor every day .  He also was losing a lot of weight, not eating much due to the cramps. They decided not to go to Mexico.  Feb 7 - Dad got in for his first full abdominal CT scan to see what exactly was going on  Feb 8 - first thing in the morning we got the call from the UofA surgeon that let us know the terrible news no one wants to hear.  It’s pancreatic cancer. It has spread to almost all his other organs. And it’s already deemed inoperable.  Feb 10 - we got told the Cross Cancer institute appointment was booked for March 24 . That seemed impossibly fa...

  We made it to hospice this afternoon.     A hard day for everyone, but grateful that Scott is going to be so comfortable and we can all just be with him as family. He was tired today after his PleurX tube was put in yesterday, as it was a very long day for him at the Royal Alex hospital to have that done. They drained his chest again, and have left the tube in for future if needed.    Dad felt much better after it was drained. Monday , On the way home from the Royal Alex,    Janet, Scott and Jeff stopped in to see their good friends Roy and Jackie. They had a great visit and were glad that they could see them one last time. Scott is in WestView hospice in stony plain.  We have to wait about 24 hrs for the covid results to come back, but after that there is unlimited visitors allowed. Even Burt the dog can come visit his Poppa.  If you’d like to come visit , it is best to plan that in the next week or so while Scott is comfortable and able t...

  Scott had a good weekend.  Spent time in the shop with the boys. Tyler Changed some winter tires while Scott supervised  We ate a gargantuas lasagna that Michelle brought over that her mom Doris made. The oxygen is allowing him to sit up longer periods and visit. The breakthrough pain meds are working well.     This morning we got a call from west view in stony and they have a hospice bed for Scott tomorrow afternoon, which we will be taking.  This afternoon Jeff is taking us to the Royal Alex hospital to get Scott’s abdomen drained and a pleurx tube put in to help with his breathing and we plan to stop and see dear friends Roy and Jackie West on our way home. They recently moved to an assisted living home , Terra Losa so will be nice to see them.  Hopefully the road trip today goes smoothly .  More mail for Scott came! You are all amazing .  Please send any pictures you have of Scott to J.arthurs@gmail.com and I’ll find a way to share them...

 Dad has had a good couple days . Feeling more comfortable with the right drug cocktail a bit more dialed in.  Jamie and I are taking turns with the 2 am dose and so far  Jeff came to visit in the morning and we played a game of Catan dice .  In the afternoon , Jamie ,Dad and I did an afternoon road trip to see James new house in the west end.  Dad had to check out the garage of course .  Then we went to Dairy Queen and bought some blizzards with the winnings from some scratch tickets!  Mom was able to have a break and take a nap while we were road trippin’  Today Tyler is coming over to visit as he’s back from work now,  Until next time!  Here’s picture from a while ago of dad supervising