Love One Another

I just recently came across a cassette tape with talks by my Dad. He wrote them while I was on my mission just because he said he felt inspired to do so, not because anyone asked him to speak. He recorded them on tape and sent them to me in Guatemala. I can't tell you what a blessing it was to find these talks 24 years after they were recorded and more than a decade after my Dad moved on to the other side.

I digitized the talks and posted them on SoundCloud. I don't know how many people are still following or connected to this blog, but I will post the links for the talks if anyone wants to hear them.

"Love One Another"  

"The Keys to the Doors in Father's House" 

Services

Location:

LDS Church

677 South 700 West

Hurricane, UT

Viewing: 9:30 AM
Family Prayer: 10:45 AM
Funeral: 11:00 AM
Graveside Services/Dedication in Springdale Cemetary: 1:00 PM

This (or at least a very similar version to this) is the obituary that will be in The Spectrum, St. George's newspaper on Wednesday and in the Pahrump Valley Times on Friday:

 

Apple Valley, UT - Ronny Ruesch, age 64, passed away September 25, 2011, in St. George, UT.  He was born April 9, 1947 in Hurricane, UT to Victor and Myrle Barney Ruesch.  He married April Bayles on August 15, 1975, in Las Vegas, NV, and they were sealed for time and all eternity in the St. George, Utah, LDS temple on August 21, 1976.

Ron grew up in Springdale, Utah, in the shadow of Zion National Park.  He spent many years working as a doctor of holistic medicine in Las Vegas, NV, where he ran his own clinic. He moved to Pahrump with his family in 1991 and lived there for the next 13 years. Ron was a lifelong student of many things, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ.   His greatest joy came from teaching others, and in this capacity, he spent many years as an instructor and leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also spent his last several years as a volunteer in the resources and re-entry program at Purgatory State Prison of Utah.

He will be loved and missed by all who knew him, especially his family. He is survived by: his wife, April; children, Tammy Cline, April McEniry, Elishia Ruesch, Autumn (Jason) Baker, Ronny Platte (Diann) Ruesch, Veronica (Isaac) Young, Trinity (Jonathan) Cyr, Cherish (Dominick) Fragale, and Jaquete (Preston) Lasley; brothers, Lamar and Merwin of Las Vegas, NV, and Lynn of Apple Valley, UT; 29 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.  He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Bruce; his son-in-law, Scott McEniry; and his granddaughter, Shalana.

Funeral services will be held Friday, September 30, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. at the Apple Valley LDS Ward Chapel, 274 S. 100 W. Hurricane, UT.  A visitation will be held prior to services at the chapel from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.  Interment will take place at the Springdale, UT, Cemetery.

Friends and family are welcome to share their condolences or their memories of a truly unique individual on this blog.

I know that I can't wrap up 64 years of life, especially those of Ron Ruesch, in such a small space. I could honestly write volumes on my dad. But if I have to summarize his life in such a small space, the most fitting tribute to him would be that he was a great father, husband, brother, grandfather, friend, neighbor, student, and teacher. I think I pretty much covered that in the obituary.

Final Moments

Ron Ruesch, beloved father, husband, brother, grandfather, neighbor, and friend, passed to the other side of the veil this evening at approximately 4:45 p.m., surrounded by his wife and many of his children.

His blood pressure had dropped dangerously low multiple times throughout the night and day. When I arrived at the hospital in the morning, my mom said that his kidneys were still failing and dialysis wasn't working anymore. I shared with her Doctrine and Covenants 122:7-9, which states.

 7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

 8 The ^aSon of Man hath ^bdescended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

 9 Therefore, ^ahold on thy way, and the priesthood shall ^bremain with thee; for their ^cbounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy ^ddays are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, ^efear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

I also shared with her the fact that L.D.S. church president, Harold B. Lee had always taken whatever measures he had to to save his life because he felt that if he didn't, the Lord might hold him responsible for not finishing his work on the earth. I told her that I didn't know what would happen, and even though I felt pretty sure that the end was near, I knew that this was something that my dad had to go through. 

Based on this, we decided to give it another shot. We informed the doctor, and they began administering more drugs to raise his blood pressure in addition to trying a new antibiotic to fight the infection.

More of my family arrived, and everyone took turns going in to see him. Later on in the day, my mom called me back to his room. She said that she still wasn't sure if we should put the intravenous catheter in his thigh. She wanted me to pray with her and see what we should do. I said a prayer and asked the Lord if we should continue to intervene or if my dad was needed on the other side.

I knew that my dad had passed through his personal crucible. We and he had done what we could to keep him here, but the Lord needed him.

As I sat by his bedside with my mom and sisters, I read him these words, penned by the apostle Paul:

6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

 7 I have fought a good ^afight, I have ^bfinished my course, I have kept the faith:

 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a ^acrown of ^brighteousness, which the Lord, the righteous ^cjudge, shall give me at that day.

A while later, the doctor removed the breathing tube, and my dad breathed his last breaths. Amazingly, his heart continued to beat for some time. I laid my hands on his head and released him from his mortal bonds.

We usually wait for a person to pass on to eulogize him or her. My family got the wonderful opportunity to share our words of praise and love with my dad before he left. A few days ago, I wrote him something to show how I feel. I got to read it to him then. Here it is for all of you.

The Strongest Man in the World

As a five-year-old boy,

I entered your gym.

I looked up in awe at the great man before me.

A man who lifted great weights,

started successful businesses,

and raised his family.

A man with the voice of a Martin Luther King when speaking, a Pavarotti when singing, or a Macho Man when agitated.

A man with the strength of ten,

the courage of a lion,

the love of his family,

and the power of Samson.

My dad—the strongest man in the world.

As a 32-year-old man,

I entered your hospital room.

I looked down in awe at the great man before me.

A man who lifted himself from the brink of death,

started back on the road to health with all odds against him,

and raised the spirits of all those around him, even when he himself drank deeply from the dregs of misery.

A man without a voice of his own, but who had the voices of his whole family at his service.

A man with the strength of thousands,

And the courage of Daniel, who entered the den full of ravished lions.

A man with the love of not only his family, but also hundreds of friends, legions of angels, and even the Lord himself.

A man with the power of God on his side.

My dad—the strongest man in the world.

Day #14

My dad had a pretty rough night last night. His blood pressure dropped dangerously low again. He also started to develop blood clots in his left arm, and his thick, clotting blood keeps clogging up the dialysis machine. They are trying to decide what they can give him instead of the Heparin since he had such a bad reaction to that. I hope they find something soon so they can take care of the clotting problem.

So last night, they increased his pain medication and sedated him again. He wasn't looking too great today. And after hearing all that he had to go through last night, I was having a rough time for the first little while that I was in the room with him. But as I sat there praying for him, that calm, peaceful assurance from the Lord returned to my heart. He is going to be okay. I still feel very confident that he will recover and get a few more years with us. But in the off-chance that he doesn't, he will still be okay. Better than okay, in fact.

But we would prefer not to dwell on that possibility for now. We love our father, husband, brother, grandpa, friend, and neighbor and still feel that we have much to learn from him. So please keep sending your prayers and faith that the Lord will heal him, that He will make his kidneys function again and rid his body of the infection and poisons that are hurting him.

Day #13

I went to the hospital today with Veronica and Cherish. We were all in there for rounds. The doctor had been called down to the E.R., but the head nurse and the nurse in charge of my dad were there to give us an update. My dad's nurse said that my dad had been much more responsive that morning. He was able to nod and shake his head in response to questions. He was also able to move all of his limbs when she asked him. They had weaned him completely off of the drug they were giving him to raise his blood pressure, and they were trying to minimize or eliminate some of the other drugs they were giving him. They were especially trying to minimize the quantity of painkillers they were giving him since these were preventing his lungs from healing more rapidly. They went from having him on a continuous drip to just administering painkillers every couple of hours if he says he needs it. That has to be difficult the day after they amputated his legs.

The nurse told us later that when she was testing his response earlier, he had made it very clear that his feet hurt. She said that these phantom pains were the most difficult to treat.

He is still on continuous dialysis, which is helping him tremendously, he still has the blood clots in his right arm, and he has a long road to recovery, but his spirits seemed fairly high today, and he definitely seemed more himself.

The nurse came in while my sister and I were in there. She asked him if he hurt and if he wanted any painkillers. He didn't respond. So she asked him if he was just tired and wanted to rest, and he very subtly nodded his head.

I had spent some time singing hymns softly to him before that and asked him to blink if he wanted me to continue. He blinked very clearly.

We spent a lot of time massaging and moving his arms and hands as the physical therapist had shown us to do, and I also spent a lot of time rubbing his head. Every time I would stop rubbing his head he would look up toward the top of his head as if saying, "You're not done yet." For all of you who know my dad well, you know that this is very much in character. He enjoys few things more than having his head rubbed.

So we have had a lot of good signs today. He looks great, considering what he has gone through, and he is making good progress. Our prayers are being answered, and we are extremely grateful for all of your thoughts, prayers, faith, and care. Please continue to pray for him as he goes down the long road of recovery.

Day 12

Wonderful news today!  The surgery was a success!  The surgeon was very good and very helpful before the surgery and it took longer than expected for him to get into surgery, but all went well.  They ended up taking his right foot to just above the ankle and his left leg and foot up to about mid-calf.  While this is kind of a sad thing to think about, we are grateful that he is still here with us and doing well.  The surgeon said that he immediately started to stabilize after they took off the part on the left leg.  His body should be able to heal much more quickly now that the gangrene is no longer an issue.  Ronny, Isaac, and Uncle Merwin helped to give him one last blessing before he went into surgery.  Ronny said that after the blessing, he felt confident that things would turn out just fine.  And the surgery went even better than expected.  It is a relief to finally be able to report good news.  We are all hopeful that we will have more good news in the coming days.  We can't say thank you enough for all those who have supported our family through this very long and exhausting week and a half.  Your prayers and kind words mean more than you know.

Day #11

It was another difficult day for Ron and family. But let me first share the good news. My dad is still alive, and he is still fighting to stay here. It is the fight of his life though, even taking into account his time in Vietnam. He has never worked harder in his life either, and everyone who knows him well knows that he can be a workaholic. I can say without a doubt that, without the prayers, faith, and love of so many wonderful people, he would not be with us right now.

I arrived this morning before the doctors did their rounds of the I.C.U. When I walked into the room, my dad looked like a mess. He had blood in his mouth, on his pillow, and around every hole that they had poked in him since he'd entered the hospital. He was also breathing so hard, he was almost hyperventilating, and he had worked up a great sweat through this effort of breathing. Most of his responsiveness from the previous day was gone. He would still look at people, but he seemed to be so absorbed in this effort to breathe that he didn't respond to anything that we said.

When we went out of the room for the doctors' rounds, the I.C.U. staff explained to us that my dad had not responded well to the Heparin. This blood thinner had caused all of the bleeding in his mouth, nasal passages, and wounds. So even though he still had blood clots in his right arm, the doctor had been forced to discontinue the Heparin treatments. He went on to explain that while a blood clot in the leg will inevitably find its way to the lungs causing a pulmonary embolism, blood clots in the arm are rarely so malignant. So while his clot is probably causing him a lot of discomfort, it is most likely not life-threatening. The doctor also explained that this type of clot often cleared itself up once the needles were removed.

The doctor went on to explain once again that my dad's feet would have to come off as soon as possible. He thought it would probably have to happen this afternoon. He said that my dad's feet were essentially putting him back in to a septic state. That, in conjunction with the bleeding, were what were causing him to work so hard. The doctor told us that as weak and as sick as my dad was, he had a risk of not making it through this surgery, but that if he did not have the surgery, the resulting sepsis would assuredly kill my dad.

My dad had made it clear to us the night before that he wanted to do what was necessary to live (at least as far as amputation was concerned). We passed this along to the doctor. Then my mom, Autumn and I went back into my dad's room. I gave him another priesthood blessing, and we spent some time talking to and attempting to comfort him.

A nurse came in shortly thereafter and started him on dialysis for the second day in a row. Then the respiratory specialist came in. Shortly thereafter, my dad's blood pressure dropped dangerously low. The doctor and nurses worked with him and gave him some medication to raise his blood pressure.

Ultimately, after discussing the situation with the surgeon, he and the doctor decided to schedule the surgery for tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.

Diann and I went in to see him again tonight. His breathing was much less labored, and he appeared to be in a much more restful state than he had been in earlier in the day. When I told him I loved him and would see him tomorrow, he looked right into my eyes. When Diann told him she would see him later, he actually nodded his head. She said that he very much appeared to be affirming that he would, indeed, see her later. This bolstered my hope. As long as he is fighting to stay here and the Lord has work for him here, he will make it.

I apologize if this has too much (or too little) detail for some of you. I just wanted all of you to know that as hard as this has been, my dad is still fighting. And many of us still have faith and hope for a recovery. Thank you all once again for your prayers and faith, which have made all the difference in the world.