Henry Groit

(Victoria has two stories, one is a tribute to her dad, the other is her story of survival).

My first story is about my dad. He passed away December 2005 from sepsis due to an infected gallbladder. My mom had found him laying on the floor when she came home from a shopping trip and she called 911. He was admitted into ICU in Florida.

My father was on a breathing machine. He was in ICU for 3 1/2 weeks. He was a diabetic with high blood pressure and only 72 years young. There were problems with maintaining glucose levels and blood pressure. After 1 day, the doctors discovered an infection in the gallbladder. Two days later, they removed his gallbladder. He had to be sedated every couple days to try to regulate all his levels, amongst having to be resuscitated 2 times to try to save him through all this.

The docs had his hands tied to the bedsides so he would not pull out any tubing. It was not easy to see my dad like this. He loved life and was very active. He was always a jolly guy.

After 3 1/2 weeks, the doctors decided my father would be strong enough to pull through this so they moved him into a rehab center. My dad died alone tied sitting in a chair.

Source: By Victoria Gilbert (Henry's daughter)