Four months later

My brother has now been in Glory for four months. Two days ago we received the long awaited autopsy report. I had been praying these last four months that we would receive a conclusive cause of death. I realize knowing the cause doesn't change the outcome one iota, but it was for whatever reason really important to me that I know why he passed away. One reason I really wanted to know was I hoped to find out if it was something genetic as obviously I don't want to see my kids, my nieces, or my nephews lose their mom out of the blue while they are still children. The coroner's office called Wendy on Monday with their final results. Most of the autopsy report contains lists of all the things that did not cause his death, for example he didn't die due to drinking Windex. Seriously? Is that common enough that they routinely test for that??? His cause of death was sudden cardiac death from an arrhythmia due to a blocked artery. She said his heart looked worse than the hearts of most seventy-year-olds, and he had only turned thirty-five one month before he passed away.

She said the amount of plaque in his heart could not have been due to his lifestyle give his age and weight. The other possible cause of excessive plaque (aside from lifestyle) is a genetic disorder called familial hypercholesterolemia, which is caused by a defect on chromosome 19. 

The doctor said that his kids (she didn't know he didn't have any), his siblings, and his nieces/nephews need to be tested for familial hypercholesterolemia. Aunt Janet, two of my cousins, and I sent our saliva to 23andMe several years ago, so Aunt Janet and I logged on to see if we were already tested for that variant, and we found out we were, and none of us have it. Hopefully my sisters will receive the same result. I am going to ask the Pediatrician if my kids need tested in light of the fact I don't have that genetic

disorder but their uncle most likely did. The doctor said that even if someone had been with him when it happened on March 3 and tried to perform CPR, it wouldn't have helped because his death was due to an electrical impulse problem. He had gone to the doctor two days before he died, and she had given him a referral for a cardiologist, but the doctor Wendy spoke to said she thought it would have taken awhile (probably a few weeks) until they would have come to a correct diagnosis because of his age. Maurice had fainted three times, and the third instance was the reason he went to the doctor on March 1. The doctor said those were actually milder cardiac events. She also said he had to have been experiencing other cardiac symptoms given the blockages, and I do recall him talking about his heart racing on multiple occasions for

several months, but he had attributed that to anxiety whereas it most likely was actually due to a physiological reason. 

His physical heart needed bypass surgery, but this had nothing to do with his ability to love. Maurice was an incredibly compassionate and empathetic person. He is deeply missed by many people, including me. Part of me still can't believe he's gone. It's really hard to wrap my brain around. My kids also miss Grandma and Maurice. It warms my heart when they bring either of them up in conversation. Earlier this week Nadia saw a Fly Guy book (that Oliver was reading) and started talking about a particular Fly Guy book that my mom used to read her when she was little. This morning while we were eating breakfast Oliver said out of the blue, "When I grow up, I'm going to have a beard so I can be like Uncle Maurice." It's really hard for me to picture my six-year-old with facial hair, but I love that he was thinking about his Uncle.