I've been holding off as long as I could hoping things would change for the better.
My stepfather, the man who raised me, is expected to pass away at any time. I just visited with him and my mom today and he looks terrible.
Several years ago he had a procedure which installed a new heart valve alongside his failed valve. They had to do the surgery through the artery in the leg since he wouldn't have been able to handle being under the anesthesia for the time it takes to do open heart surgery. A year ago he had a terrible infection in his heart and they put him on a penicillin pump. He remained on that for a few months until the infection cleared, then he went on oral penicillin which he has been on ever since. He has finally become resistant to the penicillin, the infection is back, and they cannot do any further surgeries. His BP is just 100/45 right now due to the leaking valve and they don't expect him to be able to hang on much longer.
I cannot risk being a days drive away from here right now. I owe him that much.