I want to give a huge unofficial thank-you to the entire Holy Trinity community, all of the clergy, and all of our friends and family who were at services this past week both in body and in spirit... I know a lot of you wanted to be there but couldn't make it - I still thank you for your support!! It was so beautiful to see so many different people all brought together in the same place and feeling the same thing - as it was said so many times this week, that's what my dad was all about, and I'm sure he is just beaming to see it :)

If anyone missed the obituary in the Post-Gazette paper, here's the link:

Led Several Greek Parishes

From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Rev. David B. Sedor

Please note the addition of visitation hours on Monday night... we will be driving up tomorrow from Pittsburgh so take it easy on us - it will be a long day :)

As we come up to the first 24 hours without dad, I feel like we are all still trying to wrap our heads around something that is just way too big for any one of us individually. I know that being together as a family of relatives and a bigger family of friends is the only way to get through this and realize that although there is much pain and sorrow for us here on earth, dad is now free of this world and we should rejoice for him.

We are starting that slow process on Friday at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Pittsburgh, PA. Schedule as of this moment is as follows:

Friday @ HT: 6-8pm visitation, 7pm Trisagion

Saturday @ HT: 9am orthros, 10am Liturgy of St. Stephen, followed by funeral service

Over the weekend we will be traveling to New York to be with our extended family there. Services will be taking place at St. Michael's Orthodox Church in Binghamton, NY.

Tuesday @ St. M's: 9-10am visitation, 10am liturgy

I will post another update when there are more details to give. I hope that despite everything, everyone is enjoying the holiday break and taking advantage of this time to be together with their family... much love!

As many of you already know, my dad passed away this afternoon after a long week of battling complications from bypass surgery. One of the most beautiful experiences in my life happened this morning as we were saying goodbye - dad happened to be awake for a few minutes and mom said "You need to go with God now", and he nodded his head and closed his eyes. I know that often when families experience a sudden loss, there is a lot of anger toward God and others - but I don't feel anything like that at all. I know that dad is where he belongs, and that he has touched so many lives that his memory will always live with us. On behalf of my entire family, I thank every one of you for the outpouring of love and support through this entire situation; I know it would have been unbearably harder without you.

I will let everyone know when we've made arrangements for visitation and services, which will most likely occur in Pittsburgh, PA this Friday/Saturday, and Binghamton, NY on Monday or Tuesday.

Much love -

We had a nice talk with a friend of our family who is a doctor here in Pittsburgh, and who has been a sort of "liaison" between the critical care doctors and us. He sat down with the entire family and explained that although things have been calm with dad's heart since Saturday, other parts of his body are getting worse, and in general things are not looking good. We are ready to leave it in dad's and God's hands - whatever they decide, we will accept. I'll try to keep everyone updated over the next few days as we wait.

We are so appreciative for the support everyone has given us during this extremely hard time for our family. Love you all!

Aunt Mary Sue (AMS) and Grandma Joyce came in late last night so mom was happy to see them. We welcomed them with some sub-zero wind chills, but apparently it's supposed to be about 50 degrees tomorrow, so maybe it will seem a bit more like home!

Mom went in to visit dad this morning and he responded to her requests for him to blink... we're just taking it easy now and letting him rest and stay calm, since we've had no heart problems since Saturday afternoon. His heart is still fragile, so we're waiting on pins. Kim's got the day off, so Amy is dad's nurse today - she's been doing a good job of knowing what information she can tell what family members - Tami and I always hear the most :)

Much love!

Good Nights and Pleasant Tomorrows

Just went in for evening visiting hours... mom was talking to dad and coaxed another nod out of him :) Chad, the night nurse, said we need to keep him calm and let him rest for now, so we just had a quick visit and will be waiting patiently for the next update.

Aunt Mary Sue and Grandma Joyce (mom's family) are coming in from Florida tonight - they are going to get quite a shock when they walk out into this single-digit weather! Christi and Candi - keep up your hilarious comments... I always get excited when I see that you've written a new one ;) (actually, I get excited when I see that anyone has written a new one!)

Don't expect much until morning when we check in with Chad again - if anything happens overnight I'll let you know.

Keep warm, much love!

Kim just came running down the hallway and said "I just got up on the stool and looked right over his face and said 'Dave, you have two wonderful daughters' and he nodded his head! You should come see him!"

So we ran down the hall to the ICU, and everyone (me, Riss, Mom, Nana, Pop, and Tami) was able to talk to him and he responded pretty well. Nodding his head, blinking, and winking his eye to answer questions, which is something he hasn't done for a while now. We said it was the perfect birthday gift for Pop!

This was an amazing jump forward that made me cry my first tears of happiness since this all began, and had me leaving the ICU with a smile for the first time ever. However, we are still watching his heart closely, because it hasn't really settled down much from yesterday. We know that there will always be ups and downs as the hours go by, but we are praying that the ups continue just like today!

Close-up that was scheduled for tomorrow is postponed because of the setbacks this weekend, I'll let you know when there is progress on that end.

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers - keep working hard on your end and we'll keep you updated from our end :)

Much love!

The nurse, Kim,  just came running down the hall to get us... of course, I automatically braced myself for the worst, but she was quick to tell us that Dad was awake. Kim said she was standing over him and said "You have wonderful daughters," and he nodded his head. 

We ran to his bed... I don't think I've ever seen Nana move so fast. ;)

We got a load of responses from him. He gave Pop a wink for his birthday, and he knows we're there for him. He's resting again now, but that was more than we could have asked for after a day like yesterday.

Kim also told us that they're done cooling him down, and now they're warming him back up. They won't be closing him tomorrow like we thought, but they can leave him open for a long period of time without there being any issues.

He's dozing off again, but thank the Lord that we got that brief time to know he's hearing us.

All your prayers are working, keep it up!

Love you all!

What I'm carrying with me today...

Hey, all, it's Charissa. Hope you enjoyed that picture of me that Steph took... don't worry, I'll get my payback eventually.

I just got back from visiting Dad. He's moving around a lot today, coming out of what sedatives he's been under. Even though he's not really awake, I SWEAR he fidgeted a bit more when we mentioned him needing a haircut. 

I just want to personally thank everyone for the support... it's so incredibly helpful to know that everyone out there is praying as hard as we are. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in my life, but it's such a relief to know you all are too. Seeing all that support makes it easier to face each hour ahead of us.

Keep praying, and go Steelers!

-Riss

Just got back from some visiting with dad and my favorite nurse Kim... he is much the same as last night, unstable heart but no arrhythmia yet (21 hours and counting). They are going to clean his chest again today and change his dressing, but they're not sure exactly when yet so I'll let everyone know when we find out.

We have lots of sitting and waiting ahead of us... Nana/Aunt Jo, Tami, Mom, and I are really enjoying reading your messages - keep 'em coming! (Tami was the biggest crier though - she got tears on my computer :P )


Everyone with a Happy Birthday to Pop/Uncle Eddie... 81 years young and still keeping up with Josie - God bless the man :)


Love you all



PS picture of Charissa in the Sedor waiting room - there's so many of us that we've taken over a whole room :)

Good morning everyone... just called in to the day nurse and things are much the same as they were when we left last night. No more arrhythmia since 4 yesterday afternoon, so we are thankful for that. She said he's moving around and opening his eyes, but not yet to command, so he's still coming out of it. I don't blame him - there's a lot of reason NOT to be awake right now. Heart is still fickle, so they are watching closely and anything can happen at the moment.

Tami got in safely and the assistant priest, Fr. Radu, at our Pittsburgh church, Holy Trinity, went to pick her up - talk about amazing clergy! We're expecting more family in tonight - that will help build up the physical support to supplement all the distant support you have been providing, which all helps us so much. I'll update again once we go in and see him this morning... much love to you all.

Another Waiting Room Bedtime...

Evening visiting hours were much more calm than earlier today. His heartbeat has been stable since about 4, so that is something encouraging. The major concern at the moment is the fragility of his heart and how irritable it has been lately - the nurses and doctors are worried that things could go downhill at any moment. They are working hard to stabilize it with meds and rest, so only time will tell. I keep telling everyone: it is all in God's hands now - whatever happens we can be secure in the faith that we will talk to him again soon, whether that "soon" is in a few days or many years.

We are so thankful for the host of clergy and friends who were here again tonight to pray with us - they said many healing prayers and a paraklesis, which meant so much to us all. The nurses are always astonished by how many times dad has been anointed and prayed with - I'm sure they could not even imagine how many people are praying individually!

I'll post again in the morning, or if/when we get more information from the night nurse. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers; they are what keep all of us - including dad - moving forward. Much love!

Had a rough couple hours, with some more irregular heartbeats that have the doctors concerned. We've got a bunch of clergy in with mom right now saying some prayers, and dad's been moving his arms and legs which the nurse says is good. We're waiting for the night nurse to get situated and give us the next update around 8. Aunt Tami is on her way, and we can't wait to see her later tonight. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

I decided to move over to blogspot so that those of you who want to leave messages for the family can do so... just click on the "comments" down at the bottom of the post - make sure you leave your name. It will be better here as well because there isn't a word limit, and I always have a lot to say :)

We're waiting for afternoon visiting hours to start (4-6) and we'll get an update then from the nurse about how Dad has been doing since we last saw him around 1. The last bit of arrhythmia happened about 11, and as far as we know his heart has been acting normal since then. When we last saw him he was starting to open his eyes and move around a bit - we're hoping he will be a bit more awake this afternoon, but we know he has been heavily sedated all week so it might take him a while. We're taking this hour by hour and so far we've got almost 5 good hours in a row - we're grateful for every hour that goes by and we don't hear from the nurses. Keep praying! I will update when we get back from visiting in a bit. Love you all!