He generally not fully conscious but his pain and discomfort was very visible. We were playing some soft music for him but it didn't seem to help too much. I suddenly remembered stories he told me many times in his prior years. He was an avid road biker before it was popular. He followed the Tour de France religiously before it was on TV. In those days during our weekly phone calls, he would tell me about his latest bike ride and almost invariably he would mention that he had his Walkman and played a tape of a Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto. He would talk about how it had the perfect warm up phase, and then more up tempo sections that were a good match his desired speed, and punctuated with some fantastic crescendos when he would ride full out. Having that memory pop into my head, I quickly searched online for the concerto. Finding it, I turned it on and told my dad, "OK dad, go get the yellow jersey!"

My sister and I sat down near him and continued our conversation. As the music picked up, my sister observed that his hands appeared to be bearing down on his handlebars. We smiled and thought the music must be working for him. A few minutes later after one of the crescendos, he relaxed as passed.

I don’t know that I have my music picked out yet, but after that experience, I think I should go through my library and definitely tell my family what is on the list and what should be off the list.