My sweet daddy

I wish I could change the events that happened on the evening of July 9th. That evening my dad was taken to the emergency room by ambulance. He was admitted to ICU and then sent to a regular room on Sunday, July 12th. He stayed there until the afternoon of July 16th when he was readmitted to ICU. Now he is going back to a regular room and will probably begin receiving hospice services. I won’t write all the details or events, but let me just say it has been extremely hard seeing my dear sweet daddy this way. He’s 90 years old.

We celebrated his 90th birthday last Nov. 16th. We wanted it to be a surprise because we knew he wouldn’t go for a party so my niece Shelly told him we wanted to do something for his birthday and he finally agreed that we would meet at McDonald’s between my house and his. Why McDonald’s you might ask? Well, he wouldn’t want to put anybody out with some place nice and he currently liked the food there. We decided on a time and it was all set. Except I guess we should have told him he was leaving at a later time because he thinks he has to leave very early to get places and my sister Linda was waiting for my call to say it was ok to come since we had renting a room in town to have the party. It got to be later than the designated time and dad decided he just wouldn’t go if I didn’t call soon cause it was getting too late. We finally got the room situated and guests had arrived so I gave my sister the A-ok to leave. They pull up to the building and dad won’t get out of the car because he is meeting me at McDonald’s and this is not McDonald’s. I go out to get him and I guess he is not understanding so well but I get him to come inside and I think he is pretty surprised and happy. It was a fun party with some neighbors, relatives, and some friends that he hadn’t seen in years. I have some pictures that I will post later. He still wanted his McDonald’s though so his grandson went and got him some after the party was over.

That was a good time. I like to remember times like that. I have to recall these memories to get through my current days. I told someone every day is blur. I look at the clock on the wall and it’s 8:00 am and then I glance again and it’s 5:30 pm. Some days I just don’t think I can make it, but I have to keep going for my daddy. He needs me. So far we have been told twice he probably wouldn’t make it through the night. The first time was Friday, July 10th and the doctor told us to contact all the family. That is most difficult thing to do. My son and daughter in law flew in Friday afternoon and had a good visit with their Papa. I had a meltdown on Sunday morning though because all I could think of was Jordan telling his papa good-bye for what could be the last time. I was a mess, but my dear sweet hubby kept me going and gave me some tender loving care and I was okay later that morning. I don’t think anyone even knew it happened except him. Hubby made the trip to see dad that morning while I pulled myself together and he decided we should do something as a family that afternoon but the timing for a movie was all wrong so we went to eat at Chuy’s and that is always good!! After the movie, the kids and I went to see my dad/their papa. He had been moved to a regular room that day so we had a nice visit.

Dad’s doctor is amazed when I sent him a text message that he has been moved to a room. He comes by the next morning and we talk. He says dad is very strong. Either Tues. or Wed. we talk about what kind of care Dad will need when he leaves the hospital and he tells me he should go to a long term acute care facility which is basically a hospital with rehab. He orders a physical therapist to do an evaluation and she comes by Wed. Dad even sat in a chair on Tues. for a couple of hours but on Thurs. he is weaker and scares the therapist when he gets very faint and pale. She lies him down quickly, but comes back later to do exercises with his arms and legs. She says he is strong. He counts with her from 1 to 10 with each movement, but he always get ahead of her and she teases himj that he is trying to finish before she wants him to. A nurse from the facility comes on Thurs, July 16th and visits with us. She says he can be moved that day or Friday. Well, then in a instant that all changed and he plummeted lower than before and I was sent out of the room and blubbered phone numbers to call and my sister, nephew, and hubby got it as fast as they could. This put us back in ICU. Again we were told it didn’t look good so we all said our good-byes and told him how much we loved him. I told him I bet mama was waiting for him in heaven. His blood pressure at one time was 68/51, but he made it through the night with family always by his side. That morning about 6:30 I was exhausted and emotionally drained so I went to a friend’s house and cried and rested. She laid beside me for a while and talked and then I rested. It was wonderful to just be on a bed, but I couldn’t rest for a while cause I couldn’t stop sobbing. About 10:30 I got up and she fixed me breakfast. I felt stronger and returned to the hospital in my same clothes from the day before. I was by dad’s bedside until 10:00 that night and I didn’t want to go far so I went back to my dear friend’s house to sleep. Thankfully, Hubby had brought me clean clothes. The bed brought peace and sleep for the night which I needed. Hubby ended up staying at the hospital all night.

It’s 7:09 pm and dad is not doing so good and neither am I. Michael is on his way. I would appreciate your prayers for my dad to be at peace and not suffer.