The good: As you all know by now, we do our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. But recently we've found ourselves with nothing to do on actual Thanksgiving....and I'm not cooking twice. Friends of ours have a daughter that dances. She's very good. She is part of the featured dance group that is dancing in the Philadelphia Boscov's Thanksgiving Day parade this year. So we decided to go. We went down to Philly on Wednesday afternoon, spent the day hanging out, went out to a nice dinner with the parents and another family that were there for the same reasons as us. We got up bright and early Thanksgiving morning, walked the mile and a half to the steps of the art museum and watched the parade. It was a very nice time.
The bad: My father, who will be 80 in May and isn't in the greatest health anymore, fell and broke his hip. He needed surgery but they weren't sure if they were going to be able to do it because his kidneys aren't in the best of shape. The doctor said it would be okay and they did the surgery on Sunday. The day after the surgery his kidneys started shutting down and they had to start dialysis (?) treatments. He's been confused as anything. Talking about the savior came for him but the ladies wouldn't let him in. He thought the walls of the hospital were caving in and told my mom to leave because it wasn't safe. He kept insisting that the nurses leave so they could escape with their lives. We went back down to see him yesterday and he didn't seem quite so confused. He didn't talk any nonsense, but sometimes you can see in his eyes that he's not sure what's going on. And, he hates people making a fuss over him. Hates that nurses are checking him all the time, hates that we're all taking time out of our day to go and visit him. Hates it, hates it, hates it. After years of putting up with the tea lady, I hope the rest of his life isn't spent like this.
You guys are probably beginning to think I'm making all this crap up.
6 comments:
Schell, it's just probably the drugs he's on making him hallucinate.I'm sorry to hear he's in bad shape--you don't need anything else to worry about.
The Philly trip sounded fun
Schell, sorry about your dad, hopefully Emma is right and it's the drugs they have him on causing the confusion. And believe me, my life is so nutty I don't think you are making things up :)
my 85 year old father in law recently had to travel a great distance by ambulance (Fargo ND) from Bemidji MN to have stints put in ... They apparently told him he would be able to leave the next day. He took this to heart.. got dressed and walked out of the hospital... The police located him several hours later walking back along the highway heading home... He does not remember going to the hospital at all... It was the drugs and the recovery from the anesthetic and the unfamiliar surroundings... a few days later he was just fine.
good luck to you in all the challenges you are facing
What a mix of good and bad! i'm guessing your father's confusion is due to recuping from the stress, drugs, etc. From what I understand, the older we are the more we can be affected by that sort of thing.
I don't think you're making it up, I've had some extended episodes of "if I weren't living it, I wouldn't believe it" activity.
Hang in there.
make sure they're hydrating him. i had a friend whose mother was in situation like that and she wasn't getting enough fluids and went loopy. best of luck.
jilly
No one would make up this sort of stuff. It's life's crap just hitting all at once--it's not exotic like being hit by a grain truck.
I hope everything gets better.
My mom's 79, and lives on her own--I worry quite a lot since I'm an 8 hour drive away.
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