August 30Th - Monday - GREAT NEWS! When I walked into Dad's room tonight the very first thing I saw was his dry erase board no longer indicated that Dad was a "Fall Risk"!! It also stated that he could now walk unassisted!!! YEAH!! Praise God! I was so thrilled for him..and yet that was only the beginning of his good news. Dad was going to be released Wednesday morning!
I could see it on his face, in his eyes ..that little glow.. that smirk on his face. He was so happy.
"I can't wait to get back into my own bed." was the most profound statement he could come up with ...but seemingly summed it all up.
"I am going to come and live with you for a while Dad. I will arrange to take some vacation so I can stay with you for about a week, just to make sure you are completely back on your feet." I said.
He nodded as he asked me to make a grocery list of things I wanted to eat. My oldest brother James would be the one who is going to pick him up from the hospital. They plan to go and (don't laugh) get their hair cut ..and then go to the grocery store together. James told me how funny Dad can be at the grocery store. He buys his own selection of food, which is mostly good an nutritious ... but he will also sneak in a cake or brownies. By sneak.. I really mean sneak.ha ha ..
So as I was creating my list of items, I asked, "Dad, do you want me to write down anything that you need on my list?"
"No ..no, I know what I want to get." he responded.
"Okay. Let's see, I need, apples, wheat bread, lunch meat, oh yes - I have to have my Diet Dr. Pepper!" I started to think out loud.
"Write down Root Beer." Dad told me.
"I don't like root beer Dad."
" I know, but I do..so write it down on your list." he said.
I laughed..."So Dad... do I want vanilla ice cream to go with my root beer?" I looked over my glasses at him with a smirk on my face!
August 31st - Tuesday Dad was sitting up in his chair when I walked into his room tonight. He was watching the movie, The Outlaw Jose Wales, an old Cline Eastwood movie. I have never known Dad to be a Clint Eastwood fan, but I was happy to stretch out on the hospital sofa and watch it with him.
Nurses came and went, taking his vital sighs and distributing his medicine. His legs are still swollen, so one drug he tales is lasics... which you probably already knows...makes you pee like crazy. You can almost set a clock by it... 30 minutes after you ingest this pill, you have to go to the bathroom. Well - just as expected, Dad started to move about in his chair... This time though, he pushed the leg rest down by himself and got up to to to the bathroom verses using a urinal.
Oh THANK YOU JESUS! Not that I am not appreciative of devices like little plastic urinals... but lets just say that I have seen enough of them for a while!
I stayed with Dad until he got into bed. I positioned everything the way he wanted it, turned out the lights and kissed him good night.... reminiscent of the times I put my own children to bed.. my heart was warm.
I left about 9:15 and drove over to his high rise. I ran upstairs to put the waterproof mattress cover on his bed that I sent Joy out to buy. It was a perfect fit. Got home about 10:50. Thank you God for keeping me alert and awake enough so that I did not hit the raccoon that was crossing the road.
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