My Dad

My dad is still in the hospital in ICU. He was touch and go there for a while, but it looks like he's in the clear now. It is such a relief to walk into his room and see his smile when he notices me! He had a trachiostomy so he's got a tube in his neck and can't talk, but he is awake and alert and can nod and make motions. They were going to move him out of the ICU but he's got to have a fistula put in on Monday for his dialysis so they decided he might as well stay put for now. He'll be moved to a rehab center sooner rather than later. The hospital gave my brother the names of two rehab centers for us to choose from so we took a tour of each. We agreed on the one that seems to be more aggressive in their approach to treatment. I think they will work harder to get him better more quickly than the other place. He'll also have a private room there and won't have to share, another plus. He's not a sharing-his-space-with-a-stranger kind of guy.

I told him I want to see him at least once a month when he's better. I don't know him as well as I should and I almost lost him; I've got another chance and I want to take advantage of it. We were seeing each other a couple of times a year, but that's just silly when he only lives about 45 minutes away. I am also getting to know my brother better and I am so happy about that. He's a good guy; I'm so proud of him and proud to be his sister. He's been amazing through all of this. He's very "take charge" and makes things happen. There were a couple of things I mentioned that he hadn't thought of (and even more that he did think of, of course) and bam, just like that, they were handled. Very impressive.

I've been driving to the hospital almost daily. Luckily my fibro hasn't acted up too much; it hasn't been a limiting factor in seeing my dad. Not that I'm not wiped out when I get home every day, because I am, but it's been manageable. I've even kept up with some chores around the house. Not everything I need to do, but the essentials. My kids have clean clothes, at least; there's something to be said for that!