On to the next stage

Dad was discharged from the hospital Friday so we drove over and transported him to a skilled nursing facility in Federal Way. He walked out of the hospital with some assistance. We visited him again Saturday morning and I’ll sit in on his care conference tomorrow morning.

ODAAT

We thought we had a glimpse of some light at the end of the health tunnel Monday, but more tests yesterday and no discharge date. Dad reports the test showed noting. We also discovered that Dad’s phone doesn’t have a ringer one can hear, only a red light that flashes. I am feeling a bit numb this week, something akin to the 1000 yard stare that comes back occasionally.

Veterans Day 2007

Dad and I spent some time sharing Veterans Day this afternoon at the hospital. He labored to talk, but he spoke about his days in ROTC at Georgia Tech, his close encounter with orders to Corregidor and his role in building a troop carrier glider training base in Ohio. How hard it was to march behind the Georgia National Guard with their horses. A colonel in bed and a captain listening. It makes me proud to have worn the blue with my father. 

For those who haven’t seen Terry Kelly’s video “A Pittance of Time,” it’s worth watching each year:

“It takes courage to fight in your own war.
It takes courage to fight someone else’s war.”

My father’s bed

I disassembled my father’s bed yesterday. Because of the surgery he will not be able to sleep horizontally, and it took a while for him to internalize that (although we knew from the start). My hardest task was finding a set of allen wrenches the basement. The tools are not as organized as they were when I was a youngster. A simple task on the surface, but the symbolism caught up with me when I had moved the head and foot to the basement and stacked the mattress and box springs up against the wall. My father’s bed. The bedroom was always one of those areas of the house we children didn’t go into without invitation. I now had an invitation from Dad to take his bed apart. This all hit me after I was done and I needed to share some tears with Sherry.

Room with a view

Dad is improving as the rest of his body catches up with the surgery. He has a window bed with a great view!. The discharge date is still not set.

A bump in the road

Friday was not the best of days so far and Dad was in pain. I called Dr. Louie and his message when we got back home last night was that Dad was stable and that they performed a colonoscopy and couldn’t find any blockages. They did a procedure to put in a stent for IV purposes and he’s not feeling well this morning. Dad says visits are OK, but need to be short.

Out of the ICU

I took #9 to the hospital and visited Dad this morning before catching the ferry to Winslow.  The walk up Myrtle Street and then the bus ride to town on Rainier Avenue brings back so many memories. Below are the fall colors in Dad’s front yard yesterday. Louie came by and verified that everything is going very, very well. Dr Gold had been by earlier and said the pathology report from the surrounding tissues was negative. Dad will be moved to 7 SW today, happily without some of this “attachments.” I don’t have a room number yet, but I should be in contact once the move is made.

Was a great walk down the hill to the waterfront and good to see Sherry and Allie on the other side!