A Valentine's Day Surprise

Yesterday My Handy Man and I made a trip to see my Daddy. It had been 6 days since I'd seen him. When we got to his room he wasn't in it, but we looked down the hall and there he sat, all by himself in the rehab room. I was FURIOUS that they left him there by himself! He could have fallen out of the chair. There were no restraints at all.

My Handy Man and I rolled him back to his room and we met my Mom coming down the hall. She didn't seem as concerned as I was. When the therapist FINALLY came in the room, I questioned her about it. She basically blew it off as no big deal!

But, to my surprise, Daddy was sitting up straight in the chair (a new occurrence), holding his head up (new too) and full of conversation. He knew who I was, knew who My Handy Man was and then, when my daughter and her 2 girls came in, he knew them AND he knew who my daughter's BF and her husband and kids were! That was the best Valentine's surprise I could have had.

We visited with Daddy for about an hour while Mom helped him eat. We brought him his favorite DOVE DARK CHOCOLATE and he ate 2 pieces for dessert. Unfortunately, he is down to 149lbs., which is less than I weigh. And he is 6'3" - so he really is a tall drink of water! We have to figure out how to get his weight back up because his appetite isn't much good. We are trying to make sure he gets at least one Ensure every day. We have asked the staff at the nursing home to please make sure he gets some if he doesn't eat well. My appetite wouldn't be much good either if I had to eat ground up meat and veggies at every meal!

After our visit we all went to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. It was almost 3 before we were seated and ate, but it was worth the wait. My steak was delish! I love steak - I'm a Texas girl (raised there, not born there, but I call my self a Texan) and was raised on steak at least once a week. My Handy Man doesn't like red meat, so I don't usually fix it at home.

It was a good day. And I got more knitting done! I PROMISE TO GET PICS UP OF ALL THE KNITTING!!! SOON!!!!

My Daddy & Me

Well, I ended up having surgery on my back on February 4th. Now My Handy Man says I'm glued and screwed and he's wired! That's a reference to the screws in my hip and the glue they fixed my fracture with and the defibrillator/pacemaker that he has now. Excuse the "french", but it's HELL getting older!!!

I'm doing fine. I went back to work on Monday for half a day and was really worn out by the end of the day. Tuesday I was feeling more like myself, but still sore from the surgery. Today I'm feeling even better, but still a bit sore. The Dr. said it would be about a week before the soreness went away, so I'm not worried. I've got a follow-up appointment tomorrow morning, so I'm anxious to see what they say.

BUT - I did manage to get quite a lot of knitting done while I was recouping - pictures to follow soon - I hope. Gotta get my little models rounded up.

My Daddy was moved from the hospital to a "Skilled Care Facility" aka Nursing Home, on the day of my surgery. It was quite a shock that they moved him when they did. We thought he had until the 12th to stay in the hospital, but apparently NOT! Lord how I love how the insurance companies have more to say about what goes on than the doctors do! He is about the same as he was. The doctors say he probably won't get much better because of the number of strokes that he's had and the other health issues that he has. At least now he is closer to home so Mom can have an easier time getting to him and so can other members of my family. I'm an hour and 15 min. away and it seems like so very far! They say he has 100 days of coverage, so we hope to make arrangements to care for him at home before the end of that time. For those of you who have or have had aging parents, you know how hard it is to see your loved ones go down hill. I think my brother said it best - "It's hard to see him die in pieces!" AMEN TO THAT! My Daddy has always been such a sweet and loving man, I hate to see him in such awful shape.

I'm going through old pictures and looking for a place to have them scanned so that I can post them on this blog. I thought I was somewhat organized - guess not as much as I should be. I've been going to do that for a long time. Guess now is the time to follow through.

Please keep my Daddy and Mom and all the rest of us in your prayers. Pray for God's will. Although we hate to loose him, we hate it more to see him and Mom this way.

Blessings.

January 2010 Snow Fall

I took these pictures while walking around our property, checking things out. I'm not much of a photographer, but I hope you enjoy them.