Dad

I sent this out to my co-workers, and I thought it would be a good blog about Dad's recent progress. This way you can laugh at all the funny things he's been saying.

Dad got the ventilator tubes out on Friday, which was huge. "Those were the whole problem!" Dad said. He couldn't talk much that day until the evening, but since then he's been making jokes and cracking us up. He's usually a jokester but he's pretty uninhibited right now so it's especially funny. Today when the nurses told him he looked good he said, "You need to work on your taste if you think I look good!" He's also been asking for a body transplant. Preferably Matt Damon. "That guy can do anything!"

He was pretty paranoid about the hospital staff (AKA the "manhandlers" or the "barbarians") for a bit. He said they kick us out so they can beat him up without any witnesses. "I could go to Boston and get treated like this for free!" He's in need of pretty constant care and since they can't be in his room all the time, he doesn't think they're taking good care of him. "They just think I'm a pain in the neck."

Today's nurse (a man) gave him several popsicles, which was exciting. He's not ready to eat real food until they make sure he can swallow. But he's been asking for pizza, scrambled eggs, and Sierra Mist pretty regularly since Friday, and said, "I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone requiring a meal." Today a nurse walked right past his room with pizza. I was hoping he wouldn't notice but she stopped at the counter right in front of his door. He goes, "Man, that looks good. When are they going to bring me some?!" And when his nurse said he was going to lunch, Dad responded, "Well don't rub it in!" And you sure don't realize how many food commercials there are until you're trying to avoid anything that would remind your Dad how hungry he is.

I stayed here overnight on Saturday night, so I was in and out of his room and only got 1-2 hours of sleep at a time, for 4-5 periods of sleep. Not a great rest. But last night he was calling out for me, and I felt bad I wasn't there. He said today, "I'm sure going to miss you when you leave. You're my best caretaker!"

I'm flying home on Tuesday evening now, so I'll be back on Wednesday. I had to call Southwest and negotiate because it was going to be $250 more for a ticket then. They gave me a good deal. My dad, the master negotiator, was so delighted when he heard that. Really made him proud.

When I was a kid (well, pre-teenish), I used to draw this cartoon dog, Sparky. One of the first things Dad said to me Friday night was, "I want you to promise me that you'll draw a dog." I was pretty confused and I was reminding him I have two dogs. He shook his head. Then I was like, "OH! Do you mean Sparky?" He nodded so vigorously and his eyes lit up. "Yeah! THAT dog!" So I started to get out a pen and paper and he said, "No, for publication. But remember me when you're famous." If I am ever famous, I highly doubt it will be for my art skills.

At the beginning we were worried about brain damage from the tear on the artery going to his brain. But he's showing no signs of brain damage at all. He's remembering current things (like what the special event for Sunday was at his church), and lots of memories from when we were kids. He can't talk very loudly because his throat is sore from the ventilator, but other than that he talks fine. And he can move a little bit more each day so we're not worried about paralysis. He's even solving Sudokus! (But we have to write the numbers in, he doesn't have the dexterity yet to hold a pen.)

The "swallow and spit" doctor is coming in today to check how he's doing with those skills. If that goes well maybe he can get some soup or Jello or something. They've been giving him something that looks like chocolate milk through a feeding tube. "This is the slowest chocolate milk I've ever had!" He kept calling it chocolate milk, so we started calling it that. But now when we say it he shakes his head and goes, "That stuff's terrible! Turns out it's not chocolate milk at all! I wouldn't buy THAT unless you have to."

So prayers would be for things to go well with the swallow & spit doctor so he can get some real food, for him to keep gaining strength so he can go to a normal room and walk to the bathroom, for him to sleep well at night so he doesn't miss us, and for him to be OK when I leave.