When I went on hiatus over a week ago, I didn’t mention why and maybe because it was spring break season you assumed I went on vacation. But hubby and I went to visit my parents because my father is very ill. Many of you will remember that my father, who was a very active and strong 86-year-old when we visited him in October, had an aortic dissection mid-December. He had a tear in his ascending aorta and was given emergency open-heart surgery that lasted all night long. He had a 50-50 chance to survive the surgery.
At that point, my father had already had three different types of cancer (not to mention squamous cell skin cancer). He beat them all. He had had 4 knee replacements and 2 hip replacements. He developed a MRSA infection from a replacement surgery. Only one kidney functioned at 25%–the other at zero. But he was fine! Still hauling heavy things, working long hours, and traveling.
He’s had a miserable recovery period from the surgery (in and out of the hospital, nursing homes, etc.). He toughed it out and doctors, family, and friends all encouraged him, telling him he was getting better.
But he wasn’t. His body had–unknown to doctors–developed multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer, and cancer cells were multiplying, making him weaker every day.
Hubby and I traveled to see my parents in time to go with them to the full diagnosis and treatment explanation, to help them with treatment analysis and decisions, and to admit him to hospice care–all in one week. He is now under hospice care at the nursing home and hopes to be admitted before too long to a hospice facility.
This has been such a hard time. My father is a larger than life person who fills all the empty space around him with his presence. None of us can imagine the emptiness ahead.
I haven’t forgotten your blogs, peeps. I will be back to reading them quite soon. The oddest thing happened, though. At the same time I left for Michigan, I stopped getting email notifications of your blog posts! It was as if WordPress didn’t want to send what would overwhelm me!
But how do I get them back again?
By the way, this is my 300th post, according to WP.
