Sunday, September 17, 2006

Some not-so-good news..


I spoke to my mother today. She had an update on my Dad, who has been in a nursing home after having a stroke shortly after Sawyer was born. Dad has had a rough time over the past few months, including a MRSA infection (it entered through the place in his chest where he was temporarily receiving kidney dialysis). He was back in the hospital last weekend with a low blood count and chest congestion. The doctor who cared for him there talked to Mom about Dad's prognosis. It's not good. My mother was hoping to get him to his 75th birthday in May, but the doctor thinks that's a long shot. Dad is weak. He has congestive heart failure and renal failure. He's not eating much. He is, according to my brother, skin and bones, a shock when he's spent most of his adult life being overweight. We want to get up there in early October. He's never met Sage, and has seen Sawyer just twice. It is sad that the kids will not remember him at all. I remember my Dad's father, vaguely; he died when I was 5 or 6 and I felt bad that I didn't feel sad or cry like my sister. When we went up last summer Sawyer climbed right onto my father's lap and played around with the wheelchair. My Dad talked about it for months afterward.

David and I have recently started working on our trusts and wills. To see my name in the sentence "In the event of the death of __ __ ___ " was incredibly eerie. I mean, we all know it's coming, but to see it there, in black and white... it just made it all a little more immediate. And real.

Perhaps a change in topic? Sawyer was worse today, so poor David came home from his trip then turned right around and took Sawyer to KidsDoc. The reason the nebulizer wasn't working is because his lungs are totally clear! He just has a bad cold, with maybe a slight fever. Sage of course woke up with a runny nose and sneezed all day. She napped for a total of maybe an hour. Hopefully she'll sleep through the night. I started sneezing and have a scratchy throat. That 5 a.m. wakeup call will be very tough..

1 comment:

Julie said...

Cheryl:
I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I had no idea that your dad was having so many health problems. I remember that he had had a stroke but did not realize that he was still in a nursing home. Must be awfully hard on your mom.
My best to all of your family.
-Julie

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