Holiday Blessings

Wow! So much has happened since my last entry that I don't know if I can remember everything. I just know that it has been a wonderful break for our family. I enjoyed sleeping in with the kids, making a gingerbread house, getting out with them, finishing up shopping, & taking in all the beauty that the season holds. I was so thankful to feel like traveling. It was so good to see our families & to eat delicious food. I can tell a difference since the doctor decided to discontinue the taxol. Other than getting run down easy, & the occasional GI problems, I feel good. I've got chemo brain pretty bad as well, so please forgive my forgetfulness.

We did have to leave Anthony's family suddenly on Sunday night before Christmas. My mother called to let me know my father, who has Alzheimers, was having problems breathing & that the charge nurse on duty thought he needed to be taken to the hospital. For those of you that don't know, he has been suffering for the last two years in the last stages of this ugly disease. It appears that his swallowing reflex is now being affected. When we arrived at the nursing home I figured it was going to be one of two things, either aspiration pneumonia or congestive heart failure. A chest x-ray was ordered for the next morning, & after assessing him, I was sure it was pneumonia. This is very common in these patients at this stage. They had put an IV in & were starting him on an IV antibiotic. He looked awful & had quit eating & drinking making him very dehydrated. I can usually get some kind of reaction from him, but this night was different. I knew if he didn't respond to the antibiotic, that there wouldn't be much of a chance for him pulling through. After leaving him that night, part of me was nervous about leaving for Chicago the day after Christmas. Having worked at the VA though, I have seen many cases like him that would come out of it once the meds got going in his system. It can sometimes turn into a repetitive cycle. I pray every night that God will have mercy on his frail little body. As of today he is still holding his own & has begun eating & drinking a bit more. There will not be a feeding tube placed per his wishes. The IV is suppose to be taken out on Monday (7th). Lab work was drawn, but I haven't gotten the results yet.

Please remember my mother, Jeanette, in your prayers. She is having a hard time accepting that Dad may not pull through. They have been life partners for 53 years. I can't imagine what she is feeling, even though he really hasn't been "with us" the past four years. Holidays are the hardest times for all of us when we gather at their home in Manchester. God blessed me with such a wonderful father. He was such a hard worker & gave so much of himself. He was a carpenter & built our house I grew up in. He was a meticulous carpenter until the Alzheimers began to take over. The smallest & simplest of tasks became so difficult for him. One of the last couple of jobs he did for me was some crown molding in our previous house. He & I did it together & I recall the frustration of trying to get the corners matched up. It was then the reality of it all hit me that my children wouldn't get to enjoy having their "Pa" around for many years. Being the baby in the family, I got to do more than the others with Daddy. I recall the numerous softball games that he would race home from work to get to the ballfield. I can still hear him call "go Arthanise, run, run!!" He & I would throw the ball before games. He was the one that got "let go & taught me to ride my bike. And the best thing ever was the day he brought me home a go-cart. His boss sold it to him for $100. I rode it almost everyday. My dear childhood friend John & I just about rode the tires off that thing. After I mastered that, he & I would go out on the country roads on Sunday afternoons & he taught me how to drive. We would come home & he would brag to my mom that I didn't "bobble not one time". The little things like this make me so grateful to have grown up the way I did. Everything was so simple. My parents are wonderful people & I want to thank them for doing such a wonderful job teaching me how life is suppose to be lived. Do the best you can with what you have, be thankful to God, stay in church, work hard, & always treat everybody the same. I love you Mom & Dad!!!