To say Christmas in 2012 was exciting, wouold be a poor use of words. Exciting is not the word I would use to describe the past holiday season. An emotional rollercoaster would be more fitting, and a ride that I would LOVE to get off of now.
I spent half of my holidays in the hospital supporting my dad. He had had 5 (mini) strokes in a 3 week period. The doctor was able to determine that it was connected to an injury at work.
So this is how it went it how it was told to me. My dad is a truck driver. (Professional driver if you will). He was unloading the truck and the the bar that holds the doors at the back closed was frozen shut ( we had just had the first ice storm of the season) and so he braced himself up against the doors to wiggle the pin out that was keeping the bar across the doors closed. Just as the pin came free, my dad slipped and was clipped in the jaw by the bar holding the doors closed. Dad said that he saw stars for a few minutes. Following the incident he was off work for about a week with the flu, which turned into migraines. Dad was now off work for 2 weeks with migraines and vision loss.
He was taken to the hospital where the Dr there suggested that dad's tooth was the cause of the pain and migraines. On Christmas Eve my dad went to the dentist and had the tooth pulled. He said that it had helped a little bit with the migraines but not much. Christmas Eve is also one of the times of year that I have family over and we cook a big dinner. ( we have always done the big family celebration on Christmas eve and the smaller family one on Christmas day.) When my dad and his girlfriend (whome I think is WONDERFUL!) left our house on Christmas Eve, I turned to my husband and said, "My dad looks like he has had a stroke." My husband said that he agreed but didn't want to say anything out loud.
Christmas day came and went and everything seemed normal. I talked to my dad and wished him a Merry Christmas and made plans to see him in the next couple of days for a visit. Little did I know that that visit would be sooner than I thought and in an unlikely place.
Boxing day at 6 am, I got the call. One that I missed as I turn my cell phone off at night. When I got up at 8 and checked my phone, I saw that my dad's girlfriend had called at 6 am. Instantly my heart started to race. She never calls, usually texts but never actually calls. I knew it was bad. When I returned her call she explained that my dad had tried to get up to go to the bathroom and had lost mobility on his entire left side. He was taken to the hospital via ambulance. WOuldn't you know that the first major snow storm of the season happened that same night. I wasn't able to get to my dad until later in the afternoon.
Upon seeing my dad, it was very hard. My dad is and always has been my hero. I call him still when I am sick, or hurt, or if I need a good dose of reality. To see my dad incapacitated was a hard thing to see. My Dad has since gone through many ups and downs. He first learned that he had had 5 strokes in a 2-3 week span. That was a down. The up he received was that he would gain (and HAS!) his mobility back. Then the next down, he has been declared legally blind. For my dad this is devastating. He is a professional driver. (He drives a Truck for a living)
He was told that he would be losing his license and that the vision he does have may be the best he gets.
I must say that my dad is doing very well. He is walking on his own, but his vision seems to be at a stand still as the doctor predicted. I have seem himm recently and and his spirits are high and he excited to be out of the hospital soon! Possibly this week! Which is super exciting.
He keeps reminding me that he may need my help with getting set up at his place. Of Course I WILL BE THERE! Silly dad!
Anyway, as I have said before, this is a Christmas I won't soon forget.
I love you Dad!
I spent half of my holidays in the hospital supporting my dad. He had had 5 (mini) strokes in a 3 week period. The doctor was able to determine that it was connected to an injury at work.
So this is how it went it how it was told to me. My dad is a truck driver. (Professional driver if you will). He was unloading the truck and the the bar that holds the doors at the back closed was frozen shut ( we had just had the first ice storm of the season) and so he braced himself up against the doors to wiggle the pin out that was keeping the bar across the doors closed. Just as the pin came free, my dad slipped and was clipped in the jaw by the bar holding the doors closed. Dad said that he saw stars for a few minutes. Following the incident he was off work for about a week with the flu, which turned into migraines. Dad was now off work for 2 weeks with migraines and vision loss.
He was taken to the hospital where the Dr there suggested that dad's tooth was the cause of the pain and migraines. On Christmas Eve my dad went to the dentist and had the tooth pulled. He said that it had helped a little bit with the migraines but not much. Christmas Eve is also one of the times of year that I have family over and we cook a big dinner. ( we have always done the big family celebration on Christmas eve and the smaller family one on Christmas day.) When my dad and his girlfriend (whome I think is WONDERFUL!) left our house on Christmas Eve, I turned to my husband and said, "My dad looks like he has had a stroke." My husband said that he agreed but didn't want to say anything out loud.
Christmas day came and went and everything seemed normal. I talked to my dad and wished him a Merry Christmas and made plans to see him in the next couple of days for a visit. Little did I know that that visit would be sooner than I thought and in an unlikely place.
Boxing day at 6 am, I got the call. One that I missed as I turn my cell phone off at night. When I got up at 8 and checked my phone, I saw that my dad's girlfriend had called at 6 am. Instantly my heart started to race. She never calls, usually texts but never actually calls. I knew it was bad. When I returned her call she explained that my dad had tried to get up to go to the bathroom and had lost mobility on his entire left side. He was taken to the hospital via ambulance. WOuldn't you know that the first major snow storm of the season happened that same night. I wasn't able to get to my dad until later in the afternoon.
Upon seeing my dad, it was very hard. My dad is and always has been my hero. I call him still when I am sick, or hurt, or if I need a good dose of reality. To see my dad incapacitated was a hard thing to see. My Dad has since gone through many ups and downs. He first learned that he had had 5 strokes in a 2-3 week span. That was a down. The up he received was that he would gain (and HAS!) his mobility back. Then the next down, he has been declared legally blind. For my dad this is devastating. He is a professional driver. (He drives a Truck for a living)
He was told that he would be losing his license and that the vision he does have may be the best he gets.
I must say that my dad is doing very well. He is walking on his own, but his vision seems to be at a stand still as the doctor predicted. I have seem himm recently and and his spirits are high and he excited to be out of the hospital soon! Possibly this week! Which is super exciting.
He keeps reminding me that he may need my help with getting set up at his place. Of Course I WILL BE THERE! Silly dad!
Anyway, as I have said before, this is a Christmas I won't soon forget.
I love you Dad!