Grampa, my nephews Ryan and Nicholas, and a puppy named "Lil Man'
I am sitting here with Grampa in his rehab place...
He is scheduled to go home on Thursday, Valentines Day
[Grampa's birthday]
He asked me yesterday
"How old am I?"
"How old do you feel Dad?"
he thought about it
"90"
"Well, your close, you will be 84"
"Wow, I NEVER thought I would live this long"
Dr. says he has the heart of a 40 year old!
[Probably because he never smoked and he was very active... skiing, hiking, riding motorcycles, jitterbugging whenever he could... Grampa loves to Jitterbug!]
BTW I have skied with Grampa and he skied circles around me...
[Even when I was 18 years old!!!]
When he went skiing, it was all about how many runs he could get in that day...
He was a chair lift up, ski straight down, chair lift up, ski straight down...
I, on the other hand was more of a chair lift up, hot chocolate at the snack bar, ski down in turns because I hated falling down, chair lift up, big turns down, time for lunch at the Lodge, chair lift up, time for a 'Hot toddy,' ski down in bigger turns...
You get the picture...
I have gone camping with Grampa too... He was always the last one to bed and the first one up! Making coffee in the morning over the campfire...
One time we went to Perris Lake, we had young kids at that time Kris was about 6, Candice was about 5 and Kameron had just turned a year old. The campground was new and it had a bike bath going around the man made lake... So Sam and his father took the kids on a bike ride... Kris and Candice had their own bikes and Sam had a beach cruiser with a seat on the back for Kameron. Grampa had one of those bikes that folds up to fit on the front of your camper... About 45 minutes later Sam comes back laughing so hard we can't get him to tell us what was so funny...
He keeps trying but then laughs and laughs... He has us laughing too but we don't know why yet!!!
Finally, after 10 minutes he gets the story out in between fits of laughter...
They were going down the bike path and Grampa was in front of Sam... Suddenly, Grampa's back wheel starts folding up! The whole bike folded up while Grampa was riding it... He said it was the funniest thing he ever saw...
Grampa somehow forgot to bring the pin that keeps the bike from folding up.
Sam says laughing "but the funniest part is he tried to blame the kids for messing with his bike... "Kids must have been messing with my bike!"... and then he would start laughing again with tears streaming down his face...
"Is Dad, OK? Did he get hurt"
"Ya he is fine, Just his ego got hurt" and he'd start laughing again...
"Where is he?"
"He's coming but his has to push his bike, he doesn't have the pin to hold the bike together"
A little while later, Grampa came walking up the bike path pushing his new toy, with Kris and Candice riding their bikes near him...
By now he was smiling, feeling stupid... Just the site of him made Sam start laughing all over again...
I said "Hi Dad, are you hungry? Ready for some dinner?"
He said "Yes, I'm hungry that was a good hike back" and he sat in a fold out banana chair with his feet up. I handed him his dinner and the second I did... the banana chair decided to fold its legs up from under him!
In a split second he was on the ground...
We were all stunned... but Grampa laughed... "I better just eat here on the ground, it seems its where I am supposed to be today" and we all laughed too.
Anyway... back to the here and now... Grampa is doing VERY VERY WELL!
I am very proud of him... When I came on Monday morning, I was told Sunday wasn't a good day for him... He had walked about 4 steps since getting out of the hospital on Friday.
Sam's sister Lisa was with him when I arrived and she gave me all the info I needed for the day... I kept telling him "Dad if you want to go home you HAVE to eat and you HAVE to walk okay?" "OK Honey"
Damn if he didn't take it to heart too! He walked from his bed to the hallway in his first Physical therapy for the day [he has it 3 times a day] and later he walked all the way down the hallway! Woo Hoo.. and he has been eating so much too!!! I am so proud of him! He sleeps most of the time in between everything, he is SO tired... [No wonder he is so tired, every 15 minutes someone walks in here to poke him, or check this or ask that! UGH]
Its frustrating!
The Dr. came in Monday and said "Looks like he is doing well with his hip, when would you like to schedule him for chemo and radiation" My eyes got huge and I made the hand across my neck like 'shut up about chemo and radiation' he quickly GOT it...
Oh my... thankfully Grampa doesn't hear all that well... whew!
If he read his chart, it says he is a hospice patient with months to live... we are not telling him he has bone cancer and prostate cancer... Good Lord... we are not putting him through chemo and radiation... my goodness... Do we want to see him go quicker, being absolutely miserable and sick with chemo... I don't think so...
Later today Sam's cousin Pam is coming to visit... she is bringing a Chihuahua named 'little man' she is trying to find a home for... we are going to sneak him in for Grampa to see :) Then I am heading home after traffic... I have been here for 2 days helping out...
Tina and Lisa keep thanking me profusely for being here but I told them...
"You don't have to thank me... Grampa has been a father to me longer than my own father was... I had my Father for 15 years, I have had Grampa for 24 years... since I was 18 years old! I love him"
4 comments:
I say he is tough & intends to stick around a while longer to be loved on :-). I think he wants to keep the dog!~Mary
I think you are doing the right thing. The only reason for chemo would be to cut down the pain but if he has as little time left then why put him through that. Have a good Sunday if you can.
Phil
Gosh I sure hope none of those nurses or other doctors come in there spilling the beans about the cancer because you know they all talk. I don't blame you. We didn't tell my mother in the end either. She would have refused treatment anyway. She had so many other problems on top of that.
Funny how we attached to our married family. I did the same thing with John's grandparents. They were my grandparents for 15 years when they didn't and I loved them very deeply. I think I was the one that was more devasted by their loss than their own family, but I was also the one that saw them daily and talked to them at least three times a day. I would spend Wednesdays and Sundays all day with them so that they could visit with the kids. They were so excited to have babies in the family again. Just loved it and enjoyed every day with them that they had. My kids miss them so much. It's been 10yrs now that they've been gone and my kids still talk about things they did with them. Makes me happy that I made the effort to put them around them so they'd have those memories for a lifetime.
I'll be glad when Granpa can go home. Sounds like he's doing great. I hate hospitals they bug so much. When Kait was in the hospital having Kyan so got real sick afterwards so we were there a week. Anyway, the nurses would get so mad at me because I would go turn the lights off and close the door. I guess they thought I was doing something in there. Finally they told me you can't close that door. I told her well my daughter is trying to sleep and all that noise outside (nurses station) is to loud. Then she left us alone. Grrr I just wanted some peace so she could rest and get better. So I know what you mean about that.
Happy Belated Birthday to Granpa.
Take care, Chrissie
Your in my thoughts sweety, with all your going through with Grandpa. I love how he still has his wits about him. God bless him!
That little dog is adorable. What a cute picture.
Love you
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