This page is dedicated to my DAD...he is a wonderful person who has gone through alot in the past couple of years!! It all started on the morning of December 3,1998 when I recieved a phone call from my husband stating that my mother had passed away...My parents would have been celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary a month later! The 3 hour drive to their house is a big blank (Luckily my husband was driving me). I was devastated but was in much better control than my father. We had a really hard time trying to make arrangements and pick out the best of everything for my mothers final resting place. I stayed with my dad for 2 weeks after the funeral and was dealing with a major depression...he felt he had no reason to go on. My dad lost 40 pounds in a short period of time. In October of 1999 I recieved a phone call from my dad's boss informing me he was in the hospital. My dad's story started with waking early for work and when he went to get out of bed he fell. His left leg would not hold him up. He crawled to the bathroom, then to the kitchen thinking that once he had a cup of coffee he would be ok. He was fixing his coffee and fell again!...After sitting at the table for awhile he decided to go to work which was about an hour away from home. He must have had an angel guiding him because he drove the distance without any problems and when he pulled into the parking spot and got out of his truck...he fell again. There happened to be some of his crew nearby that saw this and came over running to assist as much as they could. They transported my dad to the hospital where they determined he had a stroke. Again I might add that an angel was near because he had some left sided weakness but physical therapy helped a great deal. I spent a month with my dad because he could not drive and needed to get to therapy. Once able to drive again dad was doing great...still out of work...but doing good! In December of 1999 my dad called me at home telling me that he ws not feeling to good. With me being a nurse and hearing the symptoms that he ws telling me I knew he had to get to the hospital. I phoned a relative that lived right around the corner and said please take my dad to the hospital...which is where they determined he had suffered another stroke. During these times I really thought that I would lose him as well because we were still fighting depression and he was counting on going to be with my mother. My dad is a young man at the age of 54. Again he had left sided weakness but not as severe as it was with the first go round so physical therapy was a breeze!! In January of 2000 my dad met a lady friend which I did not agree with at all. I grew up in a loving home and just could not picture this at all and was totally set against it.
In June of 2000 my dad had a sore throat that would not go away after several rounds of antibiotics...he went to the doctor again and they sent him to have test done and that is when he was diagnosed with cancer of the throat. We were told that his cancer was a stage 4 which is not good.Of course we all thought the worst but held our heads up high and were gonna do whatever it took. Dad started chemo therapy and had to go through 8 weeks of radiation...going 5 days a week. He continued to have a sore throat and could hardly eat anything so of course he lost weight again!! Through all of this his girlfriend was right by his side and this I thank her for because I truely believe he would have given up at this point. His statement to me was that whatever the outcome he was in a win, win situation!!
We are now waiting for the doctors visit where they will scope his throat to see what the chemo and radiation has done. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best news ever!!....Well I have heard good news which is dad is cancer free right now. I also have heard not so good news. My dad has been having lots of trouble breathing at night. He spoke with the doctor and he is scheduled for a tracheostomy in May. I am again crossing my fingers that this will not have ot be a permant thing. |
