The Care and Maintenance of Parents

Wow, what a week this has been. I am really ready for a holiday weekend!

Yesterday, my dad had an appointment to see the cardiologist. A couple weeks ago at his routine, refill the prescriptions doctor's appointment he found out he was in atrial fibrillation and she suggested the start of Coumadin. He totally bucked the advice and set in his heels and would not do it. So he had an echocardiogram and got a referral to the cardiologist. Upon arriving there, his feet and legs were so swollen the skin was just tight and shiny and I'm not sure just how he even got his shoes on in the first place. So he was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon in Mason City. Not so bad, you might say, but he is about to turn 85 and has never ever been in the hospital in his life. He's sat with my mom through many hospital stays but has never been the one in the bed. Needless to say he was a little scared. Today when we arrived they had just put a catheter in and it was a great relief for him not to have to run back and forth to the bathroom every three minutes! He under went a transesophageal ultrasound of his heart and had actually consented to having electrical cardioversion done to get his heart back into rhythm but they saw a clot around his heart so they could not perform the cardioversion. Luckily his brother, Kenny, who has this same heart problem came and helped us talk him into taking the Coumadin vs. a stroke. I told him there are definitely worse things than death and I think a stroke would definitely be one of them. He had eaten a good supper tonight and looked like maybe he needed a little sleep. I told him to ask that cute Swedish nurse for a back rub tonight and he just smiled. Mom about had a fit at that suggestion! I think he is secretly enjoying all this attention lavished upon him by the nurses.

I am honing my skills on wheelchair driving and racing. They have some pretty slick chairs over there that you just squeeze the handle on the back to push it. They forgot to tell me that upon releasing the handle it stops on a dime and my poor mother about went flying. She said it was a good thing she has such a big rear or she would have ended up on the floor! She also like the way I did my corners....fast, like a Nascar driver! I did tell Dad that he is right, she is a HIGH MAINTENANCE woman! I am exhausted tonight!

Hopefully after a couple more days he will be able to return home and these treks to Mason City can come to an end. I am very thankful that my sister, Cyndi, came up to take over maintaining Mom. Until last night, she had never in her life spent the night alone in a house. She said she wasn't even scared. I made sure all the doors were locked and walked through the house before I left to make sure the bogey man wasn't anywhere to be found. She's glad to know she can do it if she has to but she really hopes she never has to.