It woould be easy to call him my Father in Law, but he was more than that, he was Daddy to a little girl, to 2 little girls - for many years. Then he bacame Papaw to his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Somewhere in the mix, he became my Father in Law, my friend.
We watched this giant of a man slowly change until he was a wisp of his former self. Then, when he was barely here...he suddenly wasn't.
It wasn't quick, but he was gone far too soon.
Sometimes, we are in a store, and she sees something that reminds her of her Dad; some old style candy, reads a silly verse, hears a song, and she misses him. I guess that will always happen. She really loved her Father - he was an incredibly good man.
Now my Dad is the one we watch. He has lost weight, has a hard time getting around, and we are starting all the testing to determine where he is in this journey.
It was a long haul with my Father in Law, and this one is just starting.
This is the official story to date -
He retired from the Postal Service a few years back, has had back surgery, two hip replacements, a shoulder replacement, cataract surgery, and elbow surgery. Somewhere in this mix may have been a stroke, but details are not real clear, as he has a pacemaker and is unable to have an MRI.
He has Non-Alcoholic Cirrhosis of the Liver (Cirrhosis is scarring of the Liver), also called Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC). The PBC causes his blood to be "out of whack" and can give pre-luekemia (Myelodysplasia) symptoms. In addition, he has an extremely high level of ammonia in his blood.
He has also been diagnosed with "Slow Stomach" or Gastroparesis, again - this is sometimes associated with Cirrhosis.
He uses a walker, and is in pain from the arthritis all over his body (in particular, spinal stenosis), and the herniated disk in his neck that has calcified and pressing against the spinal column, causing wekness in his extremeties.
Sometimes when we talk, he is there - he is still the same man I have known my entire life. Sometimes, he is not. We have not been able to establish a pattern yet to determine what causes the good days or bad, but we are "mapping" them.
Other than the slow stomach causing near spontaneous vomiting, he is doing a little better, at least we are a little more informed.
The only real change has been the medical - he was a recipient of our wonderful government managed halth care system for Veterans, and it nearly took him from us. Only after we got him into reputable civilian doctors did we get better response, better treatment and more choices.
He is only 73, but he seems 10 yrars older, and more feeble.
No fancy words or rhetoric today - just how it is.
I called him, he answered and we talked awhile. I try to avoid too much info at one time - it can get confusing.
So, here it is - the current status,
I hope, I pray, this is the bottom, that life will only get better from here...
No comments:
Post a Comment