Perils & Pleasures of 96!

On April 7 my dad turned 96 years old. Last Sunday on April 11, we had a birthday party to celebrate. Many family members gathered at my sister Cathy's to sing, visit and have cake and ice cream in his honor! It was delightful. Wish you could have been there.

Here is my dad with his living siblings, Coral and Doug. It was fantastic that both of them could come. They are both younger. I believe that they are in their 80's. My dad is the oldest of 5 children.
Hilary's family drove 11/2 hours from the north to join in wishing him happy birthday. We're glad they could come.
The celebration was the pleasure part of his last few weeks. About two weeks before his birthday he had an episode of dis-orientation, not being able to speak, weakness and low blood sugar. They took him to the hospital but by the time they got there, he seemed to be okay. Of course, they ran tests and kept him overnight for observation. In the end, they said he had suffered a mini-stroke. He didn't seem to have much residual damage but was very tired for several days and a little slower of speech. He also hasn't had much appetite or interest in food. They said that these mini-strokes would occur again. And so they have. He had another one about 3-4 hours before the birthday party and was very tired afterward but decided to go to the party anyway. He really enjoyed the gathering and seeing so many family members. You wouldn't have known anything had happened.

This Friday afternoon he had another one. Ann was alone with him and it scared her quite a bit. She was able to get some orange juice down him and somehow got him into his bed. (We're still not sure how she managed that since he couldn't walk and was limp). Kelley checked him out later and said that he is definitely failing. It's hard to say how long he will be with us. He didn't want to get out of bed but later he got up and had some soup for supper. That is all he remembers of the episode.

We were picking Jen and Taylor up at the airport when Kelley called. I wondered whether I should head down but they assured me everything was okay. We were hosting Jen's parents for dinner so it was a bit of a dilema. I got up early the next morning and headed south. When I walked in the house, there my dad was at the breakfast table finishing up a nice breakfast. I stayed and visited all morning and then fixed lunch. It was a beautiful day so my dad suggested we eat lunch on the patio. My sister, Cathy and brother. Steve joined us along with Taylor, Jen, Will and Steve P. Things were going well.



When I called at the end of the day to see how things were, my brother said that my dad felt so well that they went out to a restaurant for supper and that my dad had eaten well. When they returned home, Dad went in the house and Steve and Ann were unloading some things from the car. Suddenly there was a crashing noise. They ran into the house to find Dad on the floor. He had fallen hard and was bruised and banged up. Kelley came over and examined him. They didn't think anything was broken.

This morning when I called to check on him, Ann said that they were preparing to go to church. Dad has a scrape on his head but no other visible damage. She said "He's a tough old bird. We're going to church." I will say that he's pretty amazing. Every little set back makes me think that maybe we won't have him around too much longer. However, I guess he's not ready to give up on this life just yet.