Dad and the Big D (dunh, dunh, duh...)

So this past couple of weeks has been rough. Dad has been having weekly chemo treatments starting about Jan 12rh. He gets Taxotere and with each treatment he gets some "feel good" drugs to help counteract side effects. The feel good drugs last about 48 hours, but for the first week or so, he was doing pretty good afterwards. But then after the third treatment he wasn't feeling so hot. Now, I've been told not to blog too in depth about the consistency of his bowel movements, so let's just say he was battling the Big D.

Meanwhile, our area was hit with a bad ice storm/snow storm. I'm thinking they said it was the worst winter storm for 26 years. Lots of people, even entire counties, lost their power. Thank God I didn't lose my power because since Mom and Dad lost theirs, they came in to stay with me, along with Winifred. So Dad was sick, mom and I were taking care of him, Winifred was enjoying my place and, unintentionally, I'm sure, terrorizing Sophie and Gizmo.

The weather was bad enough that my office closed for Wednesday, Jan 28th, and because Mom and Dad were here, I took the rest of the week off. On Thursday, Mom and I had to go back to Wadesville and get a few things they'd forgotten, and on Friday, I drove back out to Wadesville and me and my uncle Doug attacked the front porch and sidewalk at Chez 'Rents so when they went home, they could safely get into the house. Doug had a pick axe, I had a shovel. It took about an hour, but we got it cleaned off.

Despite the fact that he really wanted to go home, Mom and I convinced Dad to stay at my house until Saturday, even though their power came back on on Thursday night. The Big D was still very present but we were feeding Dad well and I had bought a bunch of Gatorade. But we weren't doing enough because when we got out to Wadesville, Dad wasn't strong enough to take more than a couple of steps and he collapsed in the snow. We had to have some guys from the Volunteer Fire Department come out to help us get him inside and even then he was so weak. A couple hours after, I was sitting there talking to him, but he wasn't responding well if at all - Mom and I were afraid that the stress of the fall and the ice and everything had brought on a stroke. Thank God it wasn't. He had very low blood pressure and low blood sugar, though, so the EMT's took him to St. Mary's and after 3 hours in very uncomfortable chairs in his room in the ER, they finally admitted him for dehydration. The 3 hours in the uncomfy chairs were made up for, though because he was put in a private room in the clean wing where they put chemo patients. There was a couch and comfy chairs, a big flat screen TV, and this was Super Bowl weekend! (I jest - we don't really care about football. But, I'd have to admit that we did watch some of it.)

He was in the hospital about 36 years, err, hours. They pumped him full of liquids and worked hard to stabilize his blood sugar, and he was released Monday morning. I think he could have stayed, but he really wanted to be home. He was weak and tired easily, but he had an Rx for the Big D, and Carrie (Boss #2) told me about the BRAT diet that doctors prescribe for kids with the Big D, so I called mom and told her to feed him nothing but Bananas, Rice, Apple sauce, and Toast, so along with the threat of returning to the hospital if he didn't drink lots of liquids, Mom got him around the corner and starting about Wednesday, he improved visibly each day. It didn't hurt that Monday's chemo treatment was pushed off a week.

Frankly, I was afraid there. The man even called me in to his bedside one evening to tell me he wants to be cremated if it isn't too expensive, but if we don't and have a funeral with him in a casket, we are NOT to have an open casket funeral because if we do, he'll come back and haunt us. Well, knowing from the movies and tv that there's nothing worse than a vengeful ghost, we don't want that. Joking aside, I'm glad we had that talk, it made me feel better, and although I'm sure there'll be tons of tears when the time comes, I don't think I'll be a total basket case like I figured I would be.

Holly came down this weekend with Duncan and Haley is coming down next weekend with Hollian (or so that's the plan as I've heard it.) I have the feeling that on the grand scale of things, we have less time with Dad than we'd like, so it's good that they are able to come down and visit with him some here. I know Dad really was excited when I told him on the phone that they were coming down.

Today, Monday Feb 9th, Dad resumes his chemo. He'll get the "feel good" drugs and hopefully we'll have 48 hours of feeling good. And even more hopefully, the Big D, which had reduced itself to a small d and then even to a silent "d", won't return so he'll be able to continue regaining some strength. Although Mom has promised to continue the Bananas, Rice, Apple sauce and Toast vigorously... much to Dad's dismay that it doesn't include cheese or cookies.