My Dad
It has been a very long road since March 27, 2008. This is the day my dad went in for surgery to remove a tumor that had been discovered behind his left eye. Who would have ever thought that things would turn out this way? Certainly not me. After all, he is my dad...my superhero! Invincible, strong and ALWAYS there when needed! Now I'm sitting here behind a wall of unrelenting tears trying to verbalize the feelings of my heart, though futile the effort might be.
Everyone that knows my dad had noticed a change in his memory....very short..but for me, the changes were not gradual...and extremely noticeable if for no other reason than that I wasn't around him everyday. Rather, I was around him in several month intervals. Each encounter made me more concerned as to his well being. He of course attributed it to getting older. That might have been the case, but the changes were too dramatic for this to be the only reason..or that was how I saw it...and even though my perspective is flawed most of the time, well...I felt I was spot on this time and pushed to have him checked. It was during the trip that he and Grace took with me to my place in Ecuador at the end of October that my feeling in this regard came to a head.
Grace followed up on these concerns and contacted his doctors..which rather than just doling out meds, scheduled him for an MRI to determine the possibility of underlying causes. There it was, behind is left eye...a tumor that had compromised the optic nerve making the cataract surgery of 4 years prior...unsuccessful...no wonder he showed no improvement in the vision of this eye..and had continued to experience decreased vision in the affected eye.
So after examinations by the surgeon, the tumor was diagnosed as benign, removal necessary.
With all the appropriate warnings...the surgery was scheduled and began on March 27, 2008...after 4 hours we were informed that the surgery was complete and that he was being moved to the critical care unit to recover......2 weeks later he was moved to long term care...he has yet to awaken from the surgery.
Today, he has been diagnosed with blood clots in his left leg and both lungs...doctors say he will never be able to be removed from the respirator...and that he will never wake up. The clots and ventilator will add to his rapid deterioration and demise. Beside myself with grief that my dad, best friend and confidante is in this condition...seeing him like this is devastating enough, but to witness his continued downhill plummet has forced decisions that I never thought I would ever have to make. Like always he provided an assist in this matter by executing a DO NOT RESUSCITATE order that includes a mandate that his life not be sustained by a machine...which is exactly the situation in which we find him today. Therefore effective May 19, 2008, the machine assist will be terminated.
Blake and Blake
Christmas Cocktails
Everyone that knows my dad had noticed a change in his memory....very short..but for me, the changes were not gradual...and extremely noticeable if for no other reason than that I wasn't around him everyday. Rather, I was around him in several month intervals. Each encounter made me more concerned as to his well being. He of course attributed it to getting older. That might have been the case, but the changes were too dramatic for this to be the only reason..or that was how I saw it...and even though my perspective is flawed most of the time, well...I felt I was spot on this time and pushed to have him checked. It was during the trip that he and Grace took with me to my place in Ecuador at the end of October that my feeling in this regard came to a head.
Grace followed up on these concerns and contacted his doctors..which rather than just doling out meds, scheduled him for an MRI to determine the possibility of underlying causes. There it was, behind is left eye...a tumor that had compromised the optic nerve making the cataract surgery of 4 years prior...unsuccessful...no wonder he showed no improvement in the vision of this eye..and had continued to experience decreased vision in the affected eye.
So after examinations by the surgeon, the tumor was diagnosed as benign, removal necessary.
With all the appropriate warnings...the surgery was scheduled and began on March 27, 2008...after 4 hours we were informed that the surgery was complete and that he was being moved to the critical care unit to recover......2 weeks later he was moved to long term care...he has yet to awaken from the surgery.
Today, he has been diagnosed with blood clots in his left leg and both lungs...doctors say he will never be able to be removed from the respirator...and that he will never wake up. The clots and ventilator will add to his rapid deterioration and demise. Beside myself with grief that my dad, best friend and confidante is in this condition...seeing him like this is devastating enough, but to witness his continued downhill plummet has forced decisions that I never thought I would ever have to make. Like always he provided an assist in this matter by executing a DO NOT RESUSCITATE order that includes a mandate that his life not be sustained by a machine...which is exactly the situation in which we find him today. Therefore effective May 19, 2008, the machine assist will be terminated.
Blake and BlakeChristmas Cocktails
posted by blake at 7:38 AM
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