Sunday, Sept 18th, 2011

Cyndi and I went over this afternoon and visited with Dad and Clara.  Clara had a great spread out on the table of sandwiches, dips, wine, and pasta salad.  We sat around the table and visited and then watched the Cowboy game.  Dad has developed a little back pain, he thinks its sciatic nerve stuff.  I think he plans on going to the Dr. to see about it.  And he's back feeling somewhat depleted on a daily basis.  I think he's thinking of driving again, since his Dr. said it would be okay.  I think that most of us are against that idea.  It's something we'll be talking to him about.  Clara does an awesome job of taxiing him around anyway.  Nice to have a chauffeur.  He ate well at lunch, and moved about fairly well.  But eventually he had to go horizontal for a few hours.  While there, I sat by his bedside and we discussed several things.  We left just after halftime of the game and that allowed us to get home to Rockwall at a reasonable hour.  He called later to make sure we made it home all right.  An 85 year old man calling his 61 year old son to make sure he made it home all right an hour's drive away.  It felt good.  BTW, we planted the seed of what to do for Thanksgiving.  We have several options that we'll be discussing here pretty quickly.  It's only a couple of months away.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

This was an eventful week for Dad.  We completed the sale of his house on Woodwind in Pantego (Arlington) and he is out from under that major headache of care and responsibility.  No more going to the house to water everything...including the pool!!!  The people that bought it moved from Hawaii, via Denver (not sure exactly how that worked out).  Our realtor, Tambre  Ruggiero, did a great job.  She wasn't working under the best of circumstances having to deal with Dad and Gregg and me to figure out what to do.  But she came to us as a referral from Gregg who has worked with her before, and I must say she did a very professional job for us. So now we can move a little closer to a more simplified life plan for Dad now that the house is out of the way.  Gregg and I will sit down with Dad probably this weekend and try to map out a strategy that's effective for all of us, but especially him.  He's been in really good spirits and health recently, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that this situation maintains itself for a long time.  His good friend Bill Ralston drove from Greenville to Arlington to have lunch with him this last week.  I know he likes it a lot when Bill visits with him.  He's a very good friend.
I'm not sure about his chemo schedule with the holidays this weekend.  Clara is out of town visiting friends and relatives and Gregg, Jeff and Kim will be taking turns staying with Dad while she's gone.  I have a great sibling support group to help me with this. And my wife Cyndi helps an awful lot to, even if it's just with her wonderful patience and understanding, and love for my family and my father. It's great to have all of this love and concern and contribution from those in the family that do contribute to his care and concern.  I know some of you that read this blog aren't in the area where you can visit, like Bill.  If you can visit, he loves the company.  If you can't then call or write.  He's not into computers at all, but Clara is.  If you need Clara's email address just contact me or comment below and I'll be glad to forward it to you and you can email Dad through her.