Monday, September 24, 2007

We've had two not so good days around here. Yesterday Dad almost fell when we went out to eat. He just barely made it to the booth with my help. If there had not been something for him to grab hold of he would have hit the floor. The bad part of this is that he does not tell me that he is feeling "weak" he just kind of spaces out on me. This in turn scares Autumn to death. She's no dummy. We have been down this road before. I got in front of him, made him look me in the eye, and asked him what was wrong. "I'm weak" was all he would say. I got him to the table and got some food in him.

We didn't rush, but I knew I had a ton of things to accomplish. I took him to his house, drug out the weed eater only to realize it would not work no matter how hard I tried. So off we went to the big box store to purchase another weed eater. They only had one option in a gas one. It works, but is not what I was hoping for. The humidity was bad and the weeds were well over knee high. It was a process to say the least. All the while Dad kept saying, "Go get me the lawn mower. I can mow this for you."

Right.

When it was time for bed I walked beside him. There are four steps he must climb to get to the upper part of the house. My muscles (and I use that term very loosely) were screaming from the work I had already done and now were protesting profusely in holding him in place so he would not fall. I honestly thought I was going to have to wake the kids to help me. I had to catch him, hold on, and encourage him to keep going. He had a death grip on the handrail. It took me about 10 minutes to get him up the stairs. This is the same man that walked Wednesday about 1000 feet from the front door to the cardiology office on his own. How scary is that? Needless to say I didn't get much sleep last night.

Today when I came home from work and decided to run out for sandwiches because of the late hour, he again told me that he couldn't walk. I once again had to "help" get him to the car. I made him do it anyway. If he doesn't try, if he just quits, then I am in trouble. On the way to the sub shop I mentioned that we should go ahead and purchase a shower chair. His response? I'll be able to do it tomorrow.

Sure Dad. I hope that I am wrong and you are right, but I am not holding my breath.