The emotions I’ve had lately on life’s journey, have been many.
First, there are two sides to the coin, so to speak, of being the only child out of 5, that moved away from Toledo, Ohio.
Additionally, I missed lots of celebrations and holidays, over the years. And I also, was the only one who always stayed at the home we grew up in, 24/7, with each visit.
Think about how special it is and has been to be with my parents and now my dad, 24/7.
Since mom passed away in August 2021, Dad has chosen to keep moving forward and live his life to the fullest.
However, recently, there have been lots of emotions since his health has been a great challenge.
You see, in 2022, Dad was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, adding to his Afib.
With CHF, comes watching your fluid and salt intake.
In the summer of 2023, my dad’s left lung was filling with fluid and he had chest tubes put in twice to drain and expand his lung.
With the help of a diuretic and other medications, he was able to live a pretty active full live, despite his loss of ability to walk at a faster pace.
Because he enjoys staying active and walking every morning, Dad was able to keep himself as healthy as possible with his conditions.
However, around Thanksgiving 2024, as I stayed with him, I noticed his shortness of breath had increased, and on December 2, I was with him in the ER for chest pains.
Upon a CT and chest X-ray, his left lung was filling with fluid again.
They chose to let him go home and schedule an outpatient thoracentesis, or draining of his lung, the following week.
Since I had flown back home to Minneapolis, my sister took him.
From that day forward, he has had more health issues take place.
They hit his left lung when they drained it and it collapsed by the next day.
Back in the hospital he went to have a chest tube placed once again to expand his left lung.
Consequently, I had lots of emotions come up. And since I was flying back there on December 20th with Hale and my daughter Abby, my sisters and brother were his support.
Our Christmas was cherished by all of us being together with Dad, as he was feeling better then.
As you can see in my photos above, my dad became a great, great grandpa for the first time!
It was special on Christmas morning when the 5 generation photo above was taken. You can also see Dad with his 5 children, a photo of me, Hale, and my daughter Abby, with him.
While we were there before Christmas we found Dad a new, younger, up to date, cardiologist, who tweaked one of his medications. This seemed to help until January 7, 2025, he was very short of breath again.
My sister, Karen who lives 6 houses down the street with her husband John, called me in Florida at our condo. Hale and I had been there for just over one week at the time.
Back to the ER Dad went and was finally discharged on the evening of January 13th.
As former nurse, I knew I needed to be back in Toledo. I needed to talk to his specialists first hand and ask my questions.
So many emotions were going on inside of me. The only place I wanted to be was with him.
Basically the delayed flights and a canceled flight, due to weather, created more emotions inside of me.
Hale and I finally made it back to Toledo.
Since Hale is a carpenter, he and my very handy brother-in-law, John, did what they do best.
They tore our his old bathtub and put in a walk in shower for Dad.
I set up appointments for him with the CHF Clinic, his family doctor, the new cardiologist, pulmonologist, and a home healthcare nurse.
With a cough disrupting his sleep, following the chest tube removal, there have been more issues to deal with.
Lastly, leaving to come home after being gone for 35 days, I had lots more feelings come up.
Thank God for my wonderful family!
Calling Dad every morning and evening to check in on him, helps me to know how he’s doing.
We are planning a special 95th birthday party to celebrate this amazing man. It’s set for April 5, 2025.
Prayers and good thoughts for him and all of us are appreciated.
With love,
Connie
PS. Here is a link to read about what the author describes as our 7 emotions:
https://neurolaunch.com/seven-universal-emotions/
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