My Beautiful Daddy

Things are progressing so much faster than I had anticipated, and I don't mean that in a good way, sorry to say. Yesterday, I went to the hospital before church and the doctor was there. I had to stick around to see him, but he finally came into Dad's room. He told me that they were planning to do a swallowing test to see if Dad could swallow before they would try to feed him anything. If he couldn't swallow, the recommendation would be a feeding tube, to which I said "No." I had already talked to several people who had been through this with parents with AD, and the consensus was to not do a feeding tube. I also discussed this with each of my siblings and my Mom, and we all were in agreement. The doctor told me that Thomas Hospital had an excellent palliative care nurse, and he would have her contact me to discuss our options.

Went to the hospital first thing this morning and happened to round the corner to his room just as the doctor was coming out. He told me that the prognosis is not good, which we already knew. He told me if he had to predict, he would say that Dad has one or maybe two weeks, but he could be taken this afternoon, there's just no way of knowing. At any rate, when the speech therapist came in to do the swallowing evaluation, Dad was not alert enough to do it. I went to work for a couple of hours and got a call from the palliative care nurse. We went over the options - back to nursing home with hospice care or to the local Hospice House, which I know to be a wonderful place since my father-in-law passed there on Christmas Day. So the hospice nurse came in and assessed Dad's condition and said that he met all the criteria and could be transferred to Hubbard Hospice House as early as tomorrow (Tuesday). Everyone who saw my Dad today commented on how good-looking he is. They all said what beautiful skin and hair he has. No one could believe he is 88 years old. What they don't know is that he is just as beautiful on the inside as he is on the outside. Those of us in the family know this to be true, don't we?

I love you all and will keep you posted as I can. Please remember Mom, Donny, Chuck, me, Timmy and Pam and our spouses and children in your prayers over the next few days.