Thursday, November 18, 2010

Dad had an eye appointment yesterday afternoon. When I got to Life Care, he was sitting in a recliner with other folks all around. I asked if he was ready to go and he said, "Go where?" I said, "You have an appointment with the eye doctor." He said, "Oh hell." Everybody laughed. We walked out to the car and I opened the door for him and as usual he said, "Do I get in here?" As we started off, he asked again, "Where are we going?" I told him and he said, "Why are we going to the eye doctor?" I explained he had a place on his eye that was bothering him and the doctor was going to fix it. He said, "Bullsh*t". I thought, "Oh goodness, he is really full of himself today - no telling what will happen at the doctor's office!" We didn't wait for long to get in a room. The nurse asked us some questions and then said "The doctor will be in shortly." Dad said, "Who?" She repeated and Dad said, "What Dr.?" While we waited, Dad kept counting the numbers that lit up. He would say "123-456", 123-456, 123-456...." over and over. He got louder and then he whispered. Then he started picking up the instrument that has a light and he would try to turn it on. He would hold out his hand to see if it was shining. Then he would forget where he got it and hand it to me. I would show him where it went. A minute later, he would do the same thing again. Then he reached over to the light switches and turned the lights on and off. He would look over at me and smile. Lately, when he is waiting for something he will crease his pants up at the top of his thigh and press the crease over and over. After we saw the doctor and made an appointment for surgery, we walked toward the receptionist desk. He reached over and opened the case that holds the fire extinguisher. Someone stopped us in the waiting area and asked me if that was Dr. Lane. They were excited to see him and said he was a great doctor. After Dad and I got back in the car, Dad looked over at me and said, "Susie, thank you for everything you're doing." I couldn't believe it! I took out my paper and wrote it down......... Susie