dad

I called Dad earlier today. He is still in the nursing home for recovery; will be for awhile yet.

He is in the best spirits I think I have seen/heard in the past two years with this whole ongoing mess. He seems genuinely relieved to have the bad leg gone and the stump healing up. He starts the fitting process for a prosthetic leg this coming Tuesday. He has a hydraulic brace for the full leg, since that knee has an odd twist to it, to help him straighten out the remaining leg.

He has lost a lot of weight. A lot. He is down to 235. That is only ten pounds heavy than me, although he is about a half a foot shorter than me. My dad has never been only 10 pounds heavier than me. The closest he got was about twenty pounds, but I was much heavier back then. Most of my life, he has been at least 350. It has really done the job on his knees and legs. I hope he understands how permanent his new relationship with food needs to be. Luckily, my mom will always be able to beat him to the refrigerator…

I shared with him my intent to turn him into a pirate on my next visit. He laughed; a good hearty, real laugh.The was the best thing I could have asked for today. I don’t get home very often to visit, but I have missed my dad a great deal the past few visits having only gotten to visit briefly in the nursing home.

I think I may be getting him back…