Making A Favorite Memory With Dad

My father was diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma the day after Easter 2014.  He and Mom had been in the Keys with friends on Easter when he suffered from a grand mal seizure. He was air lifted to Miami.  A friend drove mom up to the hospital.  My sisters, brother and I all flew in to be there for his brain surgery.  We were all there when the Dr. gave us the news.  With my job I new immediately what the diagnosis meant. Only 2% of glio patients live 12-15 months after diagnosis.  We all take turns flying out to see dad and the whole family got together for Christmas here in KC.

It's been 16 months.  Last week I went for a quick trip, Thursday - Saturday, to see him.  He can no longer walk, he doesn't talk much maybe two or three words at a time and his short term memory is all but gone.  Dad's long term memory is sharp.  He introduced my youngest sister and I to the staff and even told them where we were from Kansas and New York.   We watched a John Wayne marathon, he remembered actors names and he would quote lines before John Wayne would speak. We took him outside each day for fresh air and some quiet as his roommate is a talker.

As the fates would have it I got caught up in the East Coast FAA computer shut down Saturday and was rescheduled to head home Monday.  I was sad that I would miss college move in for the girls, but my hubby assured me they could handled it. I knew they could, I just wanted to be there.  I believe everything happens for a reason. My sister picked me back up from the airport and we headed back to hang out with dad.  If I had flown home on time I would have missed what has turned out to be my favorite memory from our visit.  Dad is ornery and loves to play with the call button.  This time my sister told him he looked like he was ready to sing karaoke.  He smiled, with a twinkle in his eye and we asked him to sing for us.  To our surprise he held the call button up to his face and sang a line of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". We all clapped and the smile on his face was priceless.  Him being a Marine and us being Top Gun fans, it was the perfect song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVNWSEX-WqU&list=RDHVNWSEX-WqU

Nightmare on Prairie Star

If the title conjures up visions of Freedy Krueger, we're on the same page. It was the 1st week of summer vacation 2012. My oldest is back from college, the middle one has graduated High School and the youngest is now officially a Junior. Friday was the 1st day none of them had to work. I requested they clean their rooms. I know mean mom. Rooms did get cleaned, but when the work actually started, no one knows. I arrived home around 4:30, usually the puppy greats all who enter at the top of the stairs with a toy. No toy, no puppy. My husband was on the couch talking to her and wondering why she was acting like she was in a trance like state. After about another hour she suddenly snapped out of it. We asked the girls about their day and what the pup had been doing. Well my youngest and the pup watched the "Nightmare on Elm Street" marathon. You can check out http://www.freddykrueger.com. Every night for a week the pup had nightmares. Last night she was so scared she hyperventilated. I guess in one of the movies he killed a dog. Who knew a dog could get scared by a movie. I remember the 1st time our oldest dog saw "101 Dalmations" the live action version, she would bark back at the dogs on TV. Advise I was given is to watch a happy doggy movie with her.

Fast forward 3 years I'm making dinner and my youngest now a sophomore in college informs me that my hubby and the pup are watching "Annabelle" another scary movie.
After being warned by all of us, that he would be responsible for caring for the traumatized dog the rest of the week, they continued to watch the movie. Luckily for us this one did not effect her to badly.   Tho she does still freaks out if she sees Freddy on TV.