In Loving Memory of my Father

In Loving Memory of My Father

Vernon L. Prather

 

October 2, 1932 - November 13, 2012

 

High Flight

 

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth.
Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of-
Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft throught footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sancitity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

 

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Sorry for the neglect!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the neglect of my blog lately, but as most of you know I had to make a rushed trip home to Texas on Dec. 27th as my mother had had a massive heart attack and was on a respirator and in a coma. On Dec. 30th, thru a comedy of errors, we managed to get my father loaded into the back of a work van on a mattress and took him to the hospital, the ICU staff met us downstairs with a gurney and took him up to see mom. Once he saw her and talked to the drs. about her condition and with us, he agreed it was best to take her off the respirator and put her into God's hands. He originally said to do it the next day, but I requested we wait until the Jan. 1st as the 31st was my birthday and once he realized this he agreed to wait until Fri. So on Jan. 1st we all gathered again around her and the drs. removed her from the respirator. Dad stayed as long as he could, but started hurting, so my sister, Melanie, her DH, Jimmy and my DH, Harold (he flew in on the 31st) took him back home. My brother, Gary and I stayed with her. Shortly after they left she stopped breathing and shortly after that her heart stopped. She went peacefully.

As hard as it has been to lose my mother, I am getting by. I have decided that New Year's Day will not be a day of sadness. It will continue to be a day to celebrate, both the New Year and the start of her new life with God. I know she is happy now (even more so than she was in life) and she is no longer in any pain. She had been suffering a great deal with arthritis, bursitis and fibromyalgia in her knees. She suffers no more.

To add to the situation, Harold's brother-in-law, passed away on Dec. 30th from Alzheimers and other complications. Oscar had been married to DH's older sister, Bonnye, until she passed away in 1990 from breast cancer. He remarried a little over a year later and about 10 years ago he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers. He declined quickly and for awhile had to be put into an Alzheimer home, but later had to return home where he has been the past few years and started declining rapidly the last 6 mths. or so. While we had not seen him in a long time, he will be missed as he was a very special person in our lives. We were able to go to his memorial service since it was held the day after mom's.

Dad's health is a little better than it was when I left in Oct., but he is still having problems. He had just returned home on Dec. 21st and got to spend the holidays at home. He is on the hospice program and a nurse comes in the morning to check on him and clean him up and such and then in the late afternoon/evening another nurse comes to treat any bed sores or anything he might have. We just switched him to an air mattress and that has been a big help in letting the few he had heal and keep more from forming at this time. My brother and his son are staying at the house and caring for him as well.

Well, I will close for now and try to get a few things posted...Christmas pics, family pictures taken before mom's memorial service and our postponed due to snow Christmas Party for my Red Hat Scarlet Sophisticates group ( I got home the day before, so I was able to go). Life goes on.

Thank you all for your support and condolences during this time.

Love,
Cindy

Dad's 77th Birthday

Well, 2 days after George and Mandy got married I was on my way to Texas to check on dad and mom. Dad had been in the hospital since Aug. 19th. They moved him to a phys. therapy facility, and then to a rehab./nursing home. While I was there we were able to go and celebrate his 77th birthday with him. I made him his favorite cake, German Chocolate (tried to give him a tiny lick of icing since he can't eat, but he refused it)

In the hospital they finally discovered that he had a fractured 1st lumbar vertebrae, thus all the extreme pain he has been in. They also diagnosed him with leucocytosis. After several weeks they moved him to a phys. rehab. facility, but since he was unable to do up to 3hrs. of therapy, he was moved to the rehab./nursing home. Upon his arrival there, he advised he could not swallow anything without it going into his lungs and decided to have a feeding tube put in and since he had been barely eating for some time and had lost a considerable amount of weight, they did so. He had returned to the nursing home from having that done the day before I arrived on Sept. 19th. Dad was still in constant pain and unable to do more than a few minutes of therapy, before it was too much for him. Before I left, it was decided that the therapy would be temp. stopped and the pain treated more intensely to try to give him some constant relief from it and hopefully stop him from anticipating pain and thus causing it to be worse by tensing up.

Dad and Mom with the kids.

(Me, Melanie, Gary)

Dad with Melanie and her DH, Jimmy.

Dad with Grandkids

Jennifer, Tiffany, Brandon and Christopher

Now more of the story. It was finally discovered when he went into the hospital for the 3rd time that he had a fractured 1st lumbar vertebrae and that was the cause of his intense pain. He stayed in the hospital for several weeks as he also had other problems and was then moved to a phys. rehab. facility, but since after a week he could not do up to 3 hrs of phys. therapy (could only manage a few minutes, before the pain was too much) they moved him to the rehab./nursing home. Upon his arrrival there, he advised them again that when he swallowed (even though he was eating/drinking very little) that it went into his lungs when he did so. He was diagnosed with Dysphasia and went back to the hospital to have a feeding tube put directly into his stomach. He returned to the nursing home on Sept. 18th and I arrived on the 19th. He was extremely thin due to the lack of nourishment and had lost a lot of weight from when I had last seen him in July. He seemed to fill out in the face for a few days and then seemed to thin out again. Over the 3 wks. he only gained 3 lbs. back. He was unable to do more than a few min. therapy still and was in constant pain, unless completely drugged. They decided just before I left to temporarily stop the therapy and concentrate on the pain and reevaluate him every 10 days or so for therapy. He would anticipate the pain so much when they came in to work on him for any reason that he would tense up, only making it worse. So they are hoping that if they can eliminate it for awhile that will stop and he won't be so sensitive. But this also means he will be out of it more of the time and sleep more than he already was. All we can do at this time is wait to see what happens. The dr. is going to talk to some ortho. surgeons to see if he can get anyone to consider surgery on his back as it is still not healed and we have a feeling it happen many, many months ago when he fell and refused to go to the dr. and then aggravated it golfing and then sequestered himself to his bed for months until the pain got so unbearable he finally agreed to go to the hospital. Anyway, the chances of them agreeing to do surgery on his back is unlikely due to his overal condition, but I don't think he will be free of the pain until it is done, so we are in that vicious circle mode - no surgery because of poor health, no chance of relief from the pain if no surgery. Ugh! Well, all we can do at this time is pray and keep the faith that things will work out one way or the other to free him from his pain. Please keep him and the family in your prayers.

I'm Baaack!

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your patience while I have been away visiting my parents. My dad was moved to a phys. rehab./nursing home facility on approx. Sept. 18th and had a feeding tube put in as he was not eating and when he swallowed it went into his lungs. He is in constant pain and not doing any better. He has Dysphasia, Chronic Pain Syndrome, Leucocytosis, along with many other problems. I arrived there on the 19th and just returned home today. My mother also has some health issues (heart, and in her legs - arthritis, bursitis and fibromyalgia). She can barely get around due to her leg/knee problems. My sister and I spent the past few weeks rearranging my dad's bedroom - removed the huge CA King-size bed and put the full-size bed with the elec. controls for head and feet in his room and cleared out some of the papers and things he has collected/stashed away over time. We also took some excess furniture out of my mothers room as she has fallen several times and it is very hard to get her up as she can't help you much once she is down. We ordered a portable lift for her and now have room to use it in her room, when she goes down in the hallway or bathroom, we will have to figure that out when it happens as no room for the lift. We also got rid of some un-needed things in the living room and entryway to make things easier for her to get around. I am not in great shape, so my sister did most of the phys. labor, but I was there to back her up with my parents to say - this IS happening. With mom we met less resistance, it was usually dad that resisted us. We got a lot done, still a lot to do, but she can now get it accomplished overtime as we have the ball rolling on it now. Dad is not doing any better than he was when I got there, but not much worse, but based on the meeting we finally got with the director of nurses yesterday, before I left today and my sister met with the doctor today and got the same story, it is not looking good as he (my dad) is not cooperating with phys. therapy, because of the extreme pain he is in, so the therapy will stop and they are going to concentrate on pain control and then reevaluate him again in about 10days and keep doing that for awhile to see if they get any improvement. We did get to celebrate my dad's 77th birthday and all the local family were able to come to the nursing home at the same time and sing Happy Birthday, I even made a cake (which he unfortunately he couldn't eat). We each had some for him and gave the rest to the staff.

On the bright side, while I was home I was able to attend my HS reunion. It was for all of the 70's classes. DH came just a few days before hand to join me as we graduated together at the same school - Yep - HS sweeties. We had a great time and gave me a chance to relax. It was wonderful to see all my old friends and acquaintances from HS. We had a approx. 210 people attend and had a good turnout for each year (although I don't remember seeing anyone for 1970). We had a "Blast from the Past". I will have pics posted later on my personal blog, http://dragonsndragonflies.blogspot.com/

I will be posting pictures later of dad's birthday, the HS Reunion and other things I can come up with and more news. Taking a few days to rest and get a few things done here that didn't get done before I left. Thanks for reading my long post. This is my therapy - LOL!