Labor Day
Woke up today, as usual, to see Dad sitting in the recliner across from me. I went and fixed coffee and breakfast and called him to the table. He couldn’t get up from the chair. I helped him get up, but then he couldn’t walk. He was dragging his right leg as if it were dead. I checked his face and arm, and there didn’t seem to be anything changed with them, it was just his leg. I helped him get to the table and we had breakfast. He kept trying to walk by himself, because of course he would forget that he couldn’t. After a decent hour (all this happened around 5 am), I called my neighbor to see if she had a walker I could borrow, and went down and got it.
I was in a bit of a panic, I didn’t know if he had had another stroke, or what had happened. He was suppose to go with me to Arkansas tomorrow to stay at the cabin while Jim started his radiation. Mom was at the Labor Day parade with her friends, and I didn’t want to bother and worry her until I knew what was going on, so I decided to take him to the doctor in Pana (where she lives). They xrayed and catscanned him, and seems to concentrate way too much on the fact that his ankle was swelled a little. He hadn’t fallen - he just woke up broke! They could tell by the catscan that he hadn’t had another stroke, and of course the xrays didn’t show anything. Doctor wrote me a prescription for a wheel chair and told me to give him tylenol and sent me home. I called Mom told her what was going on and reassured her that she wouldn’t have to take care of him, I was still taking him to Arkansas with me.
He fell 2 more times that day, despite me being there. I would have to physically pick him up again.
We got up at 4 am Tuesday and took off for Arkansas, there was no other choice, I had to be there for Jim. I was in a bit of a panic about bathroom breaks etc on the 360, 7 hour trip, but he didn’t go until we got there. He still stumbled, and fell once (right on his butt). I’m going to take him to his regular doctor when we get home next week. (They postponed Jim’s treatments until Sept 16).