Pre-Memorial Day Visit...

Mom and my sister Holly went to visit Dad today....  Since the weather was windy and blustery, they wheeled Dad down to the reception area by the Grand piano and visited there.  The nurses had previously been attempting to clean Dad's eye and he would not allow them to, so it looked crusty, red and miserable...

My sister tested Dad's eye sight by asking if he could see out of it, which Dad told her he could.  She covered his other eye and checked and in deed he could.  Dad seemed much more alert this visit and was able to stay awake.  He insisted he was happy and felt good...

You can clearly see in the picture above he is happy...as long as they leave his eye alone...

Mom brought him some dental picks and a ' with large numbers.  Dad was THRILLED!

My sister shared with Dad that Mom had a skin cancer removed on her temple and showed Dad her "shiner" she was sporting from the surgery...  Dad had not noticed and apparently did not want to discuss it.  Dad does not like to think about or discuss negative things...

Dad was obsessed on a horse he had seen getting itself out of a ditch....Dad was so impressed and continually kept bringing it up to them...

At lunch time, they wheeled Dad back into the lunch room and seated him at a table with his good friend from the Navy...  They enjoyed a delicious lunch of Sloppy Joe burgers, baked beans, pears, lime jello, coffee and milk.  Doctor-Doctor brought him a plate of cottage cheese, grapes, watermelon and oranges.  Dad nearly finished it all...

Dad felt content announcing he was ready for a siesta, so Mom and my sister said their good byes to Dad while the assistant took Dad to tuck him in for his nap.

Mom treated my sister to a nice lunch at Chili's and Holly spent some time with Mom teaching her some tips and tricks on her iPad...

I am not sure if I could possibly make a difference, but I wonder if I should talk to Dad about his eye...  I doubt he would listen to me...he wants to allow his eye to heal on it's own...  His denial is probably natural for a man of his age...but he has consistently avoided pain since he had a balloon inflated in his heart after a heart attack back in the 1970's at the Veteran's Hospital in Long Beach, CA.  I will never forget the look of pain and fear in his eyes as he told me, "I never want to feel pain like that again..."

It had to be really bad...my Dad is a Marine, who fought in the Battle of Tarawa, yet the pain he felt in that hospital seemed to scare him more... That pain motivated Dad to stop adding salt to his food, calling it "white death".  He did floor exercises and isometrics.  He walked twice daily, morning and evening for a hour each time.  Later, he entered a 26 mile marathon in his 60's.  I still have the jersey he wore.

I hope to talk with him tomorrow...

We have been busy preparing for our laminate wood flooring to be installed on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It has been a real undertaking, but we are so looking forward to replacing all the carpet with the laminate and not having the hassle of keeping the carpets cleaned anymore.  We are doing everything we can to simplify our life with less maintenance.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Have a safe and happy one...