Another Twist of Fate.....!!!

Poor Dad!!! Monday, Dad went to the Retiree's breakfast from where he used to work at the machine shop, with a fellow retiree, Dan. They had just gotten out of the car, headed for the entrance to "Pig N' Pancake on 122nd and Glisan.

Dad apparently caught his shoe on the curb, and went down like a ton of bricks. Dan helped him up, and they proceeded in to have breakfast. About an hour later, they were getting up to leave, and Dad couldn't stand up. His legs were shaking, and couldn't bear his weight. His entire right side that he fell on hurt!! Dan called me, I had just gotten up. I raced down there, and evalutated the situation, Dad could not stand up, let alone walk to my car. So, I called an ambulance, and they transported him to Kaiser Sunnyside. They gave him a tetnus shot, since he scraped his arm, and x-rayed his ribs, leg and pelvis area. No broken bones, thank goodness!! The doctor showed his x-rays to me, the one of his femur showed the scarring from an old break Dad had in the 1930's when he was a boy and got ran over by a car. Facinating to see that, after hearing about it all my life!! We were at the hospital for about 6 hours. They gave Dad a walker, and off we came home. I made an appointment with his GP for this morning for a baseline follow up. Dad cannot walk without the walker, he had a very hard time getting into my car, and back into the house when we got home. I had to push him around in a wheelchair during his doctor's visit, a new thing for me, he is heavier to push than Duane's Mom!

(I had to take her to one of her appointments after her last head injury.) Bad news is, Dad's recovery may take as long as 6 weeks, if he ever gets back to where he was before. He can't be alone, so I have to take a family leave of absence from work. Worst possible timing too, with Easter this weekend, and we have resets in our department coming up. We only have 8 employees, and now with me out, down to 7!! I feel lousy about it, but, Dad needs me now more than ever. Dr. Greeder said he could be measurably better in as little as 2 weeks, so my boss and I decided to take it on a weekly basis, she will call me when she writes the schedule, and see if I can come back. That's all we can do for now!! My last scheduled shift is Saturday, which I will work, (I missed Monday and today, Wednesday) Duane will watch over him while I am gone, from about 8:15am to 5:45pm. Then, he's all mine!! Wow, I knew it was coming, but didn't know it would be so soon. Guess we are never prepared. I will probably go nuts. Dad is already getting stir crazy. I just hope he can get better. This year so far hasn't been the greatest, I hope this isn't a trend for us!! No word on Duane's truck, I assume the repair place is working on it. Duane hates the mini-van!! (Hee, hee!!) Well, had better fix to go to bed, I had to get up way too early this morning to take Dad to the doctor!!