Who was it that said we get by with a little help from our friends? Oh yeah, the Beatles. Well they were right.
It was our friend Alan Kritz who got the ball rolling for getting Dad into the hospital and into surgery before the weekend. Alan and Phyllis are longtime friends whose son, Julian, is one of Zach's best and oldest friends. Alan is also now Dad's oncologist.
While Dad was in the hospital, Annette and Bryan visited in a couple of times. On one of the visits, Bryan brought him an iPod loaded with Bobby Darin and other music that he knew Dad would enjoy. There wasn't a dry eye in the room when Bryan put the headphones on Dad and played Mac the Knife. Dad was singing and crying. It was beautiful.
Cindi and Joel visited Dad after he came home and brought him delicious sweets. He might not want to eat my chicken florentine or matzo ball soup but he sure loves his sweets. (hint - if you want to visit, bring him some goodies)
Tracey and Larry had us over for dinner last Saturday and, wow, Dad thoroughly enjoyed himself. Apparently he'll eat Tracey's food any day of the year. Larry got him talking about his life growing up. Dad told me the next morning how much he enjoyed himself and what wonderful friends Jay and I have. We do feel blessed by that.
And Dad's friends have been terrific, too. Steven and a friend visited Dad last week which really made his day. Friends have been calling, emailing, sending cards and "skyking" with him. We are only an hour from his home in Pinehurst so let me know if you'd like to visit.
I brought his computer home yesterday so hopefully we will have him online soon. Today, Monday, was the first day I had a caregiver come to be with Dad for a few hours while I was able to work with clients. Her name is Kara and, it turns out, she has an IT background. She got the computer set up and even removed some spyware off it. But, it's not set up for wireless so we need one more thing before he can get online. Stay tuned.
Speaking of computers, I'm going to take a moment to rant about what a rip off Time Warner is. I found Dad's file on TWC and saw he's been getting hit with a $200/month charge for their services which included a DVR that I know he never used. He doesn't even know what it is. It makes me crazy thinking about him throwing away that money month after month all because he's a senior citizen that got taken advantage of by the cable company. ARRRRGHHH. Jay might call them and give em the what fer. He's hoping to get Dad a refund. He's good like that. But I digress.
Back to friends....It was Annette who helped us to understand what is happening to Dad in the evening. It's called Sundowning. Look it up. He doesn't have it to an extreme degree but it's clear he gets more agitated and irritable, tired and depressed as the evening comes on. Tonight was a prime example. He had a good day with Kara but tonight was rough. He went to bed early. So if you are going to visit, daytime is best.