Lucky Me

Thursday, November 17, 2011

'You're lucky, you get to go home,' said the middle-aged woman in the elevator we shared at the hospital this afternoon.

'I don't take it for granted, that's for sure.'  I told her as we exited together at the lobby.

One thing I've learned in this experience is not to take one's health for granted. How many years have any of us jumped out of bed and lived our lives without giving thought to how many things need to be in place for us to even do that. The human body is an amazing thing, and it's a wonder it all works together as it does. Because when one thing goes wrong, it can affect everything else.  Upset the apple cart, if you will...

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. This expression keeps going through my head ever since the elevator interaction. Many things are out of our control: genetics and time and chance. However, many things are within our control: diet, exercise, environment, attitude. Following last week's ER drama with dad, my brother and I were conversing that after seeing people in the hospital, there is a strong desire to eat healthy and exercise - to avoid landing in the hospital sooner than necessary. Also to drive with care and attention... would be awful to end up in ER due to a preventable thing such as speed, or even impatience.

Dad is improving everyday. Today the delusion is much improved, though the words are still quite slurred.  He asked me at one point if people knew...

I asked, 'Knew what? That you're in hospital?'
He said, 'They knew that three weeks, a month ago.'

Haha, dad. Just when you wonder what's going to be next for him, he surprises you by being surprisingly on the ball.

Such was the case the other day when my brother and I visited him... he was still in the middle of the post-op delusions and talking gibberish about his old days building... the radius of the coffee cup, the thickness of the laminate, the plans on the wall and trying to get out of bed to get to work.  (Oh yes, he hasn't given up on the ole get-out-of-bed-trick quite yet.)  Loren and I exchanged glances a couple of times as if to say, "Whack-a-doo!"  He caught us looking at each other both times, and the second time he asked, "What's going on with you two?"  Good old dad; he was always spot on reading social cues, and he still has it going on.  Haha... he showed us, didn't he!?