Hospital Run

Monday morning the assisted living center where my dad is stay calls me.  My dad's oxygen level is low, he needs to go to the hospital.  I pack my computer warn my boss of my departure and head out of work.  This has become routine over the past year.

I get my dad dressed.  He is slumped in his wheel chair.  His false teeth are out and he is not making much sense.  I wheel him down to the Jeep and help him get inside the lifted vehicle.  It is a struggle for him but my younger brother still has dad's Buick and he is not prompt about such matters.  Fuck I cannot reach him by text half the time.  How is that possible in this day and age?

At the emergency room they get my father seen quickly.  They do not mess around when breathing or heart issues are present.  I watch them take dad's shirt off so they can get an EKG.  His arms and legs are so thin compared to his torso.  It reminds me of E.T.  I wonder to myself how can someones torso be so large when is arms and legs are so small.  It just reinforces in me how important exercise is as you get older and how I hate getting older.

My father's health is still fragile.  A cold can wipe out weeks of him building his strength up.  He wants to take more Chemo treatments.  I don't think the cancer doctor will recommend it.  The cancer is killing him but so is the treatment.  If dad gets out of the hospital I need to remind him that he should not wait to do anything at this point.  He is a fighter, but I think he tends to ignore the obvious.  He is weak and he could go anytime.