I am going home on Tuesday to see my Dad. He has been in hospice for over a year and outlived his hospice wing four times over. He also survived an epidemic that wiped out the entire VA hospital less two people and other things over the years. But I think he is getting old and tired of cheating death, or maybe he is just not able to for much longer. He has had cancer on and off for 10 years. Now he has 5 kinds: colon, bladder, stomach, brain and blood cancer. He might have more, I don’t think they are still checking. He also has had an aortal aneurysm that could have burst killed him at any moment for the past 7 or so years. So far it has not. He is 92 years old.
He has not walked for about a year and he refuses to do PT anymore. He can barely eat or drink and sleeps like 20 hours a day. They no longer check his vitals every day, they are just keeping him comfortable. As of this month there have been some updates. He has recovered from the illness he had for a few months. I think that getting sick allowed his cancers to spread, because it is exploding everywhere and eating him alive. He is drinking and eating very little and has been put on an IV for hydration. The heartbreaking part for me is in excruciating pain he is now in. I hope morphine works REALLY well. However, I doubt my dad is happiest being doped up. Then again what the hell do I know he hasn’t been able to get out of bed for 15 months, maybe morphine rules? My brother Nick visited last week and Dad told him he would be leaving there in a week or two. That really struck me, because there is only one way out.
He had what my brother Greg called, “a little stroke” this week and is paralyzed on the left side, but he could regain some movement. How is that for an up side? I talked to him on the phone he asked when I was coming, I said how about next week he said, “I think that would be really good. Really. Good.” Then we said our I love yous and he handed the phone back to Greg. My boss is being VERY cool and understanding and encouraging for me to do what I think is right. I stressed for a few days about what is the right thing to do. How do you ever know? I talked to the most amazing friends in the world about details with pets and places to stay and the what, when, where of possibilities. I called the airline. Ultimately, I decided to get my butt on a plane on Tuesday and get to Maryland.
Greg thinks it will be hard for me to see my dad doing so poorly to the point of discouraging my visit. I appreciate as much as I hate my brother trying to protect me. I am not afraid of seeing my very sick father. I know it is not good. I know he has lost 25 pounds since I last saw him and he was tiny then. My being there for Dad when he is low, will not replace a lifetime of memories. I don’t believe in the last image thing. People overestimate the amount of visual information I take in all of the time. But I do know his eyes light up when he seems me and he smiles. Whatever he gets out of that is worth it to me. We have said everything there is to say and I am at peace with my dad and cherish our relationship no matter what happens. At the same time I have more kisses and hugs to offer and my heart is full of love for my dad.
This is not the first time I have rushed home to see my dad. There have been many low points and honestly he usually recoups a bit after my visits. I do not think that will happen this time. I am okay with that, I would never want to prolong his suffering. This is not a panic, like the other visits. I know I can do nothing and I am okay. For the first time in my life I am not afraid my dad is going to die. And my dad is going to die.
As long as I have been a semi grown up I have been afraid of my dad’s impending doom. My dad is 15 years older than my mom. I was an accident, an IUD failure, and my dad was 53 when I was born. My mom was in her late 30s but having a baby at that age in the early 70s was not encouraged. My parents each had three kids from previous marriages. So I have 7 half brothers and a sister who were teens when I was born. I am the only child of thier marriage, and my dad's only daughter. A happy accident it seems and the neighbors were amused they my parents painted the house shutters pink to announce my arrival to the world.
My mother died when I was 14. It was a suicide and it was quick. I was devastated and angry. I handled it by keeping people at arm’s length, including my dad.
My mother died when I was 14. It was a suicide and it was quick. I was devastated and angry. I handled it by keeping people at arm’s length, including my dad.
I was sarcastic and dry and alternative. I can’t imagine I was a joy to be around but somehow my friends and family stuck by me and just kind of watched me go through it. I am not thrilled at the fact that people insisted I was like Daria, but that gives you an idea of my demeanor. But really don’t you want to be Jane? I did, but I was not. Anyway, building my tough as nails stares and arsenal of sarcastic wit was my day job.
I could never sleep, so in the middle of the night I would take my comforter into the hallway outside of my dad’s door and I would listen to him snore. I was always afraid he was going to die, I thought everyone I loved was going to die, but mostly my dad. He was at the time in his almost 70. I would stay there calmed by his loud crazy snores until I fell asleep. I am still comforted by snoring, even my dad’s crazy erratic snoring from his hospital bed.
Around age 20, I let my guard down with my dad. I took him out to dinner and apologized for being a horrible teenager. I was beyond sassy and rude, I was disrespectful. I was so angry. This started a dialog and a relationship with my dad that we have built over all of these years. I asked him about things I didn’t understand or felt cheated by and he addressed everyone one. And he accepted my apology and I his and we moved to the next level.
Over the years I have told him things I wanted to protect him from about me, and he was never shocked or too disappointed. When I thought I would freak him out by telling him the truths of my relationship he let me grieve a little while and then asked me directly what was going on. When I told him cocked his head and said, “Peach, I am sorry but you definitely are my daughter.” Then he told me many stories of his trials and tribulations of dating and marriage and lost loves. He had been there and done that and shared his experience with me. We might be a cursed people when it comes to love. Ha. But he advised me to not give up. He also advised me, to avoid heartbreak, never get married or have kids, unless I get better at choosing. Here is to hoping.
My dad has given me the skills to take care of myself. He instilled in me an enviable work ethic and a deep appreciation for art, music and friendship. I am forever grateful to know him as a friend and have him as my dad. There was never a promise that things would be always good and shiny, but instead that we could get through whatever was dished out. As a family we have never been at all emotional, really my mom had enough emotions for all 11 of us and they were all over the place and we just kept a lid on it to survive. Still the details of how to navigate the world, I owe to my dad. I think of this a little every day and it makes me proud.
I guess the best pieces of advice my dad gave me, was “you take care of you” and “Be Cool”. This was his advice in all situations, but I don’t think I really owned it until this past year. I had another near death experience with a loved one about two years ago. It pushed me hard into a place where I had to work harder to take care of me. I had to acknowledge that my fear of others dying was a vulnerability that did not serve me any purpose. I worked through it to a peace. That is kind of awesome.
What is funny, is I was not wrong about death. A lot of people I loved have died. So many. A few times the people I have loved most in the world, sometimes the people I lived for. I didn’t get that I should have been living for me. I get that now. It is true that to love others in a real free way you have to love yourself first. It is a powerful reality to live in. Also, I get that I carry those people in my heart every day. That I am changed by knowing them, and that love never dies. These are lessons worthy of noting. My friend Alex was murdered last year, and at the end of the sorrow and outrage I am only left with love. I am amazed that someone so wonderful was here with us and am grateful to have known him. I love him. All of these people died quickly, without warning. Navigating my dad and illness is different, and for me harder.
My dad has been sick for so long that some of my friends are like… yeah yeah yeah your dad is dying… he has been dying forever. He has been. Some people point out I have gone home to see my dad for the last time, and he is still here. I feel like The Girl who cried My Dad is Dying. But that is frustrating to me because, HE HAS BEEN. When he first got cancer, they did the surgery and he was in the hospital for 4 months, and no one, but him, thought he would get out. I had been stuck in this space in my life, which in part had to do with fear and helplessness. It is hard to live 1500 miles away and to have someone you love be sick. For the most part until now he has always told me know to worry and not to fuss . I didn’t really hear it. My family and I were all wide eyed and amazed he pulled through from one terminal diagnosis to the next and until not too long ago he lived in his own condo. It has been a long 15 months of hospice. I am thankful he feels loved by the staff there. I don’t hear a reassurance from him this time, so I am going to his side. But I am no longer afraid, I have moved to a new space. I can be cool, or not, and I am so happy to go and whatever is supposed to happen is going to happen.
When I think of my dad, I am filled with a love that I cannot explain. I hope it comes through when I am reading while he snores and kiss him on the forehead when he wakes up. I know this trip like many others will be hard, frustrating and sad. But it will also be great. I am going to be okay no matter what, because I am definitely my dad’s daughter.
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| Christmas 2012 |
Be well.
t
