Dad in Skilled Nursing Unit

Dad was finally transferred to Schuyler County Skilled Nursing Unit in mid-May after being in Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital for three months.  From there, we were looking at him doing rehabilitation so that he could eat, walk and talk again.  I know that some people, family members included, weren't sure that he was going to be able to do any of this because of his age.  However, I had faith (much prayer and believing that God would heal and restore him) that he was going to be better than he was before the surgery.  I really thought once he got closer to home he would start improving.  He was nearing the finish line and he would be able to see it and build his strength up again so that he could go home and be with Mom. 

My sister, Darlene, and her husband, Steve, were on their way for a quick weekend trip to see Dad a couple weeks after he got transferred.  They live around the Knoxville, TN area so it is a straight 12 hour trip to where my parents live.  While they were driving, they received a call from my Aunt Dot saying it was the worst she had ever seen him look and she didn't think he would make it through the night.  My sister called me and gave me that information and we were both crying.  We didn't know what the real situation was and it was a week before the Memorial weekend and I had plane tickets to be out there for a few days.  They still had an eight hour trip ahead of them.  What do you do in that situation?  I prayed and I cried and I prayed some more and asked my sister for her wisdom.  In the end, I decided that I needed to change my tickets to go up earlier and come back the original time. 

I called Delta Airlines and was on the phone with them for probably 45 minutes as they worked with me and gathered all my information.  You have to be prepared and have the name of the doctor, hospital and their address, etc.  They will waive the change fee to your ticket (one way only); however, you have to pay the difference in the new cost of the fare from your old ticket.  In my case that was $450.00 more.  My original ticket was $350.00 and I had to cough up $450.00 more.  It wasn't like I had the money to do this but I knew it was something I had to do.  How can you place a value on the fact that this might be your last chance to see your Dad alive and say your bye's?  Notice I didn't say "goodbye" because I will see him again in Heaven as he has trusted in Jesus Christ as his personal savior. 

If any of you have ever been in this situation and have worried about keeping your job and how is your employergoing to react, you are not alone.  I called my boss and told him what I was going to do and he wasn't happy -- I'll leave it at that.  I was fortunate to be working for a company where I had my own home office setup.  So, I brought everything with me and worked from New York for about a week.  Is it easy when you are going through the ups and downs emotionally and trying to make every area of your life work?  Of course not!  Is it doable?  Yes, it is! 

I would get up at 5:00 am, shower and check my emails and do a little bit of work before I headed to the hospital.  And the hospital was only 5 miles away so it didn't take but 10 minutes to get there. I would arrive by 6:45am and stay until 8:30 am and head back to my parent's house.  During that time, I encouraged and helped my Dad eat breakfast.  I was lucky if I would be able to get him to eat 4-5 spoonfuls of food before he would push it away.  It was very discouraging.  Then I noticed that he was getting the same thing every day!  Who wants the same thing every day -- especially if it is toast and cereal.  Where are the eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy, etc.?  That was when I talked to the nurse and asked that he get a variety of food.  They started to do that yet he still wouldn't take more than a few bites.