Tales From My House: Stressful Week & Jack's first homecoming

On Monday morning my sister called to let me know that my dad had fallen. She did not think it was anything serious, but he had gone to the hospital to get checked out. I called later that morning to check on him and he told me that he had broken his hip and they were prepping him for surgery. Obviously, this was super upsetting because who wants to break a bone and have surgery? But also because the last time my dad underwent a procedure with anesthesia he had a massive cognitive decline. Kim was with him on Monday afternoon and Tuesday and I spent the day with him Wednesday. To make a long story short, he had another massive cognitive decline. He wasn't sure where he was or why he was there. He left the hospital on Thursday to go to the rehabilitation center. It is affiliated with his community; where he lives has three sections, independent living, assisted living, and a rehab center/nursing home. He had someone call me on Friday and he was super agitated. We had a very long phone call where I tried to reassure him that the people there were just trying to help him. Saturday morning, I went and visited him. He was in a better mood, but still confused.

Until about four months ago my dad lived completely independently. When he decided to move, at age 79, he packed up his entire house without any help and made all the arrangements to sell his home. He moved into the retirement home about a year ago because he wanted to enjoy all the activities. About a year ago he was still going on cruises and to weekly dances. Less than four months ago he played cards daily, exercised, went to church, bible study, and other functions. He was definitely slowing down, but this mental decline has been so sudden that sometimes it is hard to reconcile. I feel terrible for him and sad for myself. I know that probably sounds selfish, but I like to keep it real in this blog. My mom died relatively suddenly and way too young (right after turning 65) and that was completely devastating. But, watching a parent decline is also no fun (obviously, I wish I had the extra 15 years with my mom). And, it is making me face my mortality in a way that I haven't before and I don't like it. Anyway, he sees a neurologist in late November and we are still holding out a sliver of hope that there is some explanation other than really rapid dementia.

That took up a lot of mental space this week. But, there were also some good/fun things that happened. We renewed our Universal passes and a had a fun evening. We went to Magic Kingdom and rode most of our favorite rides. We have been watching Halloween themed shows and have made it through The Middle (so underrated, I highly recommend), Brooklyn 99, and now Modern Family. We also watched The Haunted Mansion, which I thought was super cute. I had lunch with my sister and it was great to catch up and talk about something other than my dad. While I was with my dad and sister on Saturday, Thomas and the kids cleaned the house. Thomas took Luke to a baseball tournament and the girls put up the Halloween decorations outside. It was so amazing to come home to a fun exterior and a clean interior!

Jack went to his first Homecoming dance on Saturday night. I told the kids we would buy their tickets their Junior and/or Senior year. If they wanted to go before that, it was on them. Jack was the only one who wanted to shell out the 80 bucks to go. He rode with his best friend, Gustavo and they met up with some other friends. He didn't love the experience. It was very crowded and very loud. He said next year he will probably go to Halloween Horror Nights instead. Homecoming was held at the Hard Rock at City Walk, so while they did that, the girls and I went to the Taylor Swift concert movie, which we all enjoyed more than Jack enjoyed Homecoming. The timing worked out well and I did the home transport.