Note To Self

We're in Richmond. We got a call Saturday morning that John's dad was in the hospital. We drove up then and have been here ever since visiting John Sr. in the hospital. Its been slow and has consisted of a lot of reading (I finished Frankenstein) because John's dad is pretty out of it most of the time.
It started off wit him having extreme back pain. So much so that he thought it was a heart attack. Thankfully, it wasn't. But it WAS the lining of his heart beginning to separate due to CRAZY high blood pressure. We're just thankful he had the sense to get taken to the hospital and didn't try to "man it out." The first day he was pretty responsive and normal. But with morphine, he got very lethargic. Thankfully, they took him off morphine yesterday and he is a whole new person. Still in and out of it but so much better than before.
He has tried to do things himself. He has fallen. And the longer I'm here, the more I wonder if he'd ever really ask or help. He's a very independent, stubborn man and my own dad said it best: "Sometimes dads are bad patients." Hopefully we'll all learn something out of this. Let this be a lesson to self: accept old age when it comes and don't try to fight people to show you're alright when you're clearly not alright.
John Sr. is in good hands and is being showered with prayers and love. And phone calls. I'm very thankful we live close enough to drive up to visit him, especially with John's sister living so far away.
So what now? Well...the doctors and nurses are trying to get him off his cocktail of IVs so he can get out of the ICU. All this while balancing out the right oral medication combo to keep his blood pressure down. His heart is okay. No surgery is needed but rest and taking it easy (two things that DO NOT come easily to him) are required for his heart to heal. So...please pray for humility and patience and grace, that he'd see the love and concern in his kids' eyes and follow the doctor's advice. We want to keep him around for grandkids someday. So he's just going to have to take it easy. And let that be a lesson to you.