Monday 8 March 2010

No Longer Invincible









All throughout my childhood, I saw my parents as invincible.  In the darkest of storms, the clapping of thunder sending shivers down my spine, I would always feel safe snuggled up with my Mum and Dad. 


One of my worst fears as a child was that I didn't want to die... I hated that life was not forever.  It was the scariest thing I ever learnt... Strangely though, I never worried about my parents... to me, they were going to be here forever.



About 3 weeks ago, on a regular call to my parents, my Dad mentioned he wasn't feeling brilliant and was going to take the rest of the week off work.... Nothing unusual there, except my Dad hardly ever takes time off work.  Yes he can be the typical bloke where at the first sign of a cold, he'll dose himself up but he won't take the time off....  I thought "Finally! The nagging has paid off!" 


You see my Dad is in his 60's and for me, I want him to start taking things easy, enjoying life.  I guess we're all like that with our parents.  We see how hard they work as we grow up, and while we still think of our parents as invincible, we become more protective of them...


Anyway as the week went by, I felt reassured that he was taking some time off but also uneasy because it was so unlike my Dad... By the Thursday I decided to call and see how he was... It was a fairly early morning call... 8am.... but my parents have always been early birds so I imagined they'd be sitting there with their morning coffee...


Mum sounded really tired when she answered the phone and I suddenly panicked that this was the one day they'd decided to have a lie in!


It was then that Mum broke the news..... They had not long been back from the hospital...... Dad had collapsed in the early hours...


I felt like I had been hit by a truck... How was he?  What had happened?


It seems he had got up to visit the little boys room.. as he usually did most nights... Except this time he felt exhausted and wanted to just go back to sleep...


My little brother, who is luckily a night owl, heard a bang come from the bathroom... and went to investigate...


My Dad was unconscious on the floor, and so my brother shouted for my Mum to call the ambulance... 


Dad was drifting in and out of consciousness... Mum and bro said it was the worst night of their life.  My Dads face had just dropped, he was slurring and he looked so weak... They thought they were going to lose him....


They managed to get him out into the hall but because he was drifting in and out, they couldn't get any further...  


The paramedics were there so quick... trying to squeeze through the door with their huge backpacks.... 


Dad was soon on the oxygen and they were checking his heart rate, etc while putting in a canular...  They ruled out heart attack and stroke which was a huge relief.... Eventually when things had settled, they got him into the ambulance with my brother while Mum followed in the car.


At the hospital, they kept him on the heart monitors etc and checked bloods... The diagnosis... Type 2 diabetes.... His blood sugars were twice what they should be....


Back home, Dad was in bed, catching up on sleep and Mum was dozing on the sofa when I called....


I felt relief that the outcome was a positive one... in that my Dad had got to come home.  The diagnosis wasn't a complete surprise but the event had left everything feeling quite shocked.


Later that morning, I made the journey to my parents... a drive of 120 miles.... which would usually take me a little over 2hrs... except I decided to try a different route 'for a change' and ended up taking 5hrs with roadworks, accidents etc... That journey felt like it took a lifetime to make!!


Arriving at my parents, Mum came out to meet me, and we just hugged each other.  She was still shocked at what had happened but was so grateful for the outcome.  It wasn't long before she was fussing over me, getting me a cuppa tea, warming up my dinner... I told her to sit down but she wouldn't listen... so in the end it took my aunt to kick her ass.


Seeing my Dad looking tired and pale made me realise.... he's no longer invincible.  Its got to that scary stage in life where you realise that your parents are getting older... Mine are certainly not elderly but having lost one set of my grandparents in their 60's.... the reality is, they're not going to live forever.


I spent the next few days with the family, taking Dad to the doctors for further tests, cooking a family dinner, going on a girly shopping trip with Mum..


Dad is on the mend..... he should be able to control his diabetes through diet but he's going to need to make a few lifestyle changes... including giving up smoking, which he's doing well with so far...  


Love You Dad xxx





2 comments:

  1. Thank goodness your Dad is recovering, and that his illness was caused by a controllable condition. I hope he continues to feel better and that he's back to his old self soon. Wishing you and your family the best,
    -Wren

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  2. Thank you so much for taking the time to write Wren. My Dad continues to improve daily. He is still not smoking and he is managing to control the diabetes with diet... Luckily he has got into the habit of keeping a food diary so he can pinpoint things that affect the diabetes more than others.

    Thank you again! It means a lot x

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