Dad Has A Stroke

I got a phone call early on Feb 14, 1996 from my oldest sister... she told me that she had gone over to Dad's house to check on him... he had fallen... and couldn't get up... she needed me to come and help...

This same sister had designated herself "Official Keeper of Dad"... and had all of the locks changed on his house... so no one but her could get in to "check" on Dad...  "He's safer if there are no extra keys out there...", she said...

Yeah... right...

By the time I got to Dad's, Sister had called the police and the EMTs... when I got into his house, he was on the floor... very disoriented... I knelt on the floor beside him... and touched him... and told him I was "here"... and he turned and looked at me and asked... "Who are you?"   Dad had had a stroke...  I told Dad that it didn't matter, but he was going to be OK...

When Dad was loaded into the ambulance, he was taken to the hospital...  Sister asked me to go with Dad... she needed to go check on her husband and their business...  Of course I would go to the hospital with Dad...

By the time I got there, Dad was in his examination room in the ER... and we were waiting for my buddy, Barry... he was my Dad's doctor... Dad was laying on his right side... facing away from me... I was sitting to his back... and I sat there and just rubbed his back the entire time... letting him know he wasn't alone... at one point, Dad rolled over and looked at me... and called me 'Jimmy'... and told me... "it feels so good to not be alone..."  Sister never understood that she was keeping Dad away from contact... my brothers and myself...   All he had for company the last years of his life was when Sister would come over and visit...

When Barry arrived... and checked Dad out... he confirmed that he had experienced a stroke and was going to be admitted...  I knew Dad was 90... and wouldn't survive... that we were entering the last days of Dad's Life...

And I so wasn't ready for that...