My Day with Dad

I was getting ready for bed and had time to think about the day I just spent with Dad. Although one never wants to be in these situations, it really was a nice day today with Dad. When will I ever have Dad to myself again? No children to deal with, no siblings or others to drive the conversation one way or the other, no place to be. Just time with my Dad.

Of course, Dad attended several therapies and did very well at all of them today. He was walking without the walker several times during physical therapy, balancing with ease for extended periods of time, coming up with answers in speech therapy that were almost always correct - even if it wasn't the answer in the therapist's "book". When having to name another word for "disaster", Dad and I both came up with the word "calamity" - not the standard answer of "catastrophe". There were other examples like this and Dad and I joked that we must be blood relatives to come up with the "wrong, right answer." When we went back to the room, Dad was joking that he wasn't so sure that he was already sharper than his therapist.

He was also able to read and comprehend the checklist given to him by the speech therapist. And although a difficult task, he did complete a lego type structure in occupational therapy (looking at a 2D picture and making it a 3D object) as well as some peg work and geometric shape exercises (where they had to move on to more difficult ones because he completed the easy ones). He's still dealing with double vision and that is one of the main reasons these tasks are difficult.

We enjoyed a pizza party over lunch with some other rehabilitation patients and Dad chatted at ease with the others. Later, Dad commented what a long road many of those in the room had - all but one younger than Dad. It makes you keep things in perspective and be so thankful for how hard Dad is working and how far he has come.

We had his assessment with the staff this morning and all the therapists and nurses commented on Dad's progress. It is truly amazing the strides he is making. I know Dad is a very proud man and many of the tasks he is completely are humbling to him, but he also knows that he is getting better every day -- and these are the things that will help him recover.

I definitely inherited my competitive spirit from my Dad and you can see Dad's competitive spirit come out in his therapies. And through it all, Dad has had a wonderful disposition - joking with the staff, making people smile, and still taking his recovery seriously. This truly is a testament to who my Dad is as a person and I am so thankful for him. And right now, I am especially proud to be his daughter happy about the day we had together. Just the two of us.