I’ve been worried about Dad these past few days. I hadn’t been able to get up to Sydney to see him and Mum’s daily phone reports had not been very positive. He seemed so out of it, not responding to doctors’ commands, not being able to talk. But when I went in there today he most definitely knew me. It was Dad alright – a fed up, exhausted, pissed off, sick, sore, grumbly wheezy version of Dad, but him all the same and right now that’s close enough. He was sorely shat off with the nurses because they wouldn’t let him have a cup of tea or a drink of water (he can’t drink because the liquid will run straight into his lungs) ‘I want to have a cup of tea with Tom’, he said. I felt so much better for hearing those words. Tom is an old family friend and fellow artist. He’ll be chuffed to learn what a lofty position he occupies in my Dad’s head.
Another thing Dad said made me smile. ‘It’s hard to see the positive side of all of this…’ Too fucking right it is, Dad, but, see, that’s him all over. Always finding a positive side to pretty much anything. It’s a thing that’s been shitting me these past few years. I used to argue about it – Dad, some things just completely suck. They have no positive aspects. Yet here he is, doing his best to at least consider the possibility while he’s breathing like Darth Vader and looking like something from a B-Grade cyborg movie.
The doctors want to move him onto the main ward but the hospital is so full, there simply aren’t any free beds. The TV was blaring when I entered his room. I made them turn it off. Dad hates TV, most particularly stupid adds and sport and rubbish. Tomorrow I’ll get a music machine for him of some description. He enjoys classical music, baroque I think. A bit of Vivaldi might help.
Taking it slowly, one day at a time…
19 Comments
God, the poor bloke must be bloody thirsty. It’s a psychological need as well as a physical one. I hope he heals quickly so he can have that tea.
Let us know if you need us to go over with anything.
Thanks. Its horrible watching him struggle through this. Totally breaks my heart.
Hang in there. He’s awake and starting to heal. Please tell him from me that one of his fans is glad to hear he’s making it.
I never realised your father was that Cameron Sparks. The man who paintings I have admired for ages….dumb of me.
I’ll make sure you get an invite to his next exhibition
I will try to make it. I’ll drop everything else.
Grumpiness seems to be a good sign in hospital patients who’ve been through the wringer. The other day I listened to a Buddhist talking about a very bad car crash which put her partner into a coma. When she finally awoke, the partner said, “I know what pain is!” “Gasp! Did you say ‘pain’?” The partner rolled her eyes and said, slowly, as if to an idiot, “P. A. I. N.” The lady telling the story said this was the moment she realised her partner was going to be OK.
When it finally arrives, that cup of tea’s going to be epic in its awesomeness.
Ha! Yeah, another friend said she knew her dad was gonna be OK the day he flipped her the bird from his hospital bed…
its always a good sign when they are cranky and grumpy and wanting to get the hell out of there…
hell yeah!
I wonder… with the tea, is it possible for him to suck on tea ice blocks? For some reason I have it in my head that when you get thirsty on a drip but can’t drink the nurses give you an ice block to suck on. Not as good as a hot cuppa, though.
I like the idea of a music machine. Do you have any noise-cancelling headphones?
I will enquire about the ice blocks tomorrow — thanks for the suggestion.
I’m so glad your dad is recovering. You and he have been in my thoughts (fwiw) and now it looks like you’ll all get through this. Peace and stuff.
Stephen
I’m so glad to hear your dad is conscious. He sounds better.
As you know I’ve been away and then have had my own dad problems so I lost track of time and forgot to look in here.
My dad was grumpy as soon as people started asking stupid questions like “do you know where you are?” Well how the eff should he know where he was? He for sure knew he was in the hospital…
But he was taken to a strange hospital (he usually visits the VA (Veteran’s admin) in another town and here he is whisked to a local hospital where he knows no one and just returned from Florida a couple of weeks ago, to boot. My sister said that initially someone asked him his name and he said “Datlow” not his first name. Then they asked “are you Harry?” -which must have really confused him as “Harry” was my mother father, who died oh, about 20 years ago…
Inane.
Yeah, when I got to the hospital yesterday I found the nurse was calling my Dad Ken rather than Cam. No wonder he wasn’t responding…
Thanks Stephen
That’s great news! The grumpier someone is, the more on the mend! (At least, that’s my experience).
And they were calling him the wrong name? It’s as you said, no wonder he wasn’t talking back. *shakes head*
Better and better, despite the lack of tea and the loud TV. Does ‘music machine’ mean some kind of mp3 player? I can rip some Bach and Handel and Beethoven if it would help…
So glad you finally got to talk to him. Grumpy is definitely a sign of improvement. I agree that grumpy is definitely a sign of improvement too!
When my mum was in hospital earlier in the year, we left our iPod & headphones with her for the time she was there. We taught her how to use it (an iPod is so much easier than any other MP3 for that reason) and it seemed to make the world of difference for her. Some of it was because she could listen to what she WANTED to listen to, rather than all the hospital sounds that remind you of how dependent on the nursing staff you are.
Thinking of you all…
And repeating yourself in a post is a sign of … something worrying, I’m sure! Oo err.