Dad

Dad is in the hospital. He has pneumonia. That’s not good for a fully healthy man Dad’s age (68), but it really isn’t good when he is also battling lung cancer.

I got the call Friday morning. My brother, Kevin, had to run him to the emergency room. Dad initially thought he was having a problem with his heart. However, it turned out to be double pneumonia. So we spent most of the weekend visiting him in the hospital. Kristie and I talked for several hours with him on Friday night. Then we visited twice on Saturday, finishing the evening watching the Notre Dame and USC game. Mom was a HUGE Notre Dame fan. Yesterday I watched the football game with him. I haven’t enjoyed a football game quite that much in awhile. It wasn’t the score; it was just enjoying the time with Dad.

Today he was supposed to be moved to Grand Forks where his lung specialist is. We are going up to visit him and watch the Monday Night Football game with him.

He seems to be in fine spirits, though I imagine he gets lonely. Now I just hope the congestion in his chest starts to loosen and come up. It is a labor for him to breath without oxygen. Unfortunately, this is all too familiar after Mom’s emphysema.

But you do what you can. You treasure the time you have. You preserve the memories. You love them as much as you can. And when they’re gone, you move on and, as a fellow blogger noted this morning after suffering the death of a close friend, you start new traditions to replace the void left by the absence of the old traditions.

In short, you live on. As best you can.