Travels with Walter: March 2010

Yup, I am back in Illinois for a somewhat unexpected visit. Six weeks ago (was it really that long?) my sister called me in the middle of the night to let me know they had to have the paramedics pick my dad up and take him to the hospital. He had all sorts of things going on; kidney failure, high fever, confusion (he kept asking where his horse was...he used to ride a horse to school when he was a kid), and total muscle weakness so bad that he could not feed himself or stand. He was in the hospital for a week and then went to a skilled nursing facility for rehab for five weeks. After we had a good idea of when he was coming home I decided that I needed to take some time off and come help out and make sure the parents could manage. I have been here 5 days. Within the first 24 hours of him getting home I had to call the fire department to come get him up off the floor. That was fun. I got him up on his knees but that was as far as the two of us got. It took 4 burly guys to haul him up. Since then though, he has been doing quite well and we actually had a 5 hour outing today (chiropractor, McD's, and Walmart). Hell, this is the midwest. What else is there to do? My job was so cool and let me take my sick leave to be here. I will be here another week or so and Pa and I are having therapy sessions each day. Tomorrow we are going to work on standing balance. He does not know it yet.

Before I left Spokane Walter and I were able to have a nice day out at Miller Ranch walking around in the sagebrush. The vitamin D has been amazing. I feel like an entirely new person (except I have a cold now). I think I have been ailing for a very long time, perhaps for the last year. So here are some pictures of Walter. I have not taken any pictures in Illinois yet, but the Mississippi River is flooding so I am going to go check it out tomorrow.