Tomorrow is my father’s 81st birthday. The event is at best bittersweet.
He is not eating, at least enough to be significant. Today he had a can of Ensure® and a glass of orange juice. It is simply insufficent nutrition for his body to stave off the cancer. He is getting weaker every day. I have little hope in the retardant effects of the chemotherapy.
My mother is seeking part–time assistance to help my father with basic physical needs; e.g. showering, shaving. Her bad back simply prohibits her from performing these tasks herself. And yet she has turned down my offer to live with them through my father’s decline. I am nonplussed.
My mother has asked the American Cancer Society to drive my father to two upcoming medical appointments. The service is contingent upon my father being ambulatory at the time of pick–up. We’ll have to wait and see. I will take off work if he isn’t.
Apparently the LSB Leakey Foundation will be recording my father, in addition to Cal. All I can say is that both organizations had better get to it damn fast! The window may already be closed. If you can expedite either activity, I encourage you to do so without delay.
Come visit him. Now.
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