I made it back to Florida in time for Thanksgiving and of course Christmas. It was a really great time spending time with everyone. Tae and Rob and the kids came in from Texas. Mike, Christine and Zane came in from North Carolina, and we celebrated at Rick and Laura’s, with mom and dad living about seven minutes away. I recall spending each day feeling like my cup of joy couldn’t get any fuller, and for that matter, I couldn’t remember feeling so good for so long for all the right reasons. Tagging along, or staying back to get some alone time, it was the best Christmas I could remember.
After all of the out of town family headed back home, I delayed my departure, and then I was invited to stay to help pet-sit until New Year’s Eve day. My dad had started to feel poorly earlier in the week, and my mom couldn’t take him into the doctors office or urgent care so they ended up in the ER. I reluctantly went back to Melbourne for the night and some low key plans with friends, and I returned to Apopka on the second of January. My dad’s condition had worsened dramatically. It turns out that he had a severe case of pneumonia, and it wasn’t long before they had to intubate him and paralyze him so that he wouldn’t fight the machine that was working to help him breathe. We were all in a state of shock; he had just been hanging out with us at Christmas, and now he was unconscious in a hospital bed full of so many tubes, drugs, feeding tubes, and a catheter.
I parked in my parents driveway, thankful that I had my home with me, and that I hadn’t found a job yet, and no reason to rush back to Melbourne until the right time would come. When will that time come? We have been praying, and friends, family and neighbors from all over the world have been praying. And seven days later her is still on a respirator. Day by day he is doing slightly better, but none of us really know what to expect. When I first went to the hospital with my mom, my dad’s right lung had just collapsed and they had to add a chest tube. Every day since we’ve been holding our breath for any news, praying for good news, fearful of bad news. But he has been progressing steadily in the right direction, thank God. And I have been reminded to rest and trust in whatever God is doing, because this is so far out of my control. I can only pray.