Please Say a Prayer for My Dad

My Dad went back into the hospital tonight.

He's had a rough month starting with an infection while he was visiting us here, early in June, for Kate's baptism. He was treated here and we thought he would be fine (as much as that would be possible), but apparently not.

When Mom and Dad went home just before Father's Day, their plane bound for Minneapolis was rerouted to Des Moines due to thunderstorms and he and Mom were forced to spend the night on National Guard cots at the Des Moines Airport.

When he finally got home he had become so dehydrated that it was necessary to transport him to the hospital by ambulance.

Doctors discovered that he had suffered a small heartattack and needed to stay in the hospital to recover. He stayed there until last Friday and then was transferred to the local care center for rehab and because he needs full-time nursing care. Mom just can't provide that now.

He's having a difficult time swallowing so he may have a feeding tube placed so that he can get some nutrients. Due to his age and his condition, it's still very risky and I hope and pray for a successful surgery if it takes place.

Dad suffered a stroke in 1999 and has been in the care of my Mom since then. He has Alzheimer's and so it's tough to know if he remembers us when he sees us. Some days he is more alert than other days. I saw him last August when I was back to teach a class in the midwest and he looked incredibly feeble.

One month later, when I came back for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, I was amazed at the recovery he had made. I think he rose to the occasion. He seemed sharp and alert and more engaged than I had seen him in a while. He wasn't the Dad I knew before the surgery, of course, but there were glimpses of him.

In February when they came to visit to see Kate at six weeks, he again seemed pretty alert and seemed to connect with our girl if only a bit. That was good to see. Kate will at least know her grandparents and perhaps through the images I have shot of her with my Dad and later this year when she meets Tony, Nicki's Dad, she'll remember the time that they first met her.

This last trip though was rough to watch. He slept a lot, and just seemed disconnected. I think a good bit of that was his body's reaction to battling the infection. Thankfully he was in pretty good form for the baptism itself and seemed to connect to Kate and the meaning of the event.

So please keep him in your prayers, if you pray, or think good, healing thoughts and send them his way.