Sunday, April 06, 2008

Stroke

So, my dad had a stroke. He spent a week in the hospital, and is now home. We're not sure exactly when it happened, but it was sometime during the week of March 17th. I've been trying to manage his care and go to work, but it's not been easy (and no one ever said being a caretaker was easy, right?).

It affected mostly his left arm. His speech is fine, his walking is fine -- he just gets very tired. His doctor doesn't want him driving (and neither does the rest of the world - trust me!) so I've had to hide the keys already. He's pretty reasonable about it, but I can't take the chance of him getting a wild hair one day while I'm at work and driving to Baltimore or points further west/south/north. I figure if he drives east it's not that far to the ocean so I could probably find him. Or not.

So, I'm pretty overwhelmed right now, and am trying hard to cope. The only good thing is this did not happen while I was on the cruise because I am not sure what would have happened to him if he had been alone. I try not to think about that too much.

Getting old is not for sissies, people. Neither is caring for an aging parent.