Well, we've started a new year in this world....and as a treat to myself, I wanted to post some new thoughts. I don't know if anyone still follows this blog, but that's OK. This is mostly for me. It was a long and difficult year. So this is my treat to myself. Anyone that wants to is more than welcome to read my meanderings and comment if so desired. Just please be gentle with any critisims and feel free to be lavish with praise. Grin. So, let's start.......
Dec 2011, my parents were in a horrible car wreck. Mom, being blind so not seeing what was coming, sustained almost no injuries. But Daddy was rushed to hospital a bloody mess. It was quite scary to view it all. Once in hospital, they glued him back together, took tons of x-rays, CT scans and took even more of his blood for tests. The end result is we found out Daddy has 3 abdominal anyerisms. All are small and I found the love letter from Papa in the whole episode. We had no idea he had this problem! Now we know and he knows that he has to kinda mind his age....giggle. We took him to the doctor every three months for all of 2012 for checkups on the anyerisms and in Dec 2012, the dr said we could go 9 months before our next checkup. Whoo hooo!
Shortly after the accident (about 3 months later) Mom started complaining about one of her feet hurting. It took another 3 weeks for me to get her to let me look at it. And when I did, I almost spit! She had a sore on one toe that was black and I knew it was gangrene. Mom had Forneire's Gangrene about 9 yrs ago....so I recognized that awful smell. She refused to allow me to take her to a doctor, but once tax season was over (about 3 more weeks!) after I'd spent every night going to her house after work and washing her feet in a sonic bath with aloe vera and epson salts. I convinced her we HAD to go to the dr. We spent another month or so working on that foot, and got referred to a specialist when tests showed she had hardening of the arteries. (That kinda explained her contraryness about going to the dr) The specialist informed us she had more calcium in her veins than her bones and was shocked she hadn't had a stroke or heat attack. So after some new meds, and a home health aide to help me out a bit, and 6 months, we got the gangrene cleared up and she didn't loose any toes! (another love letter!)
Then during the summer, the owner of the building our office was in, sold the office and we were told we'd have to move by Feb of this year. This after we'd spent a little over $6000 to renovate the office. ARGGGH!!! By now I was beginning to seriously discuss our situation with Papa! So we started looking for a new office space. There were NONE to be found that we could afford the payments on and I was getting a little stressed. Then in Oct 2012, a storm came thru, tore up the awning in front of the building and the new owner had it taken down. OK. Kinda ugly, but OK. EXCEPT the man taking down the awning had a wind gust throw a metal bar thru the 8ft, 100yr old plate glass window directly in front of my desk...here's the next love letter! No one was at the office when this happened. The glass shattered the next day about 30 seconds after I LEFT my desk! I heard that glass cracking and ran....glass was everywhere!!! Folks came out of buildings two blocks away to find out what that loud crash was. The new owner refused to replace the glass since he planned to tear down the 100 year old building......can we say historical? But the next day, we found a new office space. (Another love letter!) We had 2 weeks to get out of the building, get into the new office, paint everything, redo the hardwood floors and get all the computers back up and running for the opening of our season. Whew! We did it. The next love letter was as our customers started coming in and told us how awesome the place looked. We now are in an old house...folks say it's more like visiting a friend than getting their taxes done. Pretty cool love letter eh?!
Then in the middle of all this, Daddy started seriously loosing weight and looking ill. Another trip to the doctor and another round of tests confirmed our worst fears. He had Prostate Cancer and it had metacisized to the bones. He is now on hormonal therapy which is kinda like chemo without the heavy duty drugs. It's more holistic and mostly hormones. This DOES mean he's having menapausal symptoms at times, but I told him if the hot flashes get bad just stick your head in the freezer a few mintues. It feels SO wonderful. Giggle. After a couple months of treatment, he seems to be adjusting pretty well and the weight lose is slowed way down. In fact, it appears he's beginning to gain a little! The only real problem he has now is the confusion that is really confounding. He gets easily confused and calls me at the office on how to operate the TV....but at least I can help him with that over the phone. And he's still with us....I realize each day is a blessing and a gift. And I choose to cherish each day I have with my Daddy and my Mom.
And possibly the best love letter of all from my loving Papa is that Daddy shared all of Hanukkah with us and even began going to shul with us! Mom still refuses to join in, but now doesn't make as many nasty comments about our faith. I count that another love letter. (Sometimes you have to look to see them! Grin) So all in all, 2012 was difficult, at times harrowing. But we were blessed. We survived it, grew and learned to look for His love letters more carefully. I think I have lots to be glad for and as we start the new year...I look forward to seeing what new Love Letters from Papa I will find! I hope you find them too. He sends them to all of us...we just have to look. Shalom, Spitfire