A couple of weeks ago, I went with my best friend to an appointment. I hate leaving Dad alone these days, but bestie needed moral support and I left Dad with his food to take at lunch and something easy to pop in the microwave. I left instructions on how to feed the cats if I wasn’t home by 4pm. I made sure he had his phone on so I could text him a couple of times. I showed him how to type a text message, assuring him that I wouldn’t send a text that required more than a simple “Ok.”

To my first text, when bestie and I arrived at the medical facility, he responded, “Takecare.” Then just a few minutes later, he called me. There I was, sitting in the middle of a crowded waiting room and he calls me, ugh. He asked me if I had received his text response. I told him, yes and then he informed me that he didn’t know if he did it right because I forgot to show him how to send the text. Oopsie. “My bad,” says I. “You figured it out though!”

Then, he shocked the hell out of me and I’m sure my jaw dropped. He asked me, “Who am I talking to?” My heart skipped a beat. I was too far away from him at that instant to be able to protect him from…himself. I was so worried! I told him, “This is your daughter, Debbie.” He replied, “Ok. You sounded like one of your sisters.” Boy, was I relieved he hadn’t lost his marbles! I told him I was trying to talk softly because I was in the middle of the waiting room. He said, “Oh.” A minute later, we ended the call.

You can see below what a time he has texting!

I’m thankful he can still be left alone on occasion. I’m thankful that he can still take care of himself for the most part. I still worry that he will fall. The last fall he had was last July and it was a pretty bad one. He fell on his face and sprained his arm. His nose was not only bleeding inside but it was split down the center and was bleeding everywhere! He was so worried about the carpet! “Get a rag. Hurry!” he kept saying over and over. I wasn’t worried about the damn carpet! I have a pet stain removal product that works wonders on blood and EVERY stain I’ve encountered so far! Our carpet is the same ol’ mess it was prior to his fall. It really needs replacing…

Anyway, he recovered from that after a couple of days. The next time could be worse, so I worry. Fingers crossed there won’t be a next time.