Visit At My Dad's

Master and I went down to visit my father today. Thankfully, for 90% of the visit, his girlfriend wasn't there. And when she was, she said hi and then went into a different room. Fine by us.

When my dad told me he needed back surgery I wasn't really surprised because he's had a bad back for over 15 years. But I didn't really realize how bad it had gotten. While we were down there he was having problems walking up right. He has to hunch over and kind of slouch. He's lost even more weight. My dad used to be a pretty.. heavy guy. He's not extremely tall. I think he's about 5 foot 10. But he used to weigh quite a bit. He says that his back hurts so much sometimes that he doesn't really want to eat, or if he does it's not very much.

He doesn't have health insurance so he applied for disability, in the hopes of getting insurance. Hell, when I called him to let him know we were on our way down he asked if I could get a case of soda out of his car on my way in because he can't carry it. A case of soda. This is the guy who used to pick both my brother and I up at the same time and rough house. He would have each of us grab on his upper arms and lift his arms so we would dangle from them. He was not a weak man.

But now he can't carry a case of soda into the house. He's only 50.

So I grabbed the case of soda out of his car and brought it in for him. While we were there he would tell us about things and want to show us it. He would get up to go get whatever it was. I would ask him if he wanted me to get it and he would say no, that he wasn't that far gone yet. He said it in such a way that I know he's just being stubborn. But at least he's following the doctor's orders as far as the 5lbs weight limit. He said he doesn't have much of a choice. He can't really sleep because he can't lay down flat.

It was sad to see him like that. My father is not the greatest father in the world. But he loves me and I love him. So when I see him like that it's sad. I'm hoping that he gets disability insurance so he can have his back surgery. He has to wait 120 days for a decision and he only applied two weeks ago.

The visit went well though. I mean we did watch TV but at least my dad would talk during it. And when he walked us out to our car to say goodbye he used a cane to walk. I gave him a big hug and told him I'd come down again soon.