So recently my 73 year old dad's health has declined, He thought he had pulled his back while opening a window, and was hoping it would get better, then the heatwave began and he continued to get worse, he lost weight, and started spending more time in bed, his speech began to slur. I tried everything short of ringing an ambulance, gave him electrolyte drinks, kept him cool with a fan and when i wasnt at work was giving him drinks and making food. But in the end, I called my sister after I came home on my break from work to find him still in bed I told him I wanted to call an ambulance and he bluntly refused as he hates hospitals after a previous visit for a heart attack. I'd be checking on him via my echo dot and could tell he was still in bed and coughing so that was when I asked my sister to visit him.
When she arrived he slowly got out of bed and she helped him downstairs, she fed him a little and got him some water and paracetamol for his back and even gave him some deep heat. She came to my work and bought some cakes, and when she left he was sitting eating his cake watching TV. 15 minutes later I got back to find him on the floor hunched over shouting me to help him up - he could not get up even with my help and started hyperventilating and I thought he was having a stroke so I rang an ambulance.
After 5 hours in the ambulance we were finally seen, a litany of tests were done and then we received the news that along with pneumonia and an infection (both of which are treatable), he has tumours in his liver, bones, and maybe his lungs. This is the worst possible news, its incurable, and until they find the primary and do a biopsy we have no timeline. I've felt emotions today I didn't know I could feel. I've had pins and needles in my face and arms from crying. I think they said he had aneurysms in both his legs as well which is what made him unable to walk.
We didnt have the best relationship but the past year we have had the best relationship in decades. I came home after my sister told me to go home and rest, and I saw the rug he was making and hadnt finished and probably never will, I saw his hot water bottle, I saw his ipad which he played games on. I saw the ice lolly stick which he sat and enjoyed the other day..it just breaks my heart.
He has taken it well, he's more concerned about my future than his own. I dont know how long he has left, but I dont know how strong I am to deal with seeing him decline.
